posted Mar 31st, 2005 - Yesterday's NSL News story mentioned that there would be a new judging quiz and case study coming up. DeLand Majik lost a point due to an infringement related to Block 17 (Danish T - Murphy) in round two. There has not been too much discussion of the topic in the NSL Forum yet. However, the "where and what" of the infringement has not been revealed yet.

It surely is not easy to find the flaw. It happens at the Block 17 maneuver on the second page. The first thing that probably caught the judge's attention is the fact that the grip sequence building the Danish T is different compared to the Danish T on the first page.

DeLand Majik's technique for this block includes that the single flyer usually takes the leg grip of the person he/she will fly over first. Then the single flyer completes the Danish T by taking the arm grip on the center person of the Compressed Accordeon.

Majik demonstrates this grip order very well and clearly on the first page and also at the remaining same situations of Block 17 after the infringement. However, things can be different in freefall then they had been planned. It is the beauty of the sport that there is a need for quick reactions to make necessary adjustments.

The rules certainly do not require a specific grip order to build any formation. The DeLand Majik members had their own reasons why they suddenly saw the need to build this Danish T in a different way. This time, on the second page, the single flyer took the arm grip first and then followed up with the leg grip.

Even though there is no rule that requires a certain grip order to build any formation, a situation that differs from "normal operation" might catch the judge's attention. It obviously did in this case. It did not help the Majik cause that the person on the other side of the Compressed Accordeon was already loading up and initiating the turn of the piece.

This is nothing unusual, as well. In fact, loading up and initiating momentum has become a very helpful part of many techniques in recent years. It usually helps to create positive energy for the actual maneuver of a block technique.

It was a little bit different in this case. The center was still working on the grip connections and dealing with a different grip order. The increasing tension within the formation did not make it much easier to complete the last open leg grip. The center person's arms were stretched out wide to the maximum.

However, the Danish T was complete, due to the great awareness of the center people and the hard work to show the complete formation. It would still not be a great surprise if a judge gave up the effort to see the complete Danish T and did not count it as a scoring formation. This was not the case. The Danish T was complete, and the judge must have seen it.

Unfortunately for Majik, the judge's attention was now focused on this situation, and the actual block maneuver was not completed yet. DeLand Majik had saved the Danish T as a scoring formation despite the unplanned grip order building it, but the single flyer still had to deal with a stressed formation and an uncomfortable starting position for the upcoming vertical maneuver.

Result of the stressed Danish T was the difficulty for the single flyer to perform a clean vertical maneuver. Whenever Block 17 comes up, judges are educated and prepared to check if there is at least a clean window long enough to see separation between the 3-way piece and the single flyer.

This is the point where the Shamrock Showdown's event judge, Richard Schachner, most likely gave up on Majik's efforts to rescue the whole block. The single Majik flyer helped himself out of the unusual situation by holding on to the leg grip longer than usual while crossing over vertically. In fact, he made already contact with his new arm grip of the Murphy, while he was either still holding on to the old leg grip of the Danish T, or he did not offer the video and the judge the opportunity to see the separation.

Both options would be infringements of Block 17's inter and justify the deduction of the scoring point for the Murphy as the second formation of the block. DeLand Majik completed 20 points within working time and ended up with 19 points on the scoreboard.

It was an unfortunate situation for DeLand Majik and caused by a chain reaction of events. The judge might have never seen the same infringement of the inter (no separation between the single flyer and the piece) if the unusual grip order building the Danish T in combination with the early start of the outside position had not caught his attention.

On the other side and for a different case, even a questionable grip order and completion of the formation might have been rescued with a clean vertical maneuver and good separation. Judges like to see "clear presentation", a term which has now even beed added to the language of the rules, not to everybody's liking though.

What's the conclusion of this case study? The NSL Forum offers the stage to discuss this topic.

The top coaches have good reasons when they teach procedures and discipline, including the grip orders. It is very helpful to stick with these plans as much as possible. However, things can happen in freefall and can cause a change of the plans. This is where the coaches have the next recommendation: move on without much thinking and make the best out of it.

DeLand Majik did not show signs of any distraction at all, moved on very successfully and set a great example how to deal with such a situation. It required a very sharp eye to detect the infringement.