posted Jul 27th, 2018 - The NSL News reported recently that NFTO, the British national team in 4-way Women, competed with new team member Sian Stokes at the Hib Cup last weekend and finished with the team's first 20+ average after the six scheduled rounds.

The story looked back at the history of the new team member and the relationship between her teams, 4mula and Volition, and NFTO in the past years. Sian Stokes trained and competed with Team 4mula when NFTO was formed in 2015. The story pointed out that Sian Stokes' teams were always ahead of NFTO at any meets that both teams attended ever since.

The history of new team mates Vana Parker and Sian Stokes goes actually further back than to the beginnings of NFTO. In fact, both were not in the original lineup of the current British national team in 4-way Women. Sian Stokes trained and competed with Team 4mula, while Vana Parker was a Voodoo member, South Africa's national team in 4-way Open between 2001 and 2012.

Voodoo continued to train and compete in Great Britain after the last world meet for South Africa and eventually won the UK Nationals in 2014, which was also the first national championship for Sian Stokes with Team 4mula.

UK Nationals 2014		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	B,O,7,22	20,J,10	9,M,E,18	12,2,Q	N,P,F,13	4,G,19	A,6,H,C	8,L,D,15	14,16,3	5,1,17	Total	Avg
1	Voodoo	20	15	24	16	24	18	26	17	16	19	195	19.5
2	Vision 99	20	16	22	16	22	16	22	17	16	18	185	18.5
3	Kaizen	21	15	23	16	20	17	24	17	15	16	184	18.4
4	4mula	16	15	19	16	23	16	21	17	15	16	174	17.4
5	Bodyflight Isis	18	15	21	13	19	17	22	17	15	16	173	17.3
6	Eclipse	15	14	18	12	19	14	21	13	13	17	156	15.6
7	DWS	16	11	18	11	17	14	17	15	11	14	144	14.4
8	Anti Matter	15	12	17	11	16	13	17	14	12	14	141	14.1
9	Raykipo	17	15	18	13	16	14	12	14	9	10	138	13.8
10	Festina Lente	17	12	17	12	10	14	15	13	9	14	133	13.3

Vana Parker with Voodoo was always ahead of Team 4mula until Voodoo eventually discontinued after the Bodyflight Revenge in October 2015. The 19.5 average at the UK Nationals 2014 is the highest number that any of the current NFTO members have posted in a 10-round meet.

There was one exception though where Sian Stokes outscored Vana Parker. It was the Bodyflight Revenge in October 2014 where Sian Stokes joined forces with XL members Steve Hamilton and John McIver and Satori's Ian Hodgkinson. Team 4mula did not attend the meet, and Full Stop XL with Sian Stokes won the meet with a 25.3 average, Voodoo placed second with 23.6.

Vana Parker continued with Voodoo for another year, and Sian Stokes was back with Team 4mula in 2015. However, Voodoo had turned into an indoor team and attended four indoor meets in 2015, while Team 4mula focused on outdoor competition only. Both teams never met each other at another meet before Vana Parker joined NFTO for the 2016 season.

NFTO was already qualified for the FAI World Meet 2016 as the British national team in 4-way Women after the UK Nationals 2015, and Vana Parker won her first FAI bronze medal with the British team in Chicago.

Bodyflight Revenge 2014		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	E,16,15	2,B,6	4,8,13	L,5,10	9,20,22	1,G,11	J,M,Q,O,3	C,P,A,12	K,7,21	19,18,F	Total	Avg
1	Full Stop XL	25	26	19	24	23	22	34	29	27	24	253	25.3
2	Voodoo	26	24	17	24	21	19	32	26	24	23	236	23.6
3	Vision 99	22	20	17	22	21	20	32	23	22	19	218	21.8
4	Kaizen	22	21	16	20	20	18	29	24	23	20	213	21.3
5	Bodyflight Isis	20	24	17	19	15	19	29	25	23	21	212	21.2

Sian Stokes won her own FAI medal a year later in a different category. She had joined the indoor team Volition and competed for Great Britain in 4-way Women at the FAI Indoor World Meet 2017 where her team finished in second place.

Another year later, both former Open Class competitors will now try to win their next FAI medals together. It will be outdoor competition in 4-way Women at the FAI World Meet in Australia where NFTO has a good chance to turn the bronze medals of 2016 into silver.

Last weekend's 20.3 average at the Hib Cup is promising, even though it was a 6-round meet with two fast sequences. However, the new lineup has a different goal anyway. It is Voodoo's 19.5 outdoor average at the UK Nationals 2014 that NFTO is aiming at.

A higher result in Australia would bring all current NFTO members on the same outdoor record level in British 4-way Women history, and it would probably be enough to win the silver medals, as well. However, turning the 20.3 average for a 6-round meet into a 20+ average after ten rounds is probably just as appealing...