posted Oct 4th, 2014 - Poland had a 4-way team at a World Championship of Formation Skydiving only four times (1989: 3.0 - 1991: 3.8 - 1997: 5.3 - 2001: 4.8) since 1985. However, this does not mean that there is no recent 4-way competition in the eastern European country.

In fact, Poland held its national championships last week, and four teams completed ten rounds from a Turbolet 410 at the skydiving center in Kruszyn.

The scoring level of the winning team, Un4given, is far above Poland's 4-way national teams from long ago and would be competitive with several of the teams that did not make the first cut on the leaderboard of the FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2014. The team in 2nd place, Sky4four, with Irish guest competitor and substitute Gordon Hodgkinson, challenged Un4given throughout the first six rounds before the Polish top team pulled away.

Poland Nationals 2014		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way AAA Class	4,L,K,P	D,A,10,2	B,J,22,E	21,19,1	18,6,N	M,7,13	3,Q,11	5,9,14	17,C,O,16	F,H,15,G	Total	Avg
1	Un4given	11	12	15	10	10	12	11	13	13	15	122	12.2
2	Sky4four	13	9	13	10	11	14	10	10	9	9	108	10.8
3	No Mercy	7	6	10	6	6	9	8	6	8	9	75	7.5
4	Flyspot Chicks	7	7	8	5	6	8	7	7	6	9	70	7.0

Poland had a VFS 4-way team at last year's World Cup in Banja Luka and at the 4th Dubai Cup 2013. One of the members, Dariusz Filipowski, now competed with Un4given in traditional 4-way and finished with a significantly higher meet average.

The team in 2nd place, Sky4four, was formed early in 2013. Irish visitor Gordon Hodgkinson is currently filling the point slot for Anna Dzido who is pregnant. The team has its home drop zone in Chrcynno, an air field near Warsaw.

Sky4four started with indoor training under the guidance of the Czech Republic's 4-way godfather Jan Klapka and his Bad Boys team mate Vaclav Prokes at the Skydive Arena in Prague. Personnel changes slowed down the progression later in 2013 until the current lineup was complete. Sky4four still attended the team's first competition at last year's national championship and finished with a 7.4 average in the AAA Class.

World Cup 2013		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7	Round 8	Total	Avg
Rank	VFS 4-way	K,5,G,10	9,11,12	N,16,2	17,I,E,L	B,C,6,1	3,7,4	13,D,H,A	F,J,14,8	Total	Avg
1	Dubai Nexus (AE)	19	25	24	25	21	24	22	30	190	23.8
2	Team4speed SD (FR)	16	24	22	20	22	22	23	32	181	22.6
3	Blue Pelican (NO)	9	11	10	5	9	11	12	13	80	10.0
4	Fly Definition (PL)	2	9	3	5	4	8	7	9	47	5.9
5	Varial (UK)	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	0.3

The four teams at the Polish Nationals also included an all-female lineup. The Flyspot Chicks were formed in June 2014 when the four friends from two different drop zones decided to share some time in Warsaw’s new wind tunnel, Flyspot.

Initially, the four team members just intended to share some flying time for fitness and fun. However, they met Gordon Hodgkinson at their first flying session, who encouraged them to build a "real" 4-way team. They set the goal to learn the A Class dive pool and compete at the World Challenge 2015 in Bedford.

Poland's national championship only offers the AAA Class category so far, and the team decided to compete anyway. They went through a quick 1-month introduction to all 4-way blocks under the guidance of Gordon Hodgkinson.

The Flyspot management in Warsaw was impressed with the team's energy and progression and offered some small funding support. The four members named themselves Flyspot Chicks in return, and the team was born.

Round 1 at this year's national championship was the team's 4th jump together, and the 10-round meet became the first experience with the complete AAA Class dive pool. The new 4-way competitors were very happy with their impressive 7.0 average.

Tail Izabela Pilarczyk expressed how the whole team felt after the meet: "I've been jumping since 1989, and after years of different disciplines I'm excited to find I love 4-way, and especially in this team." Her piece partner Agata Chmielak added: "I never thought 4-way flying would be so exciting, and there’s a special positive energy in this team. It feels the whole world is helping us get together and make everything happen. Special thanks to all the experienced competitors who gave us tips and advice during the competition." Welcome to the 4-way world...