posted Oct 19th, 2011 - The German national 4way team in the female category at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2010 had to take a break this year, as the NSL News reported several times. Pia Weingart (Center Inside), Anne Heinrich (Tail) and new member Petra van Overveld (Point) decided after Center Outside Sarah Hajooze's injury in March 2011 to wait for her recovery.

ISB Air of 2011 is now not too far away from a full comeback with the original lineup. In the meantime, Pia Weingart, Anne Heinrich and Petra van Overveld joined some other teams just for the German Nationals 2011, as the NSL News also reported during the event coverage.

Pia Weingart and Anne Heinrich finished in 4th place with Mixed Force Remscheid, while Petra van Overveld filled the open slot for Paratec-Saar when Center Outside Dieter Schwarz had to step back due to an illness shortly before the competition began. The German national 4way team had just won the bronze medals at the World Cup 2011 and then defended the German 4way title successfully with Petra van Overveld.

German Nationals 2011		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	1,8,21	N,H,F,9	B,5,O,16	A,19,13	7,J,2	3,20,18	L,15,12	22,P,4	Q,C,10,11	14,K,D,E	Total	Avg
1	Paratec-Saar	14	37	21	14	17	15	15	15	16	21	185	18.5
2	Final Four DeLand	14	30	20	15	18	13	13	16	17	21	177	17.7
3	Dynamite	14	31	18	14	19	12	14	14	17	20	173	17.3
4	Mixed Fource Remscheid	12	31	20	15	18	13	13	13	13	20	168	16.8

Paratec-Saar had very little time to react to the new situation. Point Max Thiele, who switched to Center Outside when Petra van Overveld came in, said that his team completed two hours of windtunnel training on the days before the national championship began and added seven outdoor jumps on the very last day.

He was facing an interesting situation when his team tried to get ready for the title defense. He had helped Final Four with coaching earlier this year who had now turned into a serious challenger. He said that his team knew it would be much harder work compared to the previous years. They had found a great substitute, but he also knew how well prepared Final Four was.

Final Four offered tough resistance throughout the whole meet and won as many rounds as Paratec-Saar did (four), mostly in rounds with technically more challenging sequences. The national team won the fast Round 2 by seven points, which created the major portion of the 8-point winning distance at the end.

Team videographer Alexander "Dude" Hau made the meet videos of the ten Paratec-Saar rounds at the German Nationals with Petra van Overveld available for the public, and they show ISB Air's Point in action with the three World Cup bronze medalists. Paratec-Saar won the meet in Round 2. Once again, they took advantage of their passion for fast sequences, and the substitute kept up easily with the 37-point pace.

It was only the second time in Germany that a female competitor won the national championship, and that in both events. It was over 20 years ago when Kirsten Ernst did the same at the German Nationals of 1990. She had won her first title in 8way in 1988, together with Andrea Schlagheck.

This is only the beginning, Petra van Overveld added. Now her team plans to win the next German 4way title in the Open Class with the complete female ISB Air lineup. Paratec-Saar better get ready in time, the German girls are not joking...