posted Apr 21st, 2012 - The NSL News story on 25 February 2012 brought an update from Dubai before the two teams from the hosting site of the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2012 launched their 2012 competition season.

Former Arizona Airspeed world champions Eliana Rodriguez and Craig Girard have been working with the young two teams after moving to Dubai last year, in 4way as well as recently in 8way. The NSL News story was a preview of the Dubai Asaar visits at the Paraclete XP Outdoor Championship 2012 and the World Challenge 2012 at the same time.

The first internal Dubai showdown this year took place in DeLand in March, and it was an outdoor competition. Both Dubai teams are familiar with outdoor environment and the complete IPC dive pool and competed in the AAA Class competition. The Asaar Red lineup won the duel, as it had happened two times in 2011, first at the USPA Nationals 2011 and then again at the 3rd Dubai Championship 2011.

Paraclete XP Outdoor 2012		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	Q,8,H,22	16,19,13	10,14,2	E,C,20,K	5,M,9	A,6,F,17	D,21,N,B	P,O,G,J,1	18,4,7	12,15,3	Total	Avg
12	Dubai Asaar Red	10	11	7	13	15	15	16	15	13	9	124	12.4
13	Dubai Asaar Gold	11	11	7	15	15	16	14	12	12	10	123	12.3

Dubai Asaar Red and Gold at the Paraclete XP Outdoor Championship 2012

It was only a 1-point difference at the Paraclete XP Outdoor Championship 2012 that separated the two Dubai teams, just as it was at the USPA Nationals 2011 where Eliana Rodriguez and Craig Girard both were still player coaches. Both teams then went by themselves for a while before Asaar Gold lost a team member, and Craig Girard filled the open slot in DeLand.

Asaar Red without player coach increased the meet average significantly between the 3rd Dubai Championship (10.5) in December and the Paraclete XP Outdoor Championship (12.4) in March. However, the Asaar Gold lineup was much stronger with Craig Girard and came back to the 1-point difference in DeLand after falling far behind at the end of the 2011 season.

Next step was the World Challenge 2012 where both teams originally planned to compete in the AA Class competition. It was the first indoor meet for the two Dubai lineups, and the coaches wanted to give them a start with tough competition on the top of the leaderboard in the AA Class field.

World Challenge 2012		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Open Class	D,Q,9,10	17,P,11	2,21,7	14,J,O,M	A,L,18,16	N,H,20,G	C,E,19,22	1,8,4	K,6,3	12,F,5	Total	Avg
22	Dubai Asaar Gold	17	15	16	21	17	21	17	16	17	18	175	17.5
23	UK Escondido	18	17	17	21	15	15	16	16	17	18	170	17.0
23	France Mars Attacks	19	16	15	23	16	18	17	14	16	16	170	17.0
25	Germany Usual Suspects	19	16	16	20	15	18	16	13	17	17	167	16.7
26	Ireland Fast Air	18	15	13	23	14	19	17	14	17	15	165	16.5
27	Russia A Team	20	15	15	25	15	18	11	15	15	15	164	16.4
28	Dubai Asaar Red	17	14	16	20	15	17	16	15	15	17	162	16.2

This changed a few weeks before the start of the competition in Bedford when Eliana Rodriguez and Craig Girard saw that the AAA Class field would offer strong competition anywhere on the leaderboard. Eventually, the five teams between both Dubai lineups at the World Challenge came from five different countries (United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Russia) for an exciting international competition.

Only the turnout for the two Dubai teams was different than usual. Asaar Gold with Craig Girard finally won the first internal duel (17.5 - 16.2) by 13 indoor points. The Assar Red lineup still stood the team's ground well at the first indoor competition and outscored 12 other teams from six different nations. Both teams will probably move closer together again once Craig Girard goes back to his external coaching job.

The videos show that the Dubai competitors enjoyed the indoor competition. They often finished the tunnel session with a few freeflying maneuvers after the 4way working time was over.