posted Oct 23rd, 2007 - It has been quite a while since Mr. Pink, a 4-way team from Georgia, was mentioned the last time by the NSL News. The story on January 18 did not even cover any team activities this year. It just provided a review of the history of the Georgia Skydiving League. Mr. Pink is a part of the GSL history, as the story explains.

However, the last time that Mr. Pink competed with a complete line-up was at the NSL Championship 2003. GSL co-founder Glen Hauenstein, Mike Gruwell, Jennifer Gruwell and Robert May won the NSL bronze medals at SkyQuest 2003 with a 12.2 average. DeLand Majik won the NSL Shugar Cup that year, Chikara placed second.

The team retired, not really though. It was more a break, which became a longer one than expected. Glen Hauenstein and Jennifer Gruwell grew very close with Mr. Pink and got married in 2004. The NSL News reported in 2004:

"The NSL audience may have noticed that the name of a 4-way team with one of the longest traditions in the country did not appear on any scoreboard this year. Mr. Pink from Georgia set the team priorities differently this year. The main team event took place last weekend near Atlanta. Jennifer Gruwell, alias Kid Pink and Glen Hauenstein, alias Mr. Purple, got married.

Missing Pink scores in 2004 does not mean that the team has completely disbanded. In fact, the wedding ceremony at Kid Pink's parents' house in Powder Springs, Georgia, included Pink guests from all over the country. Mr. Pink's last Tail of the 2003 line-up, Robert "Bobby" May, alias Mr. Jade, visited from his home in California."

Mr. and Mrs. Hauenstein had a comeback in May 2005. Their names now appeared in the long list of the Teiwaz line-up. They had traveled south from Georgia and attended the May meet of the Florida Skydiving League in DeLand.

Teiwaz Pink competed with Natasha Montgomery (Point), Jennifer Hauenstein (Center Outside), Glen Hauenstein (Center Inside) and Kurt Gaebel (Tail).

DeLand Fire member Natasha Montgomery joined Teiwaz for this meet while she was training with her own team for the USPA Nationals 2005. She would later win with DeLand Fire in 2005 and become the first female 4-way world champion in 2006. Teiwaz Pink's Round 2 of the FSL May meet in 2005 is still available on NSL-TV.

The Georgia Skydiving League had its last meet of the 2007 season on the October 13 weekend. It happened to be the weekend of a Mr. Pink re-union at the same time. Glen and Jennifer Hauenstein and Jennifer's brother Mike Gruwell met with another original Mt. Pink member, Jonathan Perl.

The earliest recorded Mr. Pink line-up consisted of Glen Hauenstein, Robert Anderson, Jonathan Perl, Mark Thompson and Andrea Sourcey. This line-up competed throughout the first season of the Georgia Skydiving League in 1998.

Robert Anderson and Glen Hauenstein had helped Glenn Crews to launch the Georgia Skydiving League in 1997. Glenn Crews took care of the administration and management for the first two years, while Robert Anderson and Glen Hauenstein competed with Mr. Pink.

The same Mr. Pink line-up represented the Georgia Skydiving League at the first NSL Championship in 1998 and competed with Convergence (Texas) and DeLand Genesis (Florida) for the first sets of NSL medals. All three teams were invited by SkyVenture Orlando and did not have to pay for any expenses, including travel and accommodation.

Mr. Pink competed with Glen Hauenstein, Jonathan Perl, Mark Thompson and Jamie Johnson at the NSL Championship 1999, as well.

Jamie Johnson would later win gold meadals with Synchronicity at the 4-way female category of the World Championship of Formation Skydiving in Croatia 2004.

Glen Hauenstein and Jonathan Perl go obviously back to the very beginnings of the Georgia Skydiving League and Mr. Pink. Mike and Jennifer Gruwell, later Hauenstein, joined the Mr. Pink line-up later. However, there was one season when all four Mr. Pink members trained and competed together for approx. six months, team founder Glen Hauenstein recalled.

Mr. Pink did not compete at the last GSL meet this month. Only Mike Gruwell, who is still actively involved with the current GSL activities, attended the competition on Saturday. The other three Pink members visited The Farm on Sunday for a few jumps, the Hauensteins after a 2-year break from skydiving at all.

Mr. Pink did not even have a videographer for the 4-way fun jumps. It was a very new experience for the Pink members to just get together and enjoy the element itself. However, the feelings and memories of the good old Pink days came right back and were very inspiring for everybody, as Glen Hauenstein remembers:

"We had such a great time. It felt like we had never left. It was almost even more enjoyable compared to the Pink days of serious training and competition. We did some great 4-way skydives and enjoyed the element and atmosphere more than ever before. Now we are ready again to do the same at a few meets next year."

It sounds as if another Teiwaz project is growing in Georgia. More and more teams and competitors seem to enjoy a more casual approach to 4-way competition and use the league meets to get together with other like-minded, have fun and make some good 4-way jumps. Of course, there is always the possibility that the veterans feel the drive again and ask for more...