posted Nov 17th, 2008 - The end of the World Meet 2008 was also the natural end of many teams' 2-year cycle of the status as the national team.

Some national federations also structure their support for the national teams based on the 2-year time frame from world meet to world meet. Other national teams may have set the world meet as the final goal before new plans may possibly be discussed.

The NSL News was interested in the future of the Norwegian national teams and asked the official manager of Norway's national project, Trude Sviggum, for an update. Arcteryx represented Norway in the 4-way Open Class this year in France. Fortitudo competed in the Women's category. Trude Sviggum was the Center Outside for Fortitudo. The lineup of her team was formed at the end of the 2007 season.

The NSL News had introduced Fortitudo comprehensively with the story on 22 January 2008 and then followed with several updates on the team's way to the World Meet 2008. Norway's Open Class team Arcteryx has been covered by the NSL News on a regular basis ever since the team was formed years ago.

Both teams had the goal to win medals this year in France, and both teams left Maubeuge behind their goals. Arcteryx finished with the highest meet average (22.5) in the history of Norwegian 4-way Formation Skydiving competition. It was still not good enough to get even into medal contention. The bronze medals went to Belgium with a 23.9 average for Hayabusa Defence, Arcteryx 2008 ended up in 5th place.

Fortitudo matched the highest meet average of any Norwegian all-female lineups in history, even the Norgie Girls of 2003, with the 16.2 in Maubeuge this year. The new team was still even further away from the medal positions than Arcteryx. Ellen Burchardt (Tail), Lise Nansen (Center Inside), Trude Sviggum (Center Outside) and Kristine Willadsen (Point) finished in 4th place, 18 points behind France after six rounds.

Neither of the two Norwegian national 4-way lineups has a reason to be too disappointed though. Both teams had only one year with the same lineup to get ready for the World Meet 2008, and the progression within this time frame was quite impressive. History has shown that it takes more time for any new lineup to get to the medal positions at a world meet.

However, both Norwegian teams are also at the end of their official time as the national 4-way teams, and the Norwegian federation has to make new plans for the next two years, at least for the 2009 season. Trude Sviggum said that the situation is still more open than it has been in the past. There is a new lineup that will be officially supported as the new national team by the federation, but there are still other options, as well.

The Arcteryx project has been successful and finally filled the wide gap that the DeLand Norgies left after the 3-time bronze medalists retired at the end of the 2003 season. It is still a fact that no Arcteryx lineup has won medals at a world meet yet. Derek Broughton (Point), Ole Petter Hjelle (Tail), Mathias Nord (Center Inside) and Ditta Valsdottir (Center Outside) will still be sanctioned by the Norwegian federation to represent Norway at next year's World Games and World Air Games, while the new lineup will compete at the World Cup 2009 in the Czech Republic.

The federation even leaves a door open for Arcteryx at the end of the 2009 season. The 2008 lineup just came too far for the federation to give up all hope for any continuation. The Arcteryx lineup of 2008 would be welcome to continue throughout the 2010 season if the motivation is there. Each team member also has the option to join the new official selection process at the end of the 2009 season as an indivudual and possibly continue with the new lineup of Norway's national team for 2010.

Fortitudo has disbanded, and there are no new plans for a female lineup. However, the two youngest members of the team, Ellen Burchardt and Kristine Willadsen, are eager to move on and have already formally become members of the new official Norwegian national Open Class team of 2009. They join forces with two members of this year's project team X3M4S, Marianne Nordlund and Yngve Haugom.

Team Nexus will represent Norway at the World Cup 2008. Training and competition plans for the 2009 season are in the works. The Nexus project will probably bring the next Norwegian 4-way competitors to the top level, as the small Scandinavian country with a population of 4,785,200 has produced world-class Formation Sklydiving competitors and teams year after year.

The other two X3M4S members of 2008, Tore Granmo and Kjetil Nordin, have their own plans to get to the top level, as well. They want to hire two high-profile player coaches and train with them on a 2-on-2 basis. Their plans could make for an interesting race between the official national 4-way team of 2009 and the free enterprise project of Tore Granmo and Kjetil Nordin. And then there are still the Arcteryx members with their option to join the selection process at the end of the 2009 season.