posted Sep 11th, 2008 - The NSL News shifts back from Europe to the US west coast. The Southern California Skydiving League holds ist last meet of the regular season this weekend in Perris. Perris Fury and the team's members will once again either compete with their own lineup or as player coaches.

Fury just informed the NSL News recently that Center Inside Chris Farina has fully recovered from his back injury and that the team is back in full training swing. The Fury 8-way project teams also recently trained at the Paraclete XP windtunnel in Raeford.

Chris Farina's injury happened in May this year when he fractured five vertebrae landing his parachute. The accident brought quite a few interesting twists not only to Perris Fury's plans.

Thomas Hughes filled Chris Farina's slot at the Paraclete XP Money Meet 2008 in June. Perris Fury competed at the outdoor and the indoor competition in Raeford and posted impressive scores (22.6 - 29.6) after both 10-round meets. The team collected valuable experiences with a different high-profile Center Inside.

At the same time, Center Outside Christy Frikken committed to fill the open slot for Fastrax Blue, as the NSL News reported on 11 June 2008. She agreed to train and compete with the US national team in the female category until the conclusion of the World Meet 2008 in August after Fastrax Blue's Point Kelley Frederickson had died in her sleep in the middle of a training camp in Perris on May 20.

Christy Frikken's help for Fastrax Blue had apparently an even stronger impact on the team performance than Thomas Hughes' filling the slot for Chris Farina before and at the event in Raeford. Thomas Hughes was also Fastrax Blue's coach and competed for the US 8-way team in Maubeuge.

Fastrax Blue was considered a medal contender for this year's world meet. However, the NSL World Meet Poll showed that the audience saw Fastrax Blue and the French team Deep Blue both only in contention for the silver medals. Bodyflight Storm was by far the only top contender for the gold medals.

Eventually, the NSL News audience had the outcome of the female competition perfectly right, with Bodyflight Storm in 1st place, Fastrax Blue in 2nd and Deep Blue in 3rd place.

However, the competition for the gold medals was much closer than anybody had expected.

Bodyflight Storm was far from dominating the competition and saved a shaky 1-point lead after six rounds across the finish line. Fastrax Blue was much stronger than expected and made the female competition eventually the most exciting part of all three Formation Skydiving categories.

Christy Frikken surely contributed a big share in her quiet ways to the Fastrax Blue success, and the team members will always remember the 2008 season, for many reasons. Now it is time for the Skydiving Magazine's 2007 Skydiver of the Year to focus her full energy back on Perris Fury.

The video of Perris Fury's recent windtunnel training in Raeford shows that Chris Farina and Christy Frikken are both fully re-integrated into their lineup after a long break. Chris Farina said that the team is ready to pick it up where he left: "Perris Fury will be training hard throughout September to prepare for the U.S. Nationals in October."