posted Sep 4th, 2007 - The June 2 meet weekend was the busiest one this year so far. The total of 74 teams on the leaderboard was a new record for the NSL News. However, the upcoming weekend will most likely beat all previous records and once again bring scores and news from several different events.

The combination of the USPA Nationals 2007 and the ESL Championship 2007 alone will offer so much information that the valued NSL audience better prepares to spend a lot of time on-line this weekend.

The scores will not be listed on the same leaderboard since both major events will apply separate competition draws. The ESL Championship 2007 gets already on its way on Friday, while the USPA Nationals 2007 begins on Saturday morning. Several smaller league events will run parallel on the weekend, especially for the A Class and Rookie Class teams that cannot compete at the USPA Nationals 2007. The national championship of Germany will begin when the USPA Nationals 2007 will be completed.

The organizers of the ESL Championship 2007 would have liked to use the same competition draw that the US teams will apply. The new FAI World Cup champion of 2007, Hayabusa Defence from Belgium, will defend the ESL title in Spa and is eager to compare the team's own performance level directly with the best US teams.

USPA's Intermediate Class dive pool and the AA Class of the NSL/ESL Network are identical, as well, and the best European AA Class teams would also like to see where they stand compared to the US teams. The AA Class highscorer from Great Britain, Wingnutz, won the UK Nationals 2007 with a 13.8 average and will take a close look at the Intermediate Class scores at the USPA Nationals 2007.

Eight European nations (France, Lithuania, Finland, Netherlands, Belgium, Great Britain, Switzerland, Czech Republic) have already registered their teams for the ESL Championship 2007. The total number of currently registered teams stands at 32, and the ESL management expects the final number around 40 teams.

The strongest nations, Belgium, Netherlands and Great Britain will once again battle for the popular European trophy, the ESL Spirit. Belgium is the defender of the ESL Spirit title where the scores of the best teams of each country in all four competition classes combine for the overall results.

Hayabusa Defence will surely win the AAA Class competition, and Wingnutz seems to be the top contender in the AA Class. However, the Netherlands have sent Turbulence (11.1) into the AA Class race after competing in the AAA Class this year. The European Skydiving League allows these kind of tactical moves for the ESL Spirit competition.

The ESL Championship2007 coverage is brought to you with the help of:

The A Class competition promises an exciting race between the highscoring UK teams (Phobia, Sonic V) and the strong Dutch teams (Whooops, Yottsu). The situation is very similar between Great Britain and the Netherlands in the Rookie Class. It will be very difficult this year for Belgium to defend the ESL Spirit 2007.

NSL-TV has uploaded two more Hayabusa Defence videos in the meantime. Rounds 7 and 8 were the first two jumps on the morning of the second competition day at the FAI World Cup 2007in Russia. The Belgian team was the sole leader after six rounds and at the end of the first day. There was a lot of pressure on the young team in this new and unknown situation.

Hayabusa Defence handled the pressure obviously very well and tied the highest scores (24 - 25) for both rounds to maintain the 1-point lead over France Maubeuge. Enjoy the new NSL-TV show and help the NSL operation with a Donation...