posted Nov 25th, 2009 - The first part of the exciting Rookie Class competition for the gold medals at the NSL Championship 2009 was covered on 23 November 2009. The story mentioned that Relativity from Colorado and Team DiZaster from Florida came to compete for the Aerodyne Rookie Class Cup and that Hot Flash was out for fun and competition experience.

The Rookie Class team from Texas has a very interesting short history that began in April this year. Former Hot Flash Point and current Tail Marty "Ladybug" Mahoney explained for the NSL News in a funny way how herself, Lori Mitchell, Johnny Tubbs and Grady Ferguson actually ended up in DeLand with Hot Flash:

"In April of 2009, three mature women found themselves carnage to the political animal they call 4-way skydiving teams... We had all been removed from our teams - one of us for not being serious enough, one for not having enough jumps or years in the sport and one for not having the time and finances."

The three original members and passionate skydivers (Kara Latimer, Marian Sparks and Marty Mahoney) decided to move on and form their own lineup. They picked up Lori Mitchell as the fourth member, a true 4-way rookie with no experience, and began their team journey.

Hot Flash had a shoe string budget. The Plan included a moderate jump number and attending the monthly meets of the Texas Skydiving League. One training day per month, the TSL meets and the trip to the NSL Championship at SkyQuest 2009 completed the Hot Flash agenda for 2009.

The original lineup made seven jumps before the first TSL meet in May, which were mostly used to figure out the slots for each member. The 3.5 average was the very first Hot Flash score this year.

Hot Flash trained diligently in the next few weeks. However, the lineup already changed for the second meet in June, and a substitute filled the open slot.

The performance did not suffer, as Hot Flash scored significantly higher (6.2) despite a zero in Round 3.

The training continued. Unfortunately, another original member was missing at the third TSL meet in July (5.7) and Hot Flash competed once again with a substitute.

More training with coaching by Eric Ching followed, and Hot Flash had the original lineup available at the TSL August meet. The original lineup now tied the 6.2 average of the June meet and scored a new team record with a 12-pointer in Round 4.

New trouble made it very difficult for the upcoming September meet. A car accident for one and health issues of another Hot Flash member shook up the original lineup. Coach Eric Ching and another substitute filled the open slots this time, and Hot Flash succeeded in attending all TSL meets of 2009.

Then the preparations for the trip to SkyQuest 2009 and the NSL Championship began, and the trouble continued. Kara Latimer and Marian Sparks were both not able to commit to the travel plans. However, Marty Mahoney and Lori Mitchell did not give up and once again found help to fill the slots.

Johnny Tubbs and Grady Ferguson stepped in and competed last weekend in DeLand. Johnny Tubbs took the player coach position for Hot Flash, as he is looking back at many years of 4-way competition. Charlie "Tuna" Powell agreed to film Hot Flash in Florida.

Johnny Tubbs already knew how to win the NSL Rookie Class Championship. He had competed with Team America from Texas at SkyQuest 2005 and took the Rookie Class trophy back home by then. Team America won with a 9.3 average in 2005.

Grady Ferguson had his own team throughout the 2009 season and had competed with Spaceland 2BD at the 2009 USPA National Skydiving Championships. He liked the story and the tenacity of the Hot Flash ladies and agreed to step in, together with his 2BD videographer Charlie "Tuna" Powell.

The new lineup had to make some slot adjustments, as Grady Ferguson was the Point for his other team. Marty Mahoney's Point slot with Hot Flash was actually the most consistent part of the team all year. However, she moved to the Tail slot, Hot Flash made 12 jumps on two weekends before the last meet and then took off heading to Florida. The rest of the story is on the NSL Championship scoreboard...