posted Oct 1st, 2005 - The Florida Skydiving League had scheduled the last competition of the 2005 season to fill the gap between the August meet and the NSL Championship 2005 in November and to crown this year's FSL champions.

It was worth for the winners to attend the FSL Championship 2005 event at Skydive DeLand. The FSL management had committed at the beginning of the 2005 season to sponsor the FSL champions of each competition class for their visit at the NSL Championship at SkyQuest 2005.

The Florida Skydiving League will cover most of the SkyQuest 2005 expenses for the two teams that are eligible for the sponsorhip, AAA Class winner Teiwa-Z-Hills and AA Class winner FSC Wind Damaged. The Southwest Skydiving League launched the SSL Grand Prize sponsorship project last year, and the FSL management liked and copied the idea in 2005.

Teiwa-Z-Hills and FSC Wind Damaged both attended the FSL Championship event on Saturday in DeLand and were rewarded with the sponsorship certificates, plus medals they had earned at the NSL Playoffs 2005 in August. Both teams will represent the Florida Skydiving League at the NSL Championship 2005.

Teiwa-Z-Hills also re-captured the FSL PD Cup, the perpetual trophy of the Florida Skydiving League, which was sponsored by Performance Designs when the league was formed in 1997. The trophy goes every year to the eligible AAA Class team of the Florida Skydiving League with the highest raw average of the whole season.

Teiwaz won the FSL PD Cup in 2002 and 2003. DeLand Scape took it away in 2004, and Teiwa-Z-Hills will now put it back on the trophy stand at the team's 2005 home in Zephyrhills. The Teiwaz line-up at the FSL Championship 2005 in DeLand included Barbara Kobzik, Kristina Byrne, Bob Byrne and Robert Chromy, Ray Dutch was on camera.

Kris Byrne is a Fastrax Select member and joined the Teiwaz line-up for the second time this season, using her vacation from team training to attend another meet together with her husband, Bob Byrne, who had a very busy day. FSC Wind Damaged was once again unlucky with an injury situation. Center Outside, Mike Green, hurt his ankle in a work accident last week and was glad that Bob Byrne offered to fill the slot in DeLand.

Fastrax Select member and Teiwa-Z-Hills vacationer Kris Byrne had Fastrax company in DeLand. Ray Dutch switched priorities to Canopy Piloting in 2005 after filming 4-way for many years. He had accepted a slot in the Fastrax Swoop team at the beginning of the season.

However, he still enjoys filming 4-way and used the opportunity in DeLand to help Teiwa-Z-Hills to the meet videos.

Robert Chromy, who will soon be fully featured in the NSL Profiles, had additional work besides the Teiwaz jumps, as well. He has currently been coaching the national 4-way team from Chile, one of his many international coaching jobs.

Ejercito de Chile joined the competition in DeLand as a guest team, and Chromy guided them through the first competition, while jumping the tail slot for Teiwa-Z-Hills.

The Norwegian 4-way team Arctery has also been training in DeLand before the FSL competition and signed up for the team's third FSL meet of the 2005 season. Arcteryx with Tore Buer (Center Inside), Oyvind Buer (Tail), Ole Petter Hjelle (Center Outside), Ditta Valsdottir (Point) and Jan Terje Welkom on camera welcomed the opportunity of a practice meet before traveling to Eloy later this month for the World Cup 2005.

The October competition draw did not offer Arcteryx the same chance for a confidence booster as the FSL April meet did. The Norwegian team had posted a 20.7 average in the 6-round meet in Lake Wales. However, the performance and scoring level in DeLand was to the satisfaction of the team members. The NSL News will follow up with a Norwegian update and an interview.

The DeLand YaYa Sisters joined the team's first competition in 2005. However, it was not the first meet for Karen McLarty and Martha Scott. These two YaYa Sisters attended two FSL meets with Sue Clifton and Jerri Harrington in 2003 (7.5 - 7.3) in the AA Class and competed at the USPA Nationals 2003 in Lake Wales (8.2), as well.

The DeLand YaYa Sisters did not attend any meets in 2004 although the team continued to jump together once in a while. Cheryl Kenlin had joined the team's line-up last year. The FSL Championship 2005 included the team's comeback in competition, with Brian Festi on camera, and the YaYa Sisters also had a prominent YaYa Brother filling the fourth slot on the team's home turf.

Reigning 4-way world champion with DeLand Majik and USPA champion with DeLand Fire, Gary Smith, joining the team for this meet was enough motivation for the three original members to attend the competition and post the highest scores in the YaYa Sisters' history. The team's comeback was a nice birthday present on the meet day for YaYa Sister Martha Scott at the same time.