posted Apr 28th, 2012 - Fast forward by a little over a decade, from the World Meet 2001 and Russia's first 8way gold medals to the South African Nationals 2012, which are currently in full swing, and where Voodoo will have no dramatic experience to win. Voodoo has been the South African national team since 2003 and still dominates 4way competition in South Africa.

Team member Colin Rothman has been a member of South African teams at World Meets for even longer. He competed with the national team of 1999 in Australia. Equanimity, with Gary Smith, Solly Williams, Robbie Spencer and Fred Whitsitt, had discontinued after winning the bronze medals in Turkey 1997, and the 4way slot in South Africa was open again.

Current Voodoo member Dennis Parker joined Colin Rothman in the lineup that competed for South Africa at the World Meet 2001 in Spain. They both witnessed the 8way drama between Arizona Airspeed and Russia in Gerona.

South African Nationals 2012		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	O,3,Q,G	13,C,10	K,21,A,12	E,P,F,16	20,7,L	Total	Avg
1	Voodoo	20	13	14	24	16	87	17.4
2	AppChat SAVOLO	16	11	15	20	14	76	15.2
3	Nashua	12	9	9	14	11	55	11.0
4	G4B	12	5	11	12	12	52	10.4
5	Vertical Xcelleration	12	6	11	11	11	51	10.2
6	Peregrine	7	6	6	11	6	36	7.2
7	Chaos Factor	7	4	7	6	7	31	6.2

Vana Parker became a Voodoo member when SDC Rhythm XP's Tail Thiago Gomes had moved from Brazil to South Africa and joined the same team. Then they competed together with Colin Rothman and David Sumter at the World Meet 2004 in Croatia. Vana Parker, Colin Rothman and David Sumter are still in the current Voodoo lineup, and Dennis Parker has now come back to fill the open slot when Amy Kirtland left at the end of the 2011 season.

She had taken Thiago Gomes' slot when he moved to the USA and competed for Voodoo between 2006 and 2011, even though the same lineup competed under the name Springboks at the World Challenge and the World Meet in 2008. Voodoo came back to Bodyflight Bedford for the World Challenge 2011, with the same lineup as in 2008 and after competing at the World Meet 2010 in Russia.

The Voodoo 2012 schedule will probably be identical with the 2008 schedule after attending the World Challenge 2012 first and then winning the national championships. The Mondial 2012 in Dubai will conclude the 2012 season. Only the lineup has changed.

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 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
11	Switch	21	19	19	27	19	22	21	17	19	15	199	19.9
11	Sport Loto	22	19	18	25	15	23	21	17	19	20	199	19.9
11	Maubeuge NPC B2	22	21	17	29	17	18	19	16	19	21	199	19.9
11	Alpen Glow	21	20	19	23	17	23	20	17	19	20	199	19.9
15	Bodyflight Voluntas	21	19	16	25	19	22	18	17	19	21	197	19.7
16	Voodoo	21	19	19	24	15	19	21	17	19	20	194	19.4
16	Maubeuge NPC B1	19	19	19	24	17	20	21	17	19	19	194	19.4
18	Kaizen	20	18	17	25	17	21	21	15	18	19	191	19.1

Voodoo 2012 outscored the 2011 lineup (19.4 - 18.2) at the World Challenge 2012 clearly, even without a Super Sequence. This year's competition at Bodyflight Bedford was also an international test for the South African team. The eight teams within Voodoo's striking distance, all between 19.1 and 19.9 average, came from seven different nations.

One of the teams will also be a direct opponent in Dubai. Denmark's national team Bodyflight Voluntas placed right in front of Voodoo (19.7 - 19.4) with a 3-point distance. This was exactly the same situation at the last World Meet 2010 in Menzelinsk (19.0 - 16.8) even though Voluntas was much further ahead by then.

Voodoo has closed in on Denmark's national team of 2012, as it looks at the moment, and this counts for the outdoor scores this year, as well. Dubai is still far away though, and the South African Nationals are not over yet. Denmark's coach Solly Williams, born and raised in South Africa, bronze medal winner of 1997 with Equanimity and then world champion with DeLand Majik in 2004, will make sure that Voodoo has to work hard to threaten Voluntas...