Home page

supported by:
Vigil Logo


National
Skydiving
League

226 Pecan Street
Deland FL 32724
tel: (386) 801-0804

© 2003 - 2024
All Rights Reserved


supported by:
In Time Scoring


Valid HTML Valid CSS!

Did You Know...

... that the Great Lakes Skydiving League has a comeback this year?

First GLSL Director: Mark Belmont
posted Jan 16th, 2023 - The NSL News reported on 10 October 1999 that the Great Lakes Skydiving League would be launched in 2000: "The Great Lakes Skydiving League is preparing its inaugural season. The GLSL will run four meets in the 2000 season. The date for the first meet has been set for June 23-25, 2000. League sponsor Aerohio will host this meet. Other skydiving centers in the area are still welcome to join the league. Mark Belmont is the league's director. Sherry Butcher of Aerohio is supporting Belmont's efforts. He has already worked on putting things together for a while."

The NSL News update was posted more than 22 years ago, and Sherry Butcher and Mark Belmont followed up on the announcement. Aerohio became the first host of the new league in 2000, and three meets were held at different locations in the Great Lakes area.

Sherry Butcher is still running Aerohio, at a different location now, and she is once again ready to support the comeback of the Great Lakes Skydiving League. This time, she is working together with new GLSL Director Nicole Land, who has decided to bring back 4-way events to teams and competitors in the Great Lakes region. She has also support from two assistant directors, local 4-way competitors Erika Woodrum and Ed Ganley. 4-way teams and competitors will conclude the 2023 season at Aerohio, 23 years after the inaugural GLSL event in June 2000.

Great Lakes Skydiving League 2023DateHost
Meet 1May 20th, 2023Start Skydiving
Meet 2June 3rd, 2023Cleveland Skydiving Center
Meet 3July 15th, 2023Start Skydiving
Meet 4August 19th, 2023Aerohio Skydiving Center
Mark Belmont (center) with GLSL 4-way team Vertex
The first league director, Mark Belmont was a passionate 4-way competitor himself. His own team, Vertex, used the GLSL meets to get ready for the the USPA Nationals, and their first visit in 2000 was rewarded with the 5th place of 32 AA/Intermediate Class teams, after attending three GLSL meets before the national championships.

Seven teams visited Aerohio at the June meet of the Great Lakes Skydiving League 2000. They collected league points according to their rankings at each meet and crowned the league champions by the end of the season and before the USPA Nationals. Most importantly, the participating teams were well prepared for the 4-way competition at the national championships.

Mark Belmont was back with Vertex at the USPA Nationals a year later, once again after the regional GLSL meets. This time, Vertex missed the USPA bronze medals by three points in 4th place of 40 teams. Vertex did not continue after the end of the 2001 season, however, it became even better with a new and strong team in the GLSL region. GLSL team Kaizen competed at all local meets in 2004 and added the July meet of the MidAtlantic Skydiving League, the Karp Cup 2004, to their schedule before competing at the USPA Nationals 2004, where they won the AA/Intermediate Class gold medals for the Great Lakes Skydiving League. The league continued with activities until 2006 and then went into hibernation.

RankTeamClassRd.1Rd.2Rd.3Rd.4Rd.5Rd.6TotalAverageGLSL Points
14 Dead in OhioInterm.8791086488.010
2Sintrifugal ForceAdv.968977467.79
3Minimum 60Interm.8610975(-2)457.58
T4VertexAdv.978773 (-2)416.86.5
T4PhaseInterm.477878416.86.5
6TacamoInterm.4(-2)554 (-2)64284.75
7Hi-LoInterm.1(-2)1331 (-2)2111.84

First Great Lakes Skydiving League competition in June 2000
Nicole Land with Air Raid XP at the Paraclete XP Championship 2022
The hibernation is over now, as Nicole Land has organized the first comeback season of the Great Lakes Skydiving League, with three different hosts for the four meets. Start Skydiving, home of former world-class 4-way competitor John Hart (Team Fastrax), will run two of the GLSL meets, and John Hart offers the participating teams free coaching.

The Cleveland Skydiving Center is a new host for the Great Lakes Skydiving League, and Aerohio finishes up the 2023 season.

As first GLSL Director Mark Belmont was, Nicole Land is a passionate Formation Skydiving competitor. She has participated in events of the Indoor Cloud League at different locations since 2020, moving up the steps from the Rookie Class categories to competing at the USPA Nationals. Her team Air Raid XP attended three 4-way events in 2022 before placing 10th in the AA/Intermediate Class of the USPA Nationals 2022.

One of her assistant directors, Ed Ganley, even witnessed the early days of the Great Lakes Skydiving League. He and his partner Don Bick Ed competed at two USPA Nationals with their 4-way team Solidair and won the 8-way Intermediate Class competition of 1996 as a guest team. Together they opened the Pittsburgh Skydiving Center and hosted some meets of the Great Lakes Skydiving League.

USPA Nationals 2000
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Total Avg
Rank 4-way Intermediate 9,7 6,F Q,A,K 21,O J,2 D,P,20 TBD Total Avg
1 DeLand Tunnel Rage 15 15 22 12 13 15 - 92 15.3
2 Blaze 15 15 15 13 10 13 - 81 13.5
3 Focus 4 13 13 16 11 11 11 27 75 12.5
4 Dallas 4-Quest 15 14 20 4 10 12 26 75 12.5
5 Vertex 11 9 18 7 10 10 - 65 10.8
6 Loki 11 7 14 11 11 10 - 64 10.7
6 Float'n Otis 10 12 13 11 8 10 - 64 10.7
8 Sirens 12 10 10 8 11 11 - 62 10.3
8 Crosskeys 4 11 10 14 8 8 11 - 62 10.3
10 Pepperell Event Horizon 11 10 10 9 11 10 - 61 10.2
10 Hinckley Defcon 4 10 10 11 9 11 10 - 61 10.2
12 Sintrifugal Force 11 11 10 10 9 7 - 58 9.7
13 Boondock Saints 11 11 9 8 10 8 - 57 9.5
13 Air Buddha 11 8 11 9 7 11 - 57 9.5
15 Checkpoint 6 10 13 9 9 8 - 55 9.2
15 Wings Of Blue 11 13 8 10 7 6 - 55 9.2
17 Minimum 60 6 8 12 10 9 9 - 54 9.0
17 Formula 4 6 8 12 7 10 11 - 54 9.0
17 Flashpoint 10 11 6 9 8 10 - 54 9.0
20 Da Vinci's Dream 9 10 11 6 9 8 - 53 8.8
21 Foreigners 11 0 13 9 8 11 - 52 8.7
22 Kokomo 10 10 8 7 7 9 - 51 8.5
22 Ground Zero 10 9 9 6 8 9 - 51 8.5
24 Arizona Fusion 9 10 9 7 6 8 - 49 8.2
25 Pepperell Expedition 6 11 8 7 8 7 - 47 7.8
25 B & B 2000 6 11 8 7 8 7 - 47 7.8
27 Perris 2000 6 10 7 6 9 7 - 45 7.5
27 Burning Daylight 10 10 7 9 8 1 - 45 7.5
29 Elsinore 4 Quest 9 6 10 5 7 7 - 44 7.3
30 Mark-4 5 8 8 7 6 5 - 39 6.5
31 Un4given 3 9 8 7 6 4 - 37 6.2
32 Hot & Nasty 3 6 7 4 6 5 - 31 5.2
comments / feedback
Previous Article | Next Article