posted Feb 18th, 2011 - The NSL News goes back to the Valentine's Meet 2011. It was not only a 2-team show between Arizona Airspeed and Aerodyne Maubeuge in Eloy. Especially the team in 3rd place of the AAA/Open Class competition is a well know name in the 4-way competition world.

The Russian team Black Cat was mentioned in the NSL News for the first time in August 2005. Three of the current team members (Vasili Korotkov, Alexei Minaev, Yevgeni Stashenko) had won the bronze medals at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2004 in Croatia, with Michail Kuznetsov in the lineup. Vadim Niyazov was filming the Sky Panthers in 2004, and he is still with Black Cat now.

Michail Kuznetsov then re-built the Sky Panthers and kept the team name, while Vasili Korotkov, Alexei Minaev, Yevgeni Stashenko and Vadim Niyazov continued with Black Cat. Sky Panthers and Black Cat have been battling for the top position in Russia ever since. Vasili Korotkov, Alexei Minaev, Yevgeni Stashenko and Vadim Niyazov now competed at the Valentine's Meet with a new team member, Valery Pripilyak.

Black Cat has been able to make 4-way competition difficult for the Sky Panthers without much training and even won the national championships in 2009. However, the Sky Panthers always won in the selection year for the world meets and have been competing for Russia since 2004.

It was a tough competition at the Russian Nationals 2010 where the Sky Panthers had to work very hard to stay on top after ten rounds. Black Cat recruited once again the team's best lineup with Alexander Golovkin for the same Russian showdown.

However, Black Cat lost the meet with low scores in Rounds 8 and 10. The Sky Panthers moved on and eventually won the bronze medals at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2010 in Menzelinsk.

Russian Nationals 2010		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Round8	Round9	Round10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAAClass	7,4,M	9,A,1	22,D,O,20	19,17,3	11,Q,K,C	21,L,15	H,E,N,14	B,P,F,J,G	12,8,5	10,6,16	Total	Avg
1	Sky Panthers	26	26	23	22	27	22	23	45	19	21	254	25.4
2	Black Cat	24	29	24	21	27	19	27	39	19	14	243	24.3

Black Cat is now in a new team building process. New team member Valery Pripilyak has been in the sport for only two years and is passionate about 4-way competition. He is taking care of Black Cat's business part and the resources for training and competition.

Vasili Korotkov, Alexei Minaev and Yevgeni Stashenko have spent some time with him in the wind tunnel, and Black Cat had a 3-week training camp last November in Spain. The Valentine's Meet 2011 was Valery Pripilyak's first serious test in the 4-way competition world, and the 15.8 average is a great start.

Insiders of the Russian 4-way community expected the new Black Cat lineup to post an average between 14.0 and 15.0 in Eloy. It is still a long way to the very top for Black Cat with Valery Pripilyak. However, the Black Cat 4-way veterans have done it before with new members. And there is always the possibility that Alexander Golovkin might be called back in for a meet...