posted Apr 18th, 2006 - The Mideast Skydiving League carefully prepares the start of the 2006 season on May 20 at Skydive Greene County, and Team Fastrax will be even more involved in the development of the league, which is managed by Randy Connell. The current MESL Director of three years launched the MESL as the Indiana Skydiving League in 2004.

The success of the league and the participation of world class team Fastrax helped to spread the 4-way word widely in the region, and Randy Connell changed the name according to the growth. The Indiana Skydiving League became the Mideast Skydiving League in 2005.

The MESL 2006 season begins with a skills camp that is open for all skydivers in the league region. The Fastrax members will offer their experiences and coaching skills for free to help get the MESL teams and competitors ready for the start of the 2006 season in May. Randy Connell recently provided some of the details of the Fastrax Skills Camp.

Hey everybody!

2006 is shaping up to be a FABULOUS year for the Mideast League! We will be kicking off the year weekend after next (4/29) at Skydive Greensburg with a Skills Camp presented by Team Fastrax! Start time will be 8:00am local! Fastrax will be providing two coaches at NO charge! That's FREE! The only charge will be for slots on the bird and Fastrax is going to work out a great rate for that! Don't miss this opportunity! FREE world-class coaching and cut rate skydives!

If you are NOT currently on a team, come on out and let's get everybody in one place and form a new team or two! You do NOT have to be all serious and hard-core to be there. Have a USPA license and at least some interest in 4way... get your butt to this camp!

Current teams, PLEASE REPLY to this email and RSVP that you are coming out! This information will allow us to operate much, much more efficiently!

Randy Connell had additional news for his MESL following. Ed Lightle has taken the position of the MESL Communications Director for the league. The passionate 4-way and Formation Skydiving veteran has written several articles for USPA's Parachutist and will now help to provide the MESL fans with all the information available. Randy Connell introduced Ed Lightle with the same message:

"In other exciting news: The League has a new Communications Director! Ed Lightle has stepped up and volunteered to help me out keeping broadcast emails going (on time) and with general announcements! Your next email will be coming from him, and soon!"

Ed Lightle surely responded very quickly and introduced himself later the same day with similar news and encouragements to take advantage of the free coaching at the MESL/Fastrax Skills Camp beginning on April 29:

"Hello, Fellow MESL Competitors! What more can we say? It's a 4-way skills camp with FREE coaching by Team Fastrax! As Randy Connell pointed out in his earlier email, the skills camp will be held at Skydive Greensburg April 29th, starting at 8:00 am local time. As Randy also pointed out, the 2006 season is shaping up to be a great one for the Mideast Skydiving League. As long as you have a current USPA license and some interest in 4-way, come to the skills camp... see old friends... meet new ones… form a new team if you're not currently on one… and learn from some of the most experienced 4-way competitors in the world!

Weather plan - if the weather turns ugly, the camp will STILL go on. If necessary, we will move the camp to the Fastrax team training center. So here's your To-Do List: Reply to this email if you haven't already replied to Randy's so that we know how many jumpers will be attending. The plan is for a 1-day camp but let us know if any of you would like two days of coaching. Arrive at the Greensburg DZ a few minutes before 8:00 am so the fun can begin! Blue Skies to All! Ed Lightle"

Randy Connell had more good news for the Mideast Skydiving League participants. He added that the Mideast League will benefit from increased sponsorship this year. Team Fastrax has come on board with more than just the free Skills Camp coaching:

"Beginning shortly after the first meet, look for a new MESL website with photos and bios of each team and with downloadable videos of everyone's skydives! In addition, Fastrax will be allowing the league's on-site tech level to enter the 21st century! This year we will working in an all-DVD format! Each team will leave the meet with a DVD of all the meet jumps. For the future, we are exploring the possibilities for DZ-TV and/or live judging throughout the day! More on this as things develop."

The MESL Director finished by recommending coaching by the world class competitors of Team Fastrax to interested teams. The members of the current Fastrax line-up, especially Mark Kirkby (Arizona Airspeed) and Doug Park (DeLand Majik) have been coaching teams from all over the world for many years:

"If your team is interested in coaching, I recommend you contact John Hart for information on Fastrax's daily rates. These guys will be contenders for the gold in Open this year! Team Fastrax is the ONLY AAA team that is doing ANY training this far north and they represent a total commitment to improving the quality of 4way (in particular) and skydiving competition (in general)!! Please give them a shout! I look forward to hearing from everyone who is coming to the Skills Camp, and I will see you there! Blue Skies! Randy"

Sounds like a good deal up there in the north. The NSL News has already followed the Fastrax trail this year and will continue to do so. Fastrax competed at the SSL Valentine's Meet 2006 and at the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2006, and the NSL News reported from live on site. There will be more Fastrax updates after the Skills Camp, and the team plans to attend MESL meets, as well. Finally, the NSL News will travel to Russia and watch Fastrax compete at the Malevsky Cup 2006. The final events will then take place in Eloy with the USPA Nationals, and SkyQuest 2006 will conclude the 2006 season.