posted Aug 26th, 2014 - The weather is not cooperating yet at the FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2014, and the teams have been on the ground all day long on Tuesday, released for most of the day and on stand-by in the afternoon.

It offers the Sun Path Products NSL News the opportunity to cover other activities in the 4-way world, and the Rookie Class teams have their turn once again. The story on 29 May 2014 mentioned how well the Rookie Class teams have been participating this year in 4-way competition.

The same story had 16 Rookie Class teams listed in the US rankings of 2014.

Rank	Team	League	Averages	Best
1	DeLand 3D (US)	FSL	8.3 - 3.8 - 9.8	9.8
2	BRML (US)	TSL	7.8	7.8
3	DeLand Aurai (US)	FSL	4.8 - 7.0 - 3.8 - 6.5	7.0
4	Instructions Not Included (US)	SSL	6.2 - 5.2	6.2
5	SkyKnights PAC Attack (US)	MWSL	4.5 - 5.7	5.7
6	Carolina McThuggetz (US)	CASL	5.3 - 3.8 - 5.5	5.5
6	Last Minute (US)	NCSL	2.5 - 4.5 - 4.0 - 5.5	5.5
8	Gear Check (US)	SSL	3.5 - 5.3	5.3
9	Back to the D (US)	CASL	5.2	5.2
10	Rain Air (US)	NWSL	4.2 - 5.0	5.0
11	Gravitron (US)	MWSL	3.8	3.8
11	Fox Fource Four (US)	SSL	3.8	3.8
13	Raindrop (US)	NWSL	3.7	3.7
13	Grippin Donuts (US)	NPSL	1.2 - 3.7	3.7
15	3Ring Circus (US)	NPSL	0.7 - 2.0 - 3.0	3.0
16	Lady Helicopter (US)	NCSL	2.3	2.3
17	We Are Easy (US)	NPSL	2.2	2.2
18	Flightro Circus (US)	CASL	2.0	2.0
18	Sub Culture (US)	MWSL	2.0	2.0
20	Makis Sled Dogs (US)	NCSL	1.8	1.8
20	The FoxeZ (US)	FSL	1.8	1.8
22	Not Yet (US)	NPSL	1.2 - 1.5 - 1.3	1.5
23	Team Ron (US)	NCSL	1.3	1.3
24	3 Jars And A Head (US)	SCSL	1.2	1.2
24	Hair Force (US)	MWSL	1.2	1.2
26	Alchemy (US)	CASL	0.7 - 1.2	1.0
26	Funnel Cake (US)	NPSL	0.7 - 1.0 - 1.0	1.0
28	Night Moves (US)	SSL	0.7	0.7
28	Cameltoes (US)	MWSL	0.7	0.7
30	Random People (US)	TSL	0.5	0.5
30	New Kids on the Plane (US)	TSL	0.5	0.5
30	Beyond Ambition (US)	CASL	0.5	0.5
33	Team TBD (US)	CASL	0.4	0.4
34	Windmill Factory (US)	NCSL	0.3	0.3
35	How Did John Get So Lucky (US)	SCSL	0.0	0.0
35	Team Alex (US)	NCSL	0.0	0.0

The number of Rookie Class teams has more than doubled in the last two months, and 36 teams are currently ranked after attending at least one meet. Several teams have competed at more than one meet, and two teams completed four meets this year, DeLand Aurai from Florida and Last Minute from Northern California.

DeLand 3D is still the leader and finished just short of the 10-average level at the August meet of the Florida Skydiving League.

Three of the seven Rookie Class teams last weekend competed at the August meet of the Southern Skydiving League, and two of them ended up in the two top spots. League director Brandy Verhalen provided some more details of the competition at Gold Coast Skydiving.

August 23rd, 2014			Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Total	Avg
Rank	Rookie		P,L,G	D,N,O	M,Q,H	A,E,J	B,F,K	H,C,D	Total	Avg
1	Gear Check (US)	SSL	2	6	8	2	8	6	32	5.3
2	Instructions Not Included (US)	SSL	4	7	8	4	8	0	31	5.2
3	Rain Air (US)	NWSL	0	4	7	8	0	11	30	5.0
4	Fox Fource Four (US)	SSL	2	3	4	5	4	5	23	3.8
5	Raindrop (US)	NWSL	0	3	3	5	4	7	22	3.7
6	Alchemy (US)	CASL	3	0	1	0	2	-	6	1.2
7	Team TBD (US)	CASL	0	1	1	0	0	-	2	0.4

Brandy Verhalen said that four of her teams had been with the league since the first meet at the end of May. Fox Force Four and AA Class team Not Since AFF (NSA), with four freeflyers joining the 4-way competition, made it a total of six teams for the August meet. She said that her competitors started the day strongly and kept up a good pace in the hot and humid south Mississippi summer:

"Judge Joseph Wood took on two roles – judge and coach, just as he did at Meet 1, going around as each team was dirt diving and mocking up their exits providing top-notch coaching. Rookie Class team Fox Force Four had never jumped together before the competition weekend and came in 3rd with each round getting cleaner and cleaner!"

Rookie Class team Instructions Not Included is planning to take on the Rookie Class teams from Florida at the NSL Championship 2014 in November. Brandy Verhalen said that there was excitement in the air from a fun inaugural season, and that "folks are elated and already talking about next year". She is planning an expansion of the SSL season to four meets and hopefully more teams.