posted Jan 30th, 2008 - The NSL News story on 7 January 2008 had introduced Mike Ashley as the new Mideast Skydiving League Director. The latest newsletter of MESL host Start Skydiving announced that the new MESL Director has already taken action on preparing the 2008 season for the skydiving community in the mideast region. Mike Ashley has plans for the first part of the 2008 season.

NSL Season Starts at Start

By MESL Director Mike Ashley

Greetings, All!

As you've heard here and elsewhere, I've volunteered to be the regional director for the Mideast Skydiving League this summer. We've got a lot of FS talent in the area, and I thought it was completely unacceptable to not have a venue to allow that talent to strut its stuff. So, to that end, we'd like to begin the season with a means of getting like-minded skydivers together. On Saturday, April 12, we will be hosting a Meet-n-Greet event at Start Skydiving. Skydivers of all experience levels, who are interested in doing 4-way at any level, from extremely casual, to hardcore training, and everything in between are invited to attend.

The objective is to bring together like-minded people who are interested in improving their FS flying skills. Everyone will bring their own level of interest and potential commitment, and we'll do our best to match up people with common goals, build a skydiving community, and have fun while we're doing it. If you're a potential team flyer or videographer, come on out and make your interest known! Some of the best skydivers in the world have come from Ohio, let's build the Next Generation. One of them could be you!

As an added bonus, Team Fastrax has graciously volunteered to hold a seminar on team building, basic 4-way flying skills, and training strategies. This is a golden opportunity to get the inside goods from a world class team in your own backyard. So don't miss out on this! Weather permitting, Sunday will give us the perfect opportunity to have your first dives of the season with your new team-mates in preparation for the first MESL meet in May.

Speaking of which, first MESL meet will be held at Start Skydiving on May 24th during the Thank You Foundation Boogie with a rain date of May 25. Following the meet on Sunday and Monday, we'll have load organizers to take the teams and other jumpers to build even more interesting dives.

If anyone has an interest in doing some 4-way this summer, feel free to contact me directly at rwvidiot@woh.rr.com. We're here to serve.

Here's to a great season in 2008!

Mike Ashley