posted Sep 15th, 2008 - The first scores of last weekend's three meets have already been posted. Brazil held its national championship, and CTR Optimum (Ziara Abud - Outside Center, Fábio Diniz - Tail, André Ferraz - Point, Pedro "Junior" Ushizima - Inside Center and Renato "Chubby" Acerbi on camera) won the title once again.

The same linup had represented Brazil at the World Meet 2008 and finished in 18th place with a 13.5 average. CTR Optimum won last weekend with a 16.3 average.

The upcoming weekend features the NSL Playoffs 2008 at several different locations in the USA. The events offer the opportunity for all teams to go through the whole dive pool on the same weekend and prepare for the last major events of the 2008 season.

The USPA National 2008 in October are still six weeks away and have ten rounds for all teams on the meet agenda. The NSL News will be live on site in Eloy and offer the same coverage as for other major events. The teams that will attend the competition in Eloy can have their final real test this weekend at one of the playoffs locations, which are listed at the NSL Calendar of Events.

Next weekend's leaderboard will also provide some more insights of the teams that might be in medal contention at the USPA Nationals 2008. Most of the teams that compete each year at the USPA Nationals have usually already attended at least one competition throughout the regular season and have some scores in the records and on the team pages.

There are not many teams these days that do not try to collect some meet experiences before the major events are coming at the end of the season. Veteran competitors and coaches know the value of meet experience and usually send their own teams and others to competitions earlier in the seaon.

The new 4-way world champion, Airspeed Odyssey, has attended six different meets this year, the USPA Nationals will be the 7th competition of the 2008 season. Perris Fury has already six meets under the belt, even though Chris Farina was grounded due to injury between May and September.

Advanced Class contender CSC Rhythm XP has attended five meets, as well as FSL team Sebastian Tempest. Intermediate Class contender FSC Wind Damaged from Lake Wales competed at six meets of the Florida Skydiving League this year and has been consistently improving the team's meet average.

Other teams have been preparing for the NSL Championship at SkyQuest 2008. Mile Hi Mayhem from Colorado and Zero Tolerance from Skydive Miami will compete in the A Class for NSL medals and trophies. The FSL team has attended six meets this year, while Mayhem completed he team's 4th competition last weekend. Carolina Windfall has been the busiest Rookie Class team with six indoor and outdoor meets this year.

The meets of all leagues' regular seasons do not always fall on the same weekends. In fact, it is coincidence when some of the top contenders in each competition class compete at the same time and with the same competition draw.

The situation is different on the playoffs weekend. All participating leagues next weekend apply the same competition draw and use up the whole dive pool over ten rounds. It is a real serious test, and the scores at least indicate what can be expected a few weeks later.

It is obviously still not the final word, and the circumstances are still different. It is a much more exciting situation when finally the teams meet directly at the same competition site and at the same time. The same judges will look at the meet jumps and evaluate them the same way all across the board, while the meets at the NSL Playoffs have different judges at different locations, and the standards can differ.

However, a test is a test, a serious test is a serious test, and only the major championship is the real showdown. The playoffs are still coming up this weekend, and it is the last opportunity to feel more pressure compared to the meets of the regular season. The competition draw will be posted Friday evening, as usual.