posted Nov 23rd, 2009 - The NSL Championship 2009 4-way competition of SkyQuest 2009 was once again a small but fun event, and it was also very exciting at the same time.

The competition in the Rookie Class and in the AA Class was so close that everything was possible until the last round. Perris Jimani and Teiwaz were separated by only two points after ten rounds. Team DiZaster and Relativity had a 4-point difference at the end.

The three Rookie Class teams were from three different states. Hot Flash visited from Texas and was out to collect meet experiences and enjoy the SkyQuest atmosphere. Relativity from Colorado and Team DiZaster from Florida wanted to win the competition, and both teams showed their great skills and competitive motivation from the beginning to the end.

Relativity has Kipp Chambers (Outside Center), Chris Edwards (Inside Center), Joel Steverson (Tail) and Traci VanWoensel (Point) in the lineup. Local videographer PJ Jackson was filming the team.

The Colorado team had attended four meets of the Colorado Skydiving League before making the trip to Florida last week. The progression of the scores in 2009 was impressive (6.3 - 8.3 - 10.0 - 12.3), and the last meet average in August indicated that Relativity was ready to challenge the Florida team at the Rookie Class championship.

In fact, the young team from Colorado had already grown into the position of the top contender by then. The two Rookie Class teams have already known each other for a while and competed quite a few times indirectly with each other.

Colorado and Florida happened to have scheduled four of their 2009 league meets on the same weekends. Both teams attended three of these four meets, and the competition draw was identical in Colorado and Florida.

Team DiZaster from Skydive City had already competed two times before Relativity opened the 2009 season with the May meet in Colorado. The Florida Skydiving League had the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2009 in March and the April meet in DeLand, as well.

DiZaster was obviously already warmed up and won the first indirect competition over six rounds in May (42 - 38). However, the first round of the June meet would be the last round that the Z-Hills team would win before the NSL Championship 2009.

DiZaster won Round 1 of the June meet with a 10-pointer. From then on, Relativity took total control and won all other rounds over DiZaster in June and August. The Colorado team had a very good reason to be confident when the travel plans for the NSL Championship were finalized.

Relativity was probably surprised when the Florida team kept up with two great scores in the first two rounds. DiZaster has not had many 13- or 14-pointers on the scoreboard this year. In fact, the Z-Hills team had scored only once higher than 12 points.

Relativity's 12- and 14-pointers in the first two rounds confirmed the Colorado team's high performance level. However, these scores still left the Florida team obviously quite unimpressed. DiZaster beat the 12-pointer with a 13, tied the 14-pointer in Round 2 and won each of the next four rounds by one point.

The meet had already turned into a psychological challenge for Relativity by then. The Colorado team had won seven of the last nine rounds between the two teams before coming to DeLand. The situation was now completely different at half-time. The Z-Hills team had not even lost one single round and was up by four points.

It was difficult for Relativity to catch up or get ahead. The Colorado team applied a standard exit and waited out the sub-terminal phase of each jump before building the first formation of the sequence. The Z-Hills team was more aggressive with the exits and with the first page of the sequences.

Relativity still collected enough points to stay close once the Colorado team's engine was warmed up and running smoothly. It was still always a run from behind, as DiZaster started scoring earlier. Relativity still managed to catch up eventually and get dangerously close. The second half of the meet videos will show how.