posted May 27th, 2008 - The NSL News story on 4 May 2008 covered the current international situation in the female 4-way category. The article mentioned the two French teams, Deep Blue and White and See, who still have to qualify as the national team for France in 2008.

National coach Jérôme David, who is responsible for the management of the whole French Formation Skydiving delegation, recently provided an update with details of the very special situation in the female 4-way event.

Jérôme David confirmed that the first competition of the Coupe de France 2008 is the official qualification event for the two female lineups. The competition is scheduled for June 6 - 8 and will take place in Brienne le Chateau. It is a 10-round event. The minimum number of rounds to select the national female 4-way team will be five rounds.

Deep Blue and White and See both have already posted scores this year. Deep Blue finished with a 22.1 average at the 10-round Aerokart windtunnel competition in February. White and See had a 19.8 average after the ten rounds at the World Challenge 2008.

Jérôme David calls his two female teams the "Blues" and the "Whites". He said that the French federation (Fédération Française de Parachutisme) has supported both teams since June 2007:

"Both teams have been built, prepared and trained since June 2007 by the French Federation. Both teams did around 400 jumps each. The Blues also trained and competed in Paris at Aerokart, while the Whites trained and competed in Bedford."

He explained that both teams still had their own coaches. Deep Blue has been working with Marin Ferre, a French 4-way world champion of 1999 and 2003, winner of silver medals in 1997 and 2001. Marin Ferre is also the coach for the French Open Class lineup from Maubeuge and shares his coaching time between the two teams. Deep Blue and Maubeuge have shared all their training camps and trained side by side all along this year.

White and See has been working with Polo Grisoni, 8-way bronze medalist of 1997, 1999, 2001 and 2003. Polo Grisoni was also a member of the French 4-way team that won silver medals with a 22.2 average at the World Meet in Germany 2006 and with a 22.9 average at the Malevsky Cup 2006.

Jérôme David reported that both female teams recently trained together for the first time this year. The annual May training camp at the French headquarters in Gap-Tallard was the occasion for the joined efforts. Both teams completed approx. 100 training jumps in the final training camp before the showdown in Brienne.

The photo shows all Blues and Whites members together, from left to right: Julie Levie (W), Manue Nicols (W), Berangere Duplouy (B), Thierry Simmonet (W/Camera), Amelie Tirman (B), Sophie Deremaux (B), Francoise Simons-Hamouchi (B), Isabelle Seel (W), Christele Askew (W), Christophe Chekroun (B/Camera).

The Open Class team from Maubeuge was also training very hard, as Jérôme David added. The French national 4-way team trains and competes in 4-way and 8-way. The Maubeuge team competed at the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2008 and finished with a 24.7 average in second place behind Airspeed Odyssey. Guillaume Bernier, Mathieu Bernier, Julien Degen and Jeremie Rollet have now switched to 8-way training this week.

Jérôme David said that all French national teams will compete in Brienne le Chateau in June: "The Blues and Whites girls will compete for their tickets to Maubeuge in August. The guys will train for the double event in 4-way and 8-way."

The three French B-Teams, two in 4-way and one in 8-way, will also compete at the same event and collect more competition experiences. They prepare for the selection of the new French 8-way team in 2009. That's the time when the current French 4-way lineup from Maubeuge will drop the 8-way event and focus only on 4-way.

The French national coach added that he is also planning to send the new lineups to the USPA Nationals 2008 in October. Several French lineups have been competing as guest teams at USPA Nationals in the past years.

Only the slot of one person in the different French delegations at many previous world meets and international competitions has not changed for a long time.

Fred "Toshiba" Leroux has been packing for the French teams since 1996. He has completed more than 70,000 pack jobs and still keeps smiling whenever he is around.

Jérôme David said that he will follow up soon with an 8-way update.