posted Oct 6th, 2011 - The NSL News reviewed the long history of the relationship between the Florida Skydiving League and the iFLY/SkyVenture windtunnel in Orlando with the story on 26 August 2011. The same story covered the recent indoor activities that were launched for the FSL 4way community this year.

Those activities have included the monthly promotional "FSL Tunnel Kicker" and 2on2 indoor training camps. The story on 10 September 2011 followed up with a report of September's "FSL Tunnel Kicker" where the event showed growing participation.

October's event at iFLY Orlando took place this Tuesday and attracted the highest number of participants so far. Formation Skydiving fans visited from as far as Miami and Clewiston, while others came from Zephyrhills and DeLand. Some of the participants flew for the first time in a windtunnel chamber, including legendary videographer Dave "Pink" Floyd, others made their first indoor 4way experiences.

Experienced indoor coaches volunteer their time to help the participants to as much information and skills as possible. This time, head coach Rodney Cruce had Ari Perelman, Robert Chromy, Bob Byrne and Kurt Gaebel to fly and work with the participants. iFLY Orlando provides the complimentary flying time for the National Skydiving League, which forwards it to the "FSL Tunnel Kicker" project.

The participation has grown to a level where the 90 minutes of total flying time need to be used very efficiently. Rodney Cruce split the participants in two groups that each had a 30-minute session first. The two groups consisted of individual flyers with a player coach and 4way lineups with player coaches and flyers who had previous indoor experiences.

All participants had the opportunity to show the coaches in those first two 30-minute sessions that they are ready to make it to the third and last 30-minute session later in the evening. This session was reserved for only 4way groups, which guaranteed the most efficient use of the flying time.

Rodney Cruce and his player coaches used the "proficiency test" in the first two 30-minute sessions to evaluate and select the flyers for the last 30 minutes of flying time. It was quite impressive to see how well the first-time flyers mastered the air in the tunnel chamber. However, more individual tunnel training will help to prepare the new flyers for tunnel 4way.

Rodney Cruce mentioned that he is planning to schedule another 2on2 training camp for individual flyers who want to get more special attention as soon as possible. Richard Lovell, a Skydive DeLand local, was one of the participants who made their first indoor 4way experiences, and he liked it, as he posted the same evening:

"A huge thank you to everyone who makes this happen. It has been three hours since I left the tunnel and I am still pumped. I went expecting to fly for a couple minutes and to get some quality coaching. That happened, and then I found myself flying my first (yes I bought the beer) tunnel 4-way. I made a lot of rookie mistakes, but I learned more than I could have hoped. Thanks to my team mates for their patience and their coaching."

Inquiries for slots at upcoming 2on2 training camps can be sent by e-mail.