posted Jun 19th, 2008 - The Russian Nationals 2008 are still on a hold after four rounds, and NSL-TV goes back to the May 31 and June 7 meet weekends in the meantime. Both events offered the opportunity to watch videos of two more national teams.

The first competition in Sweden this year on May 31 brought the attention back to a Swedish team that was introduced by the NSL News on 13 February 2008. Blue Spirits had competed at the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2008 and opened the 2008 season with a 13.1 average after ten rounds in DeLand. The expected Swedish national team of 2008 lifted up the scoring average to 14.8 at the May 31 meet, as the NSL News reported on 3 June 2008.

NSL-TV has uploaded the Blue Spirits video of Round 9 where the team posted the highest score of the event, a 22-pointer for a fast sequence with four random formations and one block (P-G-F-Q-21). The Swedish Cup has the next competition scheduled for June 28. The national championship and official qualifyer for France 2008 follows on July 26.

The next meet weekend on June 7 featured mostly the second competition of the United Kingdom Skydiving League 2008. The NSL News and Chrs Hollis already reported comprehensively on 9 June 2008. AAA Class videos of Satori and Wingnutz followed wth the NSL News story on 13 June 2008.

The leaderboard of the June 7 weekend included a team in the AAA Class that competed in Netheravon and is not listed as a UK team. Team Spirit is tha national 4-way team of Ireland and made the trip across the Irish Sea to compete with the British teams in Netheravon.

Chris Hollis commented the visit of the Irish team: "The Irish lads certainly know how to have a good laugh and thoroughly enjoyed themselves at the meet saying that this is better than meets we have at home. They are the only people who compete in Ireland..."

Jim Gunning (Tail), Conor King (Center Inside), Fenton Murphy (Center Outside), Stephen O'Sullivan (Point) and Eoin Mallin (Camera) already caught the attention of the NSL News during a DeLand training camp in April 2007. The Irishmen were deeply involved in the scandal of the "Pink Shannon Pilcher House" (see: Archives > 2007 > News > Search for "Ireland").

Spirit already represented Ireland at the World Cup 2007 and ended up in 20th place with an 11.1 average after eight rounds. The team was formed in 2006 with the goal to compete in Russia last year. The Spirit members have not decided yet whether they will compete in France this year or not. NSL-TV has now uploaded the Spirit video of Round 3 where the Irish team posted an 11-pointer for a 3-block sequence (11-15-9).

NSL-TV has also uploaded new videos of the three British AA Class teams that gave each other a tough competition on the same meet weekend. Phobia was already introduced by the NSL News with the story on 31 May 2008.

The same three teams copied almost exactly the outcome of the first UKSL meet this year where they ended up in the same ranking order and the same distance of two points between Phantom and Phobia. All-female team Kaizen now reduced the distance to the first place from six to four points, and this after six rounds. The May 17 meet had only four rounds. It seems as if the AA Class competition in the United Kingdom is tightening up even more.