posted Oct 23rd, 2005 - The NSL News story on October 17 explained that the recent FAI ruling of the "Pete Allum Case" clarified the eligibility situation for Italy's national team Sinapsi PD and its new member Pete Allum. The NSL News also mentioned that Thomas Hughes is now actually in exactly the same position as Pete, together with all other international air sports athletes who might want to compete for a different nation.

However, Thomas Hughes might still have some additional obstacles on his way before he would be eligible to compete with a US team. The NSL News story on December 31 explained the situation for the former British national competitor in detail.

Thomas Hughes and Natasha Montgomery had trained and competed together with Arizona Blade throughout the 2004 season and attended the USPA Nationals 2004 as a guest team, which was due to the fact that Thomas Hughes was not eligible according to the USPA eligibility rules. USPA usually copies the relevant and current IPC competition rules.

Arizona Blade with Thomas Hughes, Natasha Montgomery, Mark Kirkby and Robert Healy also won the NSL Championship 2004 where nationality of the team members were not limited in any way.

Thomas Hughes and Natasha Montgomery made new plans for the 2005 season, moved to Florida and formed DeLand Fire with Gary Smith, Shannon Pilcher and Ian Bobo. Thomas Hughes was supposed to be the team's alternate and videographer. Inquiries of the team to USPA as of Thomas Hughes' eligibility status confirmed that he would not be eligible for medals at the USPA Nationals 2005. The current USPA rules were and still are a copy of the former IPC rules:

Thomas Hughes still remained a DeLand Fire member after the USPA confirmation that he cannot win a USPA medal in 2005 and continued to jump with the team occasionally. However, DeLand Fire began looking for a different videographer, and Eric Taylor joined the team on camera as an eligible USPA competitor.

DeLand Fire won the USPA Nationals 2005, which would usually qualify the team as the new US national team for the IPC World Meet in Germany 2006, according to usual USPA procedures. DeLand Fire has not seriously discussed the team plans for next year yet. However, Thomas Hughes has still been an inofficial member of the team, and it is possible that DeLand Fire might include him in plans for the 2006 season.

Is it possible? Obviously, the international FAI/IPC rules would now allow Thomas Hughes to compete for the USA after January 1, 2006. He competed for the UK team XL at the World Meet in 2003 and did not attend any international FAI/IPC events in 2004 and 2005.

The FAI/IPC rules do not regulate how each country's national team qualifies for the IPC World Meet. It is up to each IPC member country to decide which five/six people will represent the nation at the next World Meet in the 4-way event. USPA usually sends the team that wins the USPA Nationals of the year prior to the World Meet. Other countries, as France or Denmark, determine their national teams in different ways.

There is a realistic possibility that the winner of the USPA Nationals might substitute a team member after the qualification and before the World Meet. This has happened several times in the past, especially in 8-way, where the Airspeed line-ups change almost every year. Recently, it has already been confirmed that Airspeed member Dennis Rook will have to be replaced for the 2006 season.

It is usually in the best interest of each IPC member country's association, USPA in this case, to send the best team to the World Meet and have successful representation. That was one of the reasons why Italy supported its best 4-way team, Sinapsi PD, in recruiting an adequate substitute for leaving member Marco Arrigo and gladly accepted Pete Allum.

Arizona Airspeed might be interested in offering Thomas Hughes the open 8-way slot, or DeLand Fire might be interested in bringing him back in as the official team videographer and alternate, or even as a full member. The revised FAI/IPC rules would allow him to compete for both teams next year in Germany.

However, the final word still has to be spoken by USPA, which is eventually responsible for the selection of the national teams. The practical difficulty is the fact that the current version of USPA's Competition Manual would not allow Thomas Hughes to be selected for any US national 4-way or 8-way team at next year's World Meet.

As mentioned earlier, USPA usually adopts FAI/IPC rule changes, and there is no apparent reason why it could be different this time. Flexibility would still be necessary on USPA's end. The Board of Director's winter meeting is still a few months away, and any US team that might want Thomas Hughes in the 2006 line-up will begin with training earlier.

It would be helpful if the USPA Competition Committee with Chair Marylou Laughlin would indicate before the BOD Meeting if whether and when Thomas Hughes would be allowed to be selected for the US team. Of course, all of this only becomes relevant only if either Arizona Airspeed or DeLand Fire offer him a slot. There are also other options.

The NSL News recently interviewed Thomas Hughes and Pete Allum after the FAI/IPC decision was posted. Thomas Hughes mentioned that he will most likely continue with Black Magick. The Sebastian XL reunion is another joke that comes up once in a while...