posted Jul 10th, 2006 - The first scores of last weekend's events are posted, the Meet in Colorado was weathered out, and the NSL News is waiting for the missing scores and information from the Netherlands. This year's national championship was on the Dutch agenda last weekend, following the Tomscat Trophy 2006 three weeks ago.

The Dutch national championship is usually not as well attended as the Tomscat Trophy, the largest 4-way event in the Netherlands. However, the best teams of the small European country still compete at the championship to win the official Dutch rankings of each season, including the national teams of 2006, Punky Fish and Infinity.

Punky Fish will represent the Netherlands in the Open FAI Class, while Infinity is the Dutch national team in the FAI's female category. Both teams already competed at the Tomscat Trophy. Punky Fish won the competition with a 17.0 average, and Infinity took the second place with an 11.9 average after ten rounds.

The current Infinity line-up consists of Ilona de Graaff (Point), Judith Muit (Tail), Irma van der Burg (Center Outside), Anja van Stralen (Center Inside) and Ronny Dumaij on camera. The current line-up was formed by Anja van Stralen and Irma van der Burg in 2005.

Anja van Stralen and Irma van der Burg had both competed for the Netherlands in the Open Class competition of the World Meet 2003 in France. The Dutch team finished in 14th position in Gap with a 14.3 average. The Netherlands have not sent a team to compete in the female category ever since the introduction of this FAI class.

Anja van Stralen and Irma van der Burg decided to change this situation, and the 2-way invited Ilona de Graaff to take the Point position for the new team. Irma van der Burg switched to Center Outside and trained the new slot in 2004. The 3-way then picked up Judith Muit for the Tail slot, and the new team was complete.

Infinity began with the team training in 2005 and set moderate goals. The team members simply want to represent the Netherlands as the first Dutch national female team at the World Meet 2006. The team dynamics have high priority: "We want to show ourselves and others that we are able to score the best when we enjoy the people you jump with."

The training plan included a 2-on-2 camp with Irma van der Burg, Judith Muit and two of Belgium's Spa Hayabusa members in DeLand, early in 2005. Back in the Netherlands, the team could not make as many jumps as planned due to bad weather. The situation was the same in Russia where Infinity had planned to train for one week before the Malevsky Cup 2005.

Infinity's 2005 competition season began with a 10.9 average and bronze medals at the Tomscat Trophy 2005 and continued after 40 team jumps with the 10.1 average at the Malevsky Cup 2005 in Russia. This event provided the first international competition experiences for the new team and a preview of what to expect in the female category.

Infinity's 10.1 average won the 4th place in the Malevsky Cup's female category. Two other competitions followed the meet in Russia: the Dutch Nationals 2005 where Infinity finished in 2nd place behind Punky Fish, and the European Skydiving League Championship 2005. The ESL 2005 bronze medals with an 11.7 average in the Open Class, behind Spa Hayabusa and Punky Fish, helped the Netherlands to win the ESL trophy "Spirit" for the most successful nation.

The Infinity members were happy and motivated after the ESL 2005 results where they had a lot of fun together, as well. The team was looking forward to the 2006 season and began with the training in March this year. The first camp was a visit to the windtunnel in Paris, followed by an April camp with coach Gary Smith in DeLand.

Infinity completed 74 jumps in DeLand and added several hours of windtunnel time at SkyVenture Orlando. The team was satisfied with the results of this year's training efforts after finishing the Tomscat Trophy 2006 in second place with a new team record average of 11.9 after ten rounds.

The Dutch Nationals 2006 was the next meet on the team's competition agenda, and the trip to Germany for the World Meet 2006 is not far away. The NSL News will evaluate the situation of the international competition in the female category later.