posted Jun 22nd, 2009 - The NSL News story on 17 June 2009 provided a preview of the Midwest Skydiving League's 2009 season opener and introduced the MWSL AAA Class teams SDC Rhythm XP and SDC Furies XP. The meet was successfully completed at Skydive Chicago last weekend, despite some weather problems.

SDC Rhythm XP lived up to the high expectations and posted a 16.8 average after six rounds. Only the Dutch national team, Dynamic Fource, outscored the USPA Advanced Class champion of 2008 by two single points. The scores of 22 AAA Class teams are posted so far.

The Furies did not compete on their home turf, but six other teams represented the Midwest Skydiving League in each competition class. CSC Pareto Optimal and Just 4Fun competed in the AA Class, and Pareto gave Ignition from the Netherlands and Random Vengeance from the United Kingdom a run for the first place on the current AA Class leaderboard with 12 teams.

CSC Pareto Optimal is the MWSL representative from Chicagoland Skydiving, with Tom Bohm (Point), MWSL Director Alan Butt (Center Outside), Andy Boyd (Center Inside), Henrik Sternberg (Tail) and Henrik Csuri (Camera) in the lineup. Pareto is a new team with limited recent 4-way experience, but all four members are highly experienced skydivers.

Pareto spent three hours last month at the Paraclete XP wind tunnel with coach Andy Honigbaum and added more time over the Memorial Day weekend. The team followed up with outdoor training at Chicagoland Skydiving Center the weekend prior to the first meet. MWSL Director Alan Butt reported after the meet that his new team was very happy with the first results.

Just 4Fun is one of the longest standing teams of the Midwest Skydiving League and appeared on the MWSL leaderboard for the first time in 2003. The fun lovers have competed each year in the AA Class competition ever since. Team member John Lidstrom's comments of this year's extended team training tell more about the great Just 4Fun purpose:

"It was with some reservations that I showed up at the DZ. There has been a team heritage of non-practice that has prevailed for many years now. This was going against all our, ahem, carefully laid out traditions. Waking up early to see blue skies was good, but as I approached Muchwannago there started a definite solid line of clouds. Waiting at the DZ we watched as a fine mist fell to the ground taunting us for daring to show up. Was this all a mistake? Were the 4-way gods showing their disgust at our audacity?

Gotta tell ya that I had a blast! Our team rocks! The first jump was simple and went awesome. I think I was tired when it was breakoff time (lots of rust...) The second was more difficult, and we noticed we needed more eyes across. It was time for lunch. The third jump was by far our most challenging, and the Bipole launch has been our nemesis for years. The launch did not fall apart, we had no brain locks, and every team member landed safely... Woooooooooohooooooooo!

Thanks for the jumps Chris, Brian and Sandy! It was great to spend the day with you, and I look forward to our 2009 season jumping and socializing together."

On The Fly threw together some old team members of last year's lineup to compete at this meet: Rick Martin (Tail), Sara Miller (Center Inside), Chris Wojnarowski (Point) and Betsy Smith (Center Outside), with Pete Jabczynski on camera. Sara Miller and Betsy Smith competed in new slots. This lineup had no training jumps jumps before the meet and seemed to do well after a few early hiccups.

SDC What's The Point had a 3-team competition in Ottawa with two new Rookie Class teams, Jetstream Tango and SDC Flying Fish. What's the Point, with Beth Schipke, Kris Hanson, Bob Moore and Holly Sherman in the lineup, is back for another season in the Rookie Class.

The team has a new member in the Center Outside slot, Kris Hanson, and is taking advantage of having SDC Rhythm XP around on their home turf this year. What's The Point attends all of Rhythm's "Team For a Day" coaching weekends, and the team members reported that they have already learned a lot in the first two camps, despite uncooperative midwest weather. What's The Point plans to attend all of the MWSL meets this year, as well as jump at some new dropzones. The team was excited to get the new competition season started.

The new Rookie Class team SDC Flying Fish won the first MWSL meet this year.

Jeff Carpenter (Tail), Tony Dommer (Point), James Lovaas (Center Inside) and Jesse Townsend (Center Outside) kicked off the year with training jumps at Skydive City in Z-Hills and wind tunnel time with SDC Rhythm XP at Paraclete.

The team also hosted Skydive Chicago's 4-way Scramble event in April. Flying Fish trains and competes to qualify for the NSL Championship at SkyQuest 2009 in November. The first step was successfully completed last weekend.