posted Nov 7th, 2008 - The NSL News mentioned the "amateur championship" as a part of the Open Class competition at the USPA Nationals 2008 a few times during the live coverage of the event from Eloy. It is always an interesting situation when the teams of three different categories actually apply the same AAA Class dive pool.

USPA's Open and Advanced Class teams are separated by different leaderboards and have their own sets of medals. The "pro teams" or "full-time teams" - whatever the definition of this may be - compete together with "amateur" or "weekend teams" in the Open Class. The best "amateur teams" in the Open Class receive neither medals nor a lot of attention. They usually end up somewhere in the middle of the Open Class field.

Arizona Divewerkz was the best "amateur team" at the USPA Nationals 2008 and had to compete in the Open Class after winning the Advanced Class gold medals at the USPA Nationals in 2006. The USPA rules had forced AZDW into the Open Class already in 2007. AZDW won the Advanced Class gold medals of 2006 with a 14.6 average, posted a 15.8 average in the Open Class last year in Ottawa and finished in 8th place with a 19.0 average at the USPA Nationals 2008.

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The Arizona Divewerkz team career story is very similar to the one of New England Skydiving League team Mass Defiance. MD won the Advanced Class gold medals at the USPA Nationals in 2005 with a 15.4 average, moved up into the Open Class and finished with a 16.7 average in 2006, then posted a 19.3 average in 2007 as the best "amateur team" in the Open Class field, which placed Mass Defiance in 7th position.

The NSL News invited the Arizona team for a live interview in the NSL/PD News studio at Skydive Arizona on 21 October 2008, and the video of the interview was uploaded and posted with the NSL News story on the same day. The interview includes questions related to the status of the team and its players in the Open Class competition.

Arizona Diverwerkz was founded by Annaliese Peterson, Blane Boynton, Paul Gatling and Murel Addison in 2004. Kelly Green was filming the team. This lineup competed in the AA/Intermediate Class for two years. The team career began with a 3.3 average at its first competition, a Southwest Skydiving League meet that year. Arizona Divewerkz of 2004 finished the first season with an 8.7 average in 11th place at the USPA Nationals.

The same lineup continued in the AA Class competition of the Southwest Skydiving League 2005 and won the Intermediate Class bronze medals at the USPA Nationals 2005 with a 12.6 average.

Annaliese Peterson, Blane Boynton and Murel Addison had now spent enough time with the AA Class dive pool and moved up into the AAA Class in 2006.

Cindy Nieves replaced Paul Gatling who has recently been training and competing with the indoor 4-way team Aeon. Arizona Divewerkz of 2006 lifted the performance level to a 14.6 average at the USPA Nationals and won the Advanced Class gold medals at the end of the first season with the complete dive pool.

The 2006 lineup came back for the 2007 season, and Center Outside Annaliese Peterson took the position of the league director for the newly created Arizona Skydiving League. Arizona Divewerkz also started the team's "Mentor Camp" program and competed as a weekend team in the Open Class competition at the USPA Nationals 2007.

Original team member Murel Addison left the team at the end of the 2007 season, and former Airspeed member Chad Smith took his slot. Team founders Annaliese Peterson and Blane Boynton made plans for Arizona Divewerkz' 5th year in the sport, Cindy Nieves went into her 3rd year with the team, and Chad Smith added a lot of experience to the team potential and talent. The AZDW lineup for 2008 was promising.

Arizona Divewerkz of 2008 did not win any medals. However, the 2008 performance was impressive, and the 19.0 average speaks its own language.

The team members explain the reasons for the progression briefly in the interview. The focus on technical improvements, a more aggressive and team oriented approach, plus more windtunnel training seem to be the key to success for this Arizona Divewerkz lineup.

Annaliese Peterson, Blane Boynton, Cindy Nieves and Chad Smith were not ready to talk about the 2009 season shortly after the 4-way competition at the USPA Nationals 2008. However, they admitted that the 20-point average is dangerously close and hard to ignore. They mentioned the need of a week to celebrate and recover before discussing the future of Arizona Divewerkz. The NSL News will follow up as soon as possible.

Click here to watch the video of the interview.