posted Feb 9th, 2012 - The NSL News reported on 26 December 2011 that Christy Frikken and Hannah Betts were recruiting female 4way competitors for a new team project. An update of the World Challenge 2012 on 24 January 2012 revealed the names of the two chosen candidates who will compete for Perris Wicked: Christie Blomster and Kristen Johnson.

The NSL News was interested in more information of the new members. Christy Frikken and Hannah Betts are well known in the Formation Skydiving community, and the December story provided enough information how they got together and eventually launched this new project.

Kristen Johnson is actually not new to the NSL News audience. Live event coverage from the Northern Plains Skydiving League had her name in some of the local lineups here and there, last time at the NPSL October meet in 2011 where she jumped with A Class team Random Blocks.

Kristen Johnson will be in the Point slot for Perris Wicked. She started with AFF in September 2009 and has now a total of approx. 345 jumps, plus 15 hours of tunnel training. NPSL Director of 2011, Mike Betz, spent some time together with her when they both got more intensively into skydiving. He remembered that Kristen Johnson had her first tunnel training in Denver last March before they traveled to Arizona together and trained with Airspeed member Thomas Hughes.

She made another trip for a training camp with Brianne Thompson and eventually ended up in the same player coach lineup with Mike Betz, Arizona Overruled, where she had the Center Inside position. The team added another six to eight hours of tunnel training and several days of jumping with Brianne Thompson and then competed at the USPA Nationals 2011. Kristen Johnson finally made a big and dangerous move, left Minnesota behind and moved to Eloy where she now works for Skydive Arizona.

Mike Betz first did not know why she left and put 2 and 2 together when he read the NSL News article about the new team project that Hannah Betts and Christy Frikken were working on. He encouraged her to contact Hannah Betts who had been coaching at NPSL meets before.

The tryouts followed with several other candidates, and Kristen Johnson was asked to stay for an additional day and jump with Dan BC in the Tail slot. That was the best 4way jumping in her short skydiving career, and it was also the last step for her to make the team. Now she wants to have fun with Perris Wicked, learn as much as possible and maintain her focus and intensity throughout the 2012 season. It is the next step on her long term goal to become a world champion skydiver.

She will remember and appreciate the many people in her short skydiving career who have each encouraged and pushed her further than she ever thought possible. Kristen Johnson gives the local 4-way community at Skydive Twin Cities special credit for "putting up with her" when she was at the very beginnings, and also coach Brianne Thompson and her former teammates on Arizona Overruled who were there when all she knew only the random formations that she liked.

Now she gets all her advice in Eloy, and she pointed out the 4way conversations with fellow ground worker Ian Mackenzie at the fuel island. The Arizona Airspeed members have also been answering her questions patiently. She is extremely motivated and inspired by the "totally radical people" who all share the same goal, the same passion and the same drive. She loves the opportunity to perform at her best "and then turn around and do it even better the next time".

The next opportunity is coming up this weekend with the annual Valentine's Meet at Skydive Arizona. Eloy is only her new work place, and the NSL News had no information whether Kristen Johnson or the complete Perris Wicked lineup will compete or not this weekend.

However, Perris Wicked is registered for the AAA Class competition at the World Challenge 2012 and will put up there with the best female 4way lineups in the world for the first time. It will also be the first competition for her in the AAA/Open Class with the complete dive pool and an international high-profile field of teams. Perris Wicked will then attend other meets of the Southern California Skydiving League this year.

The NSL News will follow up soon with an introduction of the other new Perris Wicked member, Christie Blomster.