posted Feb 8th, 2011 - The Valentine's Meet 2011 is not the only event this upcoming weekend.

Areas of the USA where the winter weather does not force skydivers to hibernate can be active throughout the year.

Two other events in Florida are not 4-way meets, however, they are supposed to bring the 4-way fun to skydivers on the grassroot level who may turn into more or less serious competitors later on.

Skydive University organizes a 4-Way Scrambles Skills Camp in DeLand, while SDC Rhythm XP members will be player coaches at the next Team For A Day in Sebastian.

Skydive U coach Katie Woods, member of UK's national 4-way team Satori, is one of the player coaches in DeLand. She just met with Rhythm's player coaches in Raeford where they all competed at the Paraclete XP Indoor Skydiving Championships 2011. She took the Center Inside slot for three DeLand Shmeland members (James "Bu" Kinge, Sally Hathaway, Ari Perelman), who competed under Buttard in Raeford, and finished with a 20.0 average in 7th place.

The 7th place was the the spot where the first "amateur team" ended up at. The first six places were taken by full time skydivers and competitors, except Tim D'Annunzio who is a businessman and politician who competed with Andy Delk, Dennis Rook and Brian Johnson in his Paraclete 4 lineup.

Katie Woods is looking at the higher spots of the Paraclete leaderboard, as she wants to get there one day. The Rhythm members have already made their move and taken one of the five top spots in the USA. In fact, they have actually moved up one position, as Rhythm finished in 4th place last weekend after the 5th place at the USPA Nationals 2010.

This move was supported by Perris Fury's lower performance level after the personnel change at the end of the 2010 season and Uli Steuwe's shoulder surgery. John Hamilton filled his slot at the Paraclete meet.

However, Todd Hawkins and John Hamilton are both world class 4-way competitors. The fact that SDC Rhythm XP is at the point where a "pickup team" of world class competitors cannot outscore the trained team any longer speaks for the Rhythm progression, no matter what. The Rhythm goal for 2011 is a medal at the USPA Nationals, and the Paraclete meet has brought the team one step closer to a medal position.

Rhythm coach Kirk Verner is in an even better position with his own team Paraclete XP4. He was in 4th place at the USPA Nationals and has now taken the 2nd place in the US rankings. The new lineup is working really well. The NSL News will follow up with this story later.