posted May 3rd, 2011 - The NSL News goes once again back in time and to the archives which are not stored in the current database. The story on 1 May 2003 covered the meet weekend on April 26th eight years ago. It was the beginning of the synchronized international competition draw that the NSL created and that is still applied today.

The NSL also applied a handicap system by then, which was used to determine the winners of the free windtunnel time that SkyVenture Orlando provided for the NSL teams. The NSL News story on May 1st explained how the system worked.

Mr. Pink from Georgia and Fox Force 4 won the tunnel time. Golden Knights and NMPV from Belgium posted the highest scores. It was the year when NMP-PCH Hayabusa launched their team project. NMPV was Belgium's national team before Hayabusa. Luc Verstrepen and videographer Danny Jacobs competed with NMPV and would later join Hayabusa. Also, Mr. Pink is getting ready for a comeback...

SkyVenture Scores April 26, 2003		League	1	2	3	4	5	6	Total	Avg	Score
Rank	AAA Class - Teams	League	P-C-L-7	H-12-J-10	O-E-1-B	17-15-M	19-20-A	22-18-4	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	CaSL	21 (-3)	18	24	---	---	---	63	21.0	63.00
2	NMPV	Spain	25	17	21	(12)	(16)	(12)	63	21.0	65.86
3	Mr. Pink	GSL	17	14	18	(14)	(11)	(9)	49	16.3	76.53
4	Beeeeez!	CaSL	17	14	17	(14)	(13)	(13)	48	16.0	64.58
5	Maubeuge Hayabusa	BST	17	11	19	---	---	---	47	15.7	64.31
6	Maubeuge Top of the Bill	BST	15	13	18	(12)	---	---	46	15.3	64.41
7	GT Inviscid	GSL	20	11	13	(11)	(7)	(9)	44	14.7	63.83
8	Maubeuge Nouvel Air	BST	13	11	13	(3)	---	---	37	12.3	62.47
9	Nexus	GSL	14 (-4)	4 (-4)	18	(13)	(10)	---	36	12.0	62.02
10	Eje gie u geëuge gie	BST	12	10	13	---	---	---	35	11.7	61.55
11	Las Chicas	Spain	11	8	8	(8)	(6)	(6)	27	9.0	57.67
12	What's Up	BST	10	6	9	---	---	---	25	8.3	56.28
13	Perfourmance	Spain	8	6	9	(6)	(6)	---	23	7.7	54.15
14	Speed Demons	BST	10	2	10	(6)	---	---	22	7.3	53.36
Rank	AA Class - Teams	League	P-C-L-7	H-4-J	O-E-1	6-15	19-20	22-18	Total	Av.	Score
1	Id	CaSL	13	11	11	9	4 (-1)	7	55	9.2	55.00
T2	Carolina Ice	CaSL	12	7 (-4)	10 (-1)	5	8	7	49	8.2	57.99
T2	Frog In a Blender	CaSL	11 (-1)	10	10	8	6	4 (-1)	49	8.2	55.00
4	Fox Force 4	CaSL	9	6 (-1)	9	7	6	5	42	7.0	58.42
5	CSS What	CaSL	7	7	6	5	3	4 (-1)	32	5.3	50.94
6	Critical Mass	CaSL	7	5 (-1)	5	4	3 (-1)	5	29	4.8	51.44
7	JFF	CaSL	7	5	5	4	2	4	27	4.5	47.90

The first inter-league SkyVenture Competition of the 2003 season is complete. Last weekend was the first time this year that three leagues competed at the same time and with the same competition draw. The previous weekend had already two meets scheduled.

While the Florida Skydiving League completed five rounds on Saturday, the Colorado Skydiving League's season opener was completely weathered out. Even though the first inter-league meet had not happened yet, the first SkyVenture certificates have already been mailed to the league directors who will hand them out to the winning teams at the next meet.

Last weekend, it was finally time for the first meet where different leagues applied the same competition draw. The Georgia Skydiving League and the Carolina Skydiving League both launched their 2003 season, and the Belgian Skydiving Trophy used the same AAA Class draw overseas in Europe.

SkyVenture agreed last year to extend the SkyVenture Competition and include other international leagues in the competition for free wind tunnel time for the most improved teams. All NSL teams are now also competing with the teams from other international leagues on the same weekend.

The free tunnel time still goes to the NSL team winning after handicap in each class. If a team of a foreign league wins after handicap, SkyVenture provides the additional tunnel time. In each class, teams can win 30 minutes of free tunnel time with a value of $330 if at least a total of five teams compete in the same class that weekend. If the number of participating teams in the same class is lower than five, the winning team after handicap still receives ten minutes of free SkyVenture tunnel time.

Of course, the inter-league competition is not only exciting because of the SkyVenture prizes. The most interesting part of this concept is the fact that teams in different regions of the USA, and now also in different parts of the world, apply the same competition draw. Teams can compare their scores directly.

The competition draw for last weekend's meets was provided by the Belgian Skydiving Trophy. And it made its way to the league directors in Georgia and Carolina through the NSL headquarters in DeLand.

After each meet weekend, the NSL headquarters collects the scores with the help of each participating league and applies the NSL Shugar/O'Connor handicap system to the raw scores. The results end up on the NSL website.

The rankings of the SkyVenture Competition are according to the team's raw averages after the minimum number of rounds. The scores after handicap appear in the column below the SkyVenture logo. Teams attending their first meet of the season receive their handicap after three rounds at the same meet. Teams that have already attended previous NSL meets receive the handicap according to the season average.

Even though there is only limited data available at the beginning of the season, the results have been quite precise in the past. Last weekend, 14 teams competed in the AAA Class in Belgium, Spain, Georgia and Carolina. The handicapped scores were determined after three rounds since the BST meet was limited by weather to only three rounds.

Coming from a 13.5 average at the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2003, Mr.Pink improved the team average after the fast three rounds of last weekend's competition dramatically and walked away with the free tunnel time. Even though the circumstances favored the GSL team this time, Mr. Pink has already shown a significant progression between 2002 and 2003 and surely deserves SkyVenture's prize for the most improved team.

Seven teams made the AA Class competition of the Carolina Skydiving League in itself eligible for 30 minutes of free tunnel time. The Belgian A Class is different than the NSL AA Class and cannot be included in the SkyVenture Competition.

The Georgia Skydiving League had no teams signed up in the AA Class. The new CaSL team Fox Force showed the most improvement in the second half of the competition and ended up slightly ahead of last year's AA Class CaSL Champion, Carolina Ice. The all-female team Fox Force ended up in fourth place with a 7.0 meet average after six rounds and will receive 30 minutes of free SkyVenture tunnel time for the first place after handicap. Fox Force consists of Portia Hill, Pam Riggs, Laura Kraus, Rhonda Roper and Chad Wilcox (Video).