posted Dec 13th, 2012 - Today's NSL News topic is only indirectly related to the Mondial Dubai 2012. Earlier previews of the event included a closer look at the participation at World Championships of Formation Skydiving since 1985. The Dubai numbers are final now and confirm record participation in almost each of the four FS events.

It's only "almost" since the 38 teams in the 4way Open Class competition did not beat the 1997 record number of 38 teams in Turkey. All the other numbers are new highscores for each event.

There is actually a nation that has been represented by a team on a regular basis in the past years and did not have a team in Dubai. The Blue Rebels from Greece attended three meets this year, two indoor competitions (World Challenge 2012, ISR Grand Prix 2012) and the ESL Championship 2012. The additional Blue Rebels trip from Greece to Dubai would have outscored the record number of 1997.

The Blue Rebels competed in the A Class at the three events this year, which may have been a reason to stay away from the World Championship of Formation Skydiving where only the AAA/Open Class dive pool is being applied. There were still other teams in Dubai who were not too familiar or that well trained for the AAA/Open Class dive pool, as the bottom of the leaderboard shows.

The Blue Rebels have obviously set scoring and performance standards for themselves at the end of the 2012 season in the A Class that could make it hard for the team to accept scores on a much lower level. However, fact is that the Blue Rebels had the 2012 highlight at the ISR Grand Prix 2012 where they won the gold medals in a field with 18 A Class teams.

The A Class participation in Roosendaal was on a record level in the history of the event, and it was also the best attended competition class this year. The Blue Rebels had the perfect finish of the 2012 season with this success, and it did not come easily. Several trained teams from five other nations were in the mix and won a round here and there.

ISR Grand Prix 2012		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7	Round 8	Total	Avg
Rank	A Class	21,Q	6,L	A,J,D	2,P	K,B,9	7,N	O,E,F	G,M,C	Total	Avg
1	Blue Rebels (GR)	13	15	23	13	21	13	33	20	151	18.9
2	MACH4 (NL)	12	13	20	14	18	16	31	19	143	17.9
3	DNA Reloaded (IT)	13	14	18	11	17	15	28	23	139	17.4
4	Education4all (UK)	13	12	6	11	18	16	31	25	132	16.5
5	Paradigma (IT)	13	10	16	10	16	12	26	17	120	15.0
6	Solarflakes (LT)	13	12	15	9	15	14	24	13	115	14.4
6	Play Again (BE)	10	12	14	9	14	13	24	19	115	14.4
8	Teriyaki (NL)	11	6	13	11	14	12	26	17	110	13.8
9	Escort Fly (IT)	12	8	12	9	12	12	22	16	103	12.9
10	Pirati in Aria (IT)	12	10	14	7	13	11	15	12	94	11.8
10	Burblicious (BE)	9	9	9	8	11	12	24	12	94	11.8
12	The Slowdive (BE)	10	7	16	10	15	12	16	4	90	11.3
12	Meaningless Movements (NL)	7	9	11	9	11	10	20	13	90	11.3
14	Paradocks (NL)	10	9	12	8	10	10	17	11	87	10.9
15	Watu Wazuri (NL)	10	7	11	7	11	11	18	11	86	10.8
16	TNT (NL)	9	8	8	9	11	12	15	11	83	10.4
17	Oud En Nieuw (NL)	6	8	9	7	11	9	15	11	76	9.5
18	The Wuzzles (NL)	8	5	10	7	7	9	14	4	64	8.0

The Blue Rebels were well prepared when they visited Roosendaal in the Netherlands in November. One of the two new NSL-TV videos is their own documentation of a training camp in Bedford where they had also competed in April. The 14.2 average was only good enough for the 5th place of nine teams at the World Challenge.

The team from Greece then finished again in the middle of the A Class field at the ESL Championship where some of the teams competed who would come back for the ISR Grand Prix 2012 in November, including top contender MACH 4 from the Netherlands.

The Roosendaal management now released a video review of this year's ISR Grand Prix, and it is not a surprise that the Blue Rebels have their part in the clip. The team from Greece had the longest travel distance and made it to the same area (Netherlands/Belgium) the second time this year. Next year's travel distance to the World Cup in Bosnia and Herzegovina will be much shorter from Greece. It could be a great opportunity for the Blue Rebels to also represent Greece at an FAI event.