posted Oct 11th, 2009 - The afternoon is going by, and the dropzone is almost deserted at the moment. Teams and competitors have left and save their energy for the upcoming work after the competition draw at 6 PM. The creeping areas will be busy, no doubt.

Yes, there are concerns about the weather situation, as the forecast for the upcoming week is not too promising. Even some of the top competitors wonder what the situation would be like after a short meet.

The winner of the 2009 USPA National Skydiving Championships would be the US national team for the 2010 season under normal circumstances. However, the USPA rules don't say that the Open Class winner is automatically the national team.

According to the USPA rules, "the criteria for selection to a U.S. Team is determined at a USPA Board of Directors meeting, normally in the calendar year preceding the competition" and "the method of selection is determined by vote of the USPA Board of Directors upon recommendation of the USPA Competition Committee."

Eventually, the selected "Team Manager" is in charge of inviting teams and competitors to join the US delegation for next year's international competition, in this case the World Championship of Formation Skydiving in Russia 2010.

The delegation members have to be selected at "U.S. Nationals or in USPA-sanctioned competition".

The Team Manager has the authority to "makes policy decisions and decisions affecting team composition or itinerary".

Winning the USPA Nationals 2009 is obviously not the only criteria to win the tickets to Russia, as well. However, the championship event is obviously the most important factor. Under normal circumstances...

The USPA Competition Committee may have a reason to recommend a different "selection method" if the circumstances are not normal. Thursday is officially the last day of 4-way competition. It will be the day to see whether circumstances were normal or not. The number of completed rounds may matter or not.