posted May 26th, 2008 - The Czech Republic and Italy have already posted the scores of their meets last weekend. Both events had almost perfect conditions, and all teams completed the scheduled six rounds.

Several teams of the Czech Republic had already competed at the indoor championship on April 19. Last weekend's competition was the first outdoor event of the 2008 season.

The Czech teams had the opportunity to test the new A Class dive pool, which was introduced by league manager Jan Klapka this year. Last year's Rookie Class teams were eager to make the next step up, and they took full advantage of the new class at the first meet.

In fact, the three teams that had competed in the Rookie Class throughout the 2007 season (Fast Arrows, Monkeys, All 41) all came back last weekend to compete in the A Class. Even a team that had skipped the 2007 season entirely, Spiders, found its new home in the A Class this year after competing in the challenging AAA Class in 2006.

It was Jan Klapka's plan to introduce all competition classes step by step when he launched the Czech Skydiving League in 2005 and joined the international NSL Network. He encouraged 4-way participation in the Czech Republic only with the AAA Class in the first two years and increased attendance and performance level.

Then he introduced the Rookie Class in 2007 and had a consistent Rookie Class following of three to four teams. Jan Klapka's next step was the introduction of the A Class for the former Rookie Class teams, while he planned to create new Rookie Class lineups for the 2008 season.

The first outdoor meet of the 2008 season last weekend saw the former Rookie Class teams compete in the A Class with meet averages that were already higher than last year's first scores in the Rookie Class.

At the same time, two new Rookie Class lineups (Bad Boys SK, Crazy Dragons) began their career from scratch in the Czech Republic. Additional three teams competed in the AAA Class (Bad Boys, PB Fire, Accord) where the Bad Boys won and posted a new team record with the 10.3 average.

Jan Klapka himself trains and competes with the Bad Boys. He has also found a new passion in Canopy Piloting and enjoys the challenges of both events. It is scary in the beginning though, as he recalled, and it requires a lot of caution. The other Bad Boys are watching his activities carefully...

He hopes that the progression of 4-way competition in the Czech Republic will continue this year, so he can move forward with his next step. This year's A Class teams would then step up into the AA Class, which would be introduced for the 2009 season and complete the whole system of competition classes. Everything seems to be on track so far.

The introduction of all competition classes in 2009 might coincide with the first major Formation Skydiving competition in the Czech Republic ever since the country separated from the former Eastern Block in Europe and split Czechoslovakia peacefully into the Czech Republic and Slovakia on January 1, 1993.

Formation Skydiving competition was not very popular in the countries of the former Soviet Empire. Accuray and Style were the dominating disciplines. Russia entered the international Formation Skydiving competition in 1985. Other eastern countries followed step by step and very slowly.

Russia has become one of the three powerhouses of Formation Skydiving competition over the years, and Jan Klapka has helped the skydiving community in the Czech Republic to catch up and join the international network. The 16th FAI World Cup of Formation Skydiving 2009 will surely put the Czech Republic into the spotlight of international 4-way and 8-way competition.