posted Apr 8th, 2008 - Four new NSL-TV videos of the World Challenge 2008 feature an exciting situation in the race between Airspeed Odyssey and XL. Round 5 was the last one on Saturday afternoon, and Round 6 was the beginning of the second meet day Sunday morning.

XL finished the day with another sole highscore and extended the lead over Airspeed to two points in Round 5. Three XL members (Pete Allum, Steve Hamilton, Brian Johnson) were now in the same situation as at the World Challenge 2007. XL 2008 knew what happened last year and were committed to maintain the lead on this year's Sunday morning.

It did not work out well for XL. Airspeed Odyssey delivered perfectly once again at the right time, won Round 6 by three points and had a 1-point lead after the first round on Sunday. It was the first time that Airspeed Odyssey had the sole top position on the leaderboard of the World Challenge 2008. Rounds 5 and 6 are now on NSL-TV.

The NSL News also continues with John Hart's 4-way tips, which leads the Mideast Skydiving League community into this weekend's Meet-n-Greet event at Start Skydiving, the Fastrax headquarters. MESL Director Mike Ashley and the Fastrax members will help to connect regional skydivers at this event and provide a lot of valuable information.

4-way Tips - Safety & Equipment

By John Hart, Team Fastrax

Fortunately, 4-way is one of the least dangerous disciplines in the sport of skydiving. However, it is still skydiving. Certain considerations should always receive attention, and certain procedures should always be followed.

- All jumpers should use AADs.

- A pin check should always take place shortly before jump run. This can be completed quite quickly if the team forms a donut.

- Break off should take place at or above 4000 feet, for deployment at or above 2500 feet. Some teams from time to time have developed habits of horsing around and "fruit-looping" at breakoff time. This has led to fatalities on more than one occasion. Breakoff is a rule not to be broken. Pay attention to the headings of your teammates as you track. Attempt to track off at 90-degree angles as much as possible.

- Make sure that everybody's pin cover flaps are secure. A slight collision on a vertical transition, combined with an open pin cover flap, can result in a premature (and horseshoe) deployment, an extremely dangerous situation.

- Everyone should jump canopies compatible with a day of training. When doing 4-way, your priority should be on 4-way; don't waste energy navigating a super-fast canopy through an Otter load of traffic.

4-way Tips - Physical Fitness

Skydiving is unusual among sports, in that practicing the sport does not build all the physical qualities required to perform well in the sport. A competitive skydiver needs to be fit, lean, and flexible. To achieve fitness, the jumper must train when not jumping. Running, cycling, and swimming are all excellent means of achieving and maintaining fitness. Daily stretching is highly valuable, as is a healthy diet.

Stretching is an essential first part of a day of jumping. A team should develop a routine that stretches all of the major muscle groups, and perform it on every single jump day. Warming up briefly before stretching, with running, jumping jacks, or the like, is also important. Warm muscles stretch much more effectively than cold ones.

If any team members practice yoga, they can introduce the team to an abbreviated yoga routine. This can serve well for a full-body stretch. An effective warm-up and stretching routine will take twenty minutes or so. Be sure to allow time for this in your daily schedule.

4-way Tips - Debriefing

An effective debrief procedure is essential to productive training. When a team has a coach, he or she will typically lead the debrief. The following is a tried-and-true procedure for debriefing a dive without a coach:

Each jumper, one by one, does the following:

- First, discuss something you like about your own performance on the jump. This must be done first.

- Optionally, mention something you like about the entire team's performance on the jump.

- Discuss something you could improve when you repeat the dive (or if you were repeating the dive).

Sometimes a person may be doing something problematic that they do not realize but which is apparent to their teammates. A teammate should bring this up only at the end of the debrief, after everybody has had a chance to discuss their improvements. Raise these topics in as non-confrontational a manner as possible. The jumper whose performance is discussed should keep their mind open, avoid a defensive response, and always keep in mind that everybody's goal is the optimal performance of the entire team. This is the time to keep egos in check!

4-way Tips - Coaching

Having a good coach is as important in skydiving as in any other sport. Without a coach to guide them, a team would have to discover on their own every problem, solution, and technique encountered in the history of the sport.

A coach is always an experienced competitor, who has experienced and handled all the challenges of growing teams, developed excellent engineering, flying, analysis, and debriefing skills, and most likely been through any situation a typical team is likely to encounter.

In addition to providing expertise, a coach serves as a facilitator. During preparation, debriefing, and the day-to-day operation of the team, personalities can clash due to disagreements over details and conflicts over leadership roles. The team agrees that the coach will take that leadership role, thereby avoiding many of these conflicts from the outset.