posted Jun 4th, 2025 - The NSL News covered the promising performance of British AA Class team Nakama at the first meet of the United Kingdom Skydiving League 2025 with the update on May 29th. Nakama followed up with an increased performance and scoring level last weekend at Skydive Langar, which brings the team the next step closer to the AA Class medal level at the British outdoor championship this year.

In the meantime, the NSL News has received more information of the Nakama history before the current lineup launched their team project in 2024. Andrea Bellamy and Chris Massey were original members of Rookie Class team Kaleidoscope who won RRR Class silver medals at the British Indoor Nationals 2022.

Kaleidoscope continued with Owen Masters for Andrea Bellamy in 2023 and won the national outdoor championship in the same category with the new lineup. Andrea Bellamy then made new plans with Chris Massey for the next step into A Class training and competition in 2024. They first found Nakama's outside center Debbie Dobson, who was ready to return to 4-way after a break. Tail Eoin Black had been alternate for Kaleidoscope and was glad to take the full slot with the new team and two of his former team mates. The lineup was complete, and they needed a team name. It was actually coach Kate Lindsley who suggested Nakama, which is the Japanese word for friend, comrade or companion. It also has the meaning of a strong, unbreakable bond, possibly even closer than family.

United Kingdom Skydiving League June 2025		1	2	3	4	5	6	Total	Avg
Rank	AA Class	J,L,6	F,K,M,14	15,B,G	O,C,18	20,9	13,7	Total	Avg
1	Nakama	11	9	9	11	10	9	59	9.8
2	Chute Happens	0	8	2	6	3	7	26	4.3
Rank	Rookie	J,L,E	F,K,M	B,G,A	O,C,Q	P,N,D	H,J,K	Total	Avg
1	Terminally Bad Decisions	3	8	0	6	2	3	22	3.7
2	Carnage	1	4	4	2	3	5	19	3.2
3	Scrambled Legs	1	5	3	1	3	3	16	2.7
4	Brakes Nott Stowed	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0.2

The first Nakama lineup (Andrea Bellamy, Debbie Dobson, Chris Massey, Eoin Black) attended an indoor competition in the A Class at the end of 2023, two months after the national outdoor championship, and finished in 3rd place with a 14.6 average. It was a promising starting point, even though Andrea Bellamy was still in the recovery process after an injury earlier the same year.

She still had to continue with treatment and rehabilitation throughout the winter of 2023/2024. Her original Kaleidoscope team mate Chris Massey explained how she eventually had to throw the towel: "Despite her inspirational determination and positive mental attitude affording her miraculous strides towards recovery, Andrea made the difficult decision that risks associated with outdoor jumping outweighed the benefits. She decided instead to channel her infectious energy into becoming a competition judge, to her lovely family as a wonderful mother of two, and to a return to indoor skydiving at the 2024 British Indoor Nationals as a vital member of the 8-way team Cark-8, and scratch 4-way team Sisu."

Nakama were looking for a new team member, and it was once again coach Kate Lindsley who suggested her close friend Sally Gittings as a candidate for the open slot. The first Nakama lineup trusted their coach as with the team name and invited Sally Gittings to join the lineup. She became the new Nakama tail in 2024, and former Kaleidoscope videographer Duncan Haynes committed to the Nakama camera slot.

United Kingdom Skydiving League May 2025		1	2	3	4	5	6	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	2,G,15	K,22,L,N	1,12,A	4,H,11	E,16,B,7	M,17,P,21	Total	Avg
1	3 Docs 3 Cocks	5	7	6	-	-	-	18	6.0
2	4gone Conclusion	3	3	2	-	-	-	8	2.7
Rank	AA Class	2,G,15	K,22,L	1,A,N	4,H,11	E,B,7	M,P,21	Total	Avg
1	Nakama	7	7	10	5	10	13	52	8.7
2	Slot Machines	3	5	6	4	9	10	37	6.2
Rank	A Class	2,G	K,L,9	A,N,F	4,H	E,B,7	M,P,21	Total	Avg
1	Quad Squad	3	3	7	4	7	6	30	5.0
Rank	Rookie	G,C,Q	K,L,J	A,N,F	H,D,G	E,B,O	M,P,K	Total	Avg
1	4 Kit Up	1	0	1	4	3	4	13	2.2

Debbie Dobson and Chris Massey continued in their center slots, while Eoin Black switched from tail to point and accommodated the newest team member in his previous slot. Then the new Nakama lineup created their 2024 schedule. They chose Skydive Northwest in Cark as their home base and traveled around Great Britain according to the weather situation.

