posted Oct 21st, 2009 - Two more video clips of the 2009 USPA National Skydiving Championships wrap up the "NSL Reality TV" coverage. These clips were just randomly picked scenes of the activities at different times of the competition last week.

There are still a few more videos of NSL Talk to come, which were recorded after the events of Formation Skydiving competition were completed. The last clip that was captured with the NSL-TV camera will present the Golden Knights in the middle of the 8-way competition.

The first clip of today's story features the 8-way award ceremony. It begins with a Rock - Papers - Scissors game story that features Spaceland Force and Paraclete XP member Shannon Pilcher. The NSL News reporter brought up the topic, which has its own little story.

The Paraclete XP 8-way lineup had trouble with injuries before the competition began, as the NSL News reported earlier. Gary Beyer barely made it through the 4-way competition. In fact, he did not, as Brian Johnson filled his slot in rounds nine and ten. He had snagged the new 4-way world record in Round 6, swallowed the shoulder pain in rounds seven and eight and then gave up. He did not even try to compete in 8-way.

Kirk Verner was in the same situation with his own shoulder and could not jump. Alternate and team founder Tim D'Annunzio was not prepared to compete with the team in Texas. Paraclete XP was now one person short for the 8-way competition that they wanted to win.

Brian Johnson was already committed to compete for Paraclete in 8-way, while Force members Shannon Pilcher and Ian Bobo had no 8-way plans prior to the competition. Eventually, they decided to jump with the fun pickup team Spaceland BFE Elsinore.

The situation changed when Paraclete was missing a member. They asked Shannon Pilcher and Ian Bobo if they would fill the open slot. It was obviously only one slot, and the new 4-way world record holders had to find a way how to make the call. They played Rock - Paper - Scissors, and Shannon Pilcher won the selection. Eric Heinsheimer then filled Shannon Pilcher's slot for Spaceland BFE Elsinore.

The award ceremony also included the Vertical 4-way Formation Skydiving competition. Some of the competitors had competed in all three FS events. Stephen Simar and Melanie Curtis were in the Elsinore BTE 4-way Open Class lineup, jumped with Spaceland BFE Elsinore in 8-way and won the VFS Advanced Class gold medals, impressive.

Thomas Hughes, 4-way silver and 8-way bronze medalist, tried the same with VFS Open Class team Spaceland Vertical Force. His team had to withdraw after three rounds. However, Eric Boyd still called the home team to the stage to accept the bronze medals.

The 8-way award ceremony continued with the Intermediate Class and then the Open Class teams. Meet Director Scott Smith eventually announced at that time that Arizona Airspeed would step back in 8-way and forward the slot as the national 8-way team of 2010 to the Golden Knights. The ceremony was concluded with the presentation on stage of the US delegation for the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2010 in Russia.

The second clip shows the official end of the NSL News coverage from the Airspeed team room. The reigning world champions had helped out the NSL News with work space and internet connection during the event. Thanks again for this very special and greatly appreciated offer.

Airspeed was already in the middle of the 10-way competition at that time. The same video clip captures Thomas Hughes and Andy Delk arguing over who was in his slot earlier and quicker. At the end, Airspeed was getting ready for the next 10-way round, and the jump preparation was not too serious. It was a great and fun time in the Airspeed team room, and it allowed the NSL News to cover almost everything as usual. Enjoy the videos.