posted Jan 17th, 2012 - The NSL News reported on 2 January 2012 that a personnel change in Germany has been shaking up the Formation Skydiving community on the top level quite a bit. The story offered the details of the new situation.

Another event in Germany was recently shaking up the social environment, while it also served as a part of the preparations for a new world record attempt to build the largest national freefall formation. 240 German skydivers will try to set a new national standard for large formations this March in Eloy.

More than 100 German skydivers met at the end of December to use indoor activities in preparation for the upcoming event. The photo shows the participants, including several current national 4way and 8way competitors, demonstrating their early efforts to get in synch with each other.

Henning Stumpp, who initiated the recent personnel moves in Germany by leaving the German 8way team, was also seriously involved in organizing the first bigway winter activities in Frankfurt. He used another and more personal occasion to offer this opportunity to the participants of the German record attempt and other selected guests.

It was actually his wedding party that brought together this group of German skydivers. Henning Stumpp and Petra Barenfanger finally got married after having shared their lives for many years. The wedding party drew over 100 skydivers from all over Germany to Frankfurt.

Henning Stumpp said that the specifically designed exercises went well and that it will now be easy to integrate the other 140 German skydivers who will join the core group in March. He added that the organizers will at least be able to count on good ground work.

There is no indication that the marriage was the reason for Henning Stumpp to give up the slot in the German 8way team and the Dynamite 4way lineup with three other former German 4way and 8way champions. He said earlier that he wants to jump more with his wife, and it is a fact that the now married couple has not spent much time together in freefall.

Henning Stumpp has been a member of the German national Formation Skydiving delegation since 1994. He was the team captain of the German FSC Remscheid 8way team for six years. He won six gold medals at German national championships and attended eight World Championships of Formation Skydiving. Only former team mate Olaf Biedermann can keep up with those numbers.

Petra Barenfanger was always in different teams. She made the NSL News quite a few times, mostly whenever the German 4way team in the female category, the Chicas, honored any competition with the team's presence and made it more lively and friendly.

German Nationals 2011		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	1,8,21	N,H,F,9	B,5,O,16	A,19,13	7,J,2	3,20,18	L,15,12	22,P,4	Q,C,10,11	14,K,D,E	Total	Avg
1	Paratec-Saar	14	37	21	14	17	15	15	15	16	21	185	18.5
2	Final Four DeLand	14	30	20	15	18	13	13	16	17	21	177	17.7
3	Dynamite	14	31	18	14	19	12	14	14	17	20	173	17.3

Her husband Henning Stumpp was more active in the 8way event, however, he also trained and competed regularly in 4way. His teams (X-Ray Remscheid, Final Four, EADS, Dynamite) usually outscored his wife's results at the meets.

This changed last year. Petra Barenfanger filled an open Final Four slot for the 2011 season and helped to secure the team's biggest success in Final Four history, the silver medal at the German Nationals 2011 with a 17.7 average. Henning Stumpp's team, Dynamite, ended up in 3rd place, four points behind Final Four.

The question remains open whether this brought Henning Stumpp eventually down to his knees to propose. Fact is that they both now have no team commitments any longer. Thomas Mack is filling Henning Stumpp's slot in the German 8way team and for Dynamite. Final Four has no plans for the near future. This leads to the conclusion that the wedding party might have been part of a clandestine tryout/team selection for the new Stumpp 4way lineup...