Chris Massey explained why Nakama set their home base at Skydive Northwest: "Cark were absolutely fantastic in facilitating the team’s training throughout the season; even sending a few dedicated team lifts to ensure it got sufficient exposure to the single A dive pool in the outdoor environment. Cark is a fantastic dropzone not only for its stunning views, but for its enduring friendly, inclusive and welcoming atmosphere. It’s definitely a location to check out!"

After winning the A Class competition at the British Outdoor Nationals 2024 the team members had to recover from celebrating before planning for the near future. Chris Massey recalled the injuries: "The celebratory shenanigans in Hibaldstow’s bar included Chris leaving with a gash to the elbow, Eoin with a bruised coccyx, Sally with a dislocated fingernail, Debbie with a sprained earlobe and Duncan with memories he wished he didn’t make." After recovery they discussed participation at the British Indoor Nationals 2024 a few months later and decided to step up to AA Class competition, after finishing in 3rd place on the A Class leaderboard in 2023. Nakama would have still been eligible to win the A Class gold medals a year later but decided to step up to AA Class competition.

British Outdoor Nationals 2024		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		Total	Avg
Rank	AA Class	L,21,C		19,18		13,P,8		Q,22,11		D,6,4		N,9,E		15,2		A,M,J,G		Total	Avg
1	Children of the Corn	11		7		11		8		8		14		8		17		84	10.5
2	Chillies	9		8		9		8		8		11		7		15		75	9.4
3	Equinox	8		8		7		8		6		12		7		14		70	8.8
4	Wavey Wackers	7		7		8		5		7		13		7		15		69	8.6
5	Eximius	4		5		4		6		6		7		4		9		45	5.6
6	Ice Bank Foxes	5		4		4		4		7		5		5		10		44	5.5

Nakama finished once again in a medal position after the eleven rounds in their next category, including an extra round with A Class winner of 2023, Children of the Corn, and nine points behind the AA Class winner, Wavey Wackers.

Nakama 2.0 have attended the first two UKSL meets this year, after missing all of them in 2024, and they plan to use the last meet opportunity in Netheravon, as well. That's when they caught the attention of the NSL News, especially due to the promising progression. Their opponents of the past years, Children of the Corn, Wavey Wackers, have not indicated participation or scoring level this year yet, while only Wavey Wackers would still be eligible for AA Class medals. Children of the Corn won the AA Class last year and would have to step up to AAA Class competition.

The 2025 lineup will not be done after the national outdoor championship. The next British indoor championship, once again at Weembi Lille this year, will feature the team's first AAA Class competition. The time frame will be similar to last year, and Nakama will have little over two months to train the last missing six blocks, all of them creating slot-switching sequences this time. However, first there is the outdoor battle at Hibaldstow, where Nakama will be one of the top contenders.

British Indoor Nationals 2024		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AA Class	21,N,13	B,F,20	9,M,A	22,2	K,Q,14	C,1,6	18,H,7	P,E,J,19	O,8,L	11,G,4	Total	Avg
1	Wavey Wackers	14	18	24	12	15	14	15	19	14	12	157	15.7
2	Nakama	11	19	22	11	14	12	14	19	15	11	148	14.8
2	Children of the Corn	15	16	21	11	14	14	14	15	15	13	148	14.8
4	Equinox	12	14	26	9	13	13	15	18	13	11	144	14.4
5	Eximius	11	14	22	11	12	13	14	14	14	11	136	13.6
6	Chillies	12	15	20	9	12	11	13	15	11	10	128	12.8
7	The Chaos	10	12	16	9	11	11	8	14	11	10	112	11.2

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Wavey Wackers at the British Indoor Nationals 2024

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