posted Aug 6th, 2008 - News from other leagues keep coming in while the national teams of 25 different countries are in the final preparations for the World Meet 2008.

Northern Plains Skydiving League

The Northern Plains Skydiving League added scores of nine teams to the leaderboard on the July 26 weekend. 30 AAA Class teams, seven AA Class teams, eleven A Class teams and six Rookie Class teams combined for a field of 54 teams.

AAA Class team Slipstream (Jon Arnold - Tail, Steve Blake - Point, Aaron Hislop - Center Inside, Bill Rehm - Center Outside, Rich Barr - Camera) improved its meet average from 11.3 in June to 11.7 in July and won the local competition over Gang Green (Miles Hubbard, Todd Jacobson, Brian Polzay, Jamie Rogalla, Bob Stumm, Sean Tallant) who posted the team's highest 2008 average, as well. Slipstream finished in 13th place of the international AAA Class field with 30 teams.

The four AA Class teams from the Northern Plains competed with two teams from the Midwest Skydiving League and two teams from the MidAtlantic and won the better positions (1 - 2 - 4) that weekend. Flying in Fiction reversed the results of the NPSL June meet and finished in first place, one single point ahead of Airborne Illness with another second place finish. Micro Beers went from the winning spot in June to the 3rd place on July 26.

Four A Class teams competed at Skydive Twin Cities. Team JETT and Wissota Wild continued their battle of the 2008 season. Both teams were tied after the one-round meet in May, and Wissota Wild (Lynn Broberg, Dan Kluge, Brad Kult, Jeremy Olexa) won the June meet by eight points (7.8) after six rounds.

Team JETT (Tasha Heimermann, Elliot Kelley, Jen Perkins, Tanya Tjarks, Chris Wilkins - Camera) turned the results around in July and won by 13 points with a 7.7 average. The last NPSL meet of the 2008 season at the Couch Freak Boogie will bring the final decision of the A Class competition in the Northern Plain this year.

Southern California Skydiving League

Meet videos were also provided by a new Rookie Class team of the Southern California Skydiving League. Team B.A.M. (Greg Brown - Center Inside, Jennifer Crawford - Tail, Mikhail Markin - Point, Bryan Siepert - Center Outside, Terry Wetherford - Camera, Michael Gregg - Alternate) competed for the first time at the July meet in Elsinore.

It was a great start for a new team, as B.A.M. finished in first place of the July 19 meet weekend. Four other Rookie Class teams at three different locations had posted their scores. B.A.M.'s 7.5 meet average after six rounds in Elsinore was supported by the 16-pointer in Round 3, which separated the California team from Snatch Force from New England in second place.

CanAm Skydiving League

Even further back, on July 12, the CanAm Skydiving League held a 4-way event at a new location, Skydive Montreal. Donald Poulin reported that seven Rookie Class lineups attended the first event at the very new skydiving center.

He said that the event was a great succes, skydivers from Quebec and Ontario who like 4-way attended the Rookie Class competition:

"28 skydivers showed up Saturday morning, enought to form seven lineups, with one player coach per team. Evolution's team videographer Daniel Paquette and Andrew Toman did 22 camera jumps that day, they were on every load.

Our plan was based on a friendly competition that every participant would enjoy. The more experienced skydivers would share with the very beginners. The teams were jumping from 13,500 feet and had a working time of 45 seconds. We tried to get to six jumps for each team, but several people got tired after four rounds. We will go for five rounds next time.

Most participants were new to 4-way competition and the required skills. It gave the player coaches a fun competition with each other since they were trying to get the best out of their lineups.

Team Amazone, with player coach Marie Eve Dallaire and Stephanie Badeau, Nancy Roberge and Anne Leboutillier, won the competition with an impressive 11.8 average. The next teams were in the 6- to 7-point average area. Amazone Anne Leboutillier has only at total of approx. 50 jumps."

Donald Poulin added that the event day was finished with a BBQ, and the participants watched the competition jumps on a big screen TV. He said that everyone promised to come back for the next event in August.