posted Nov 28th, 2008 - The review of the NSL Championship 2008 begins with the Rookie Class competition this year. The videos of all ten rounds of both teams, Cold Turkey and Carolina Groove, have already been uploaded and can be reviewed on this page from here on.

Cold Turkey, with Fraser Feltner (Center Outside), Renee Power (Point), Jim Prochaska (Center Inside), Hal Spence (Tail) and Bill Schmidt on camera, had attended three meets of the Florida Skydiving League 2008, including the NSL Playoffs event, before the NSL Championship.

The DeLand team showed consistent progression (8.6 - 10.8 - 12.3) and was considered the top contender after the 12.3 average in September.

NSLChampionship 2008 League Rd1 Rd2 Rd3 Rd4 Rd5 Rd6 Rd7 Rd8 Rd9 Rd10 Total Av. Rank RookieClass League G-B-K L-C-E M-Q-D F-O-J H-A-B N-P-K C-Q-O A-L-M E-H-N D-J-G A-L-M Av. 1 Cold Turkey FSL 5(-2) 8(-1) 11(-1) 16 10(-1) 7(-1) 14(-1) 13 12 6 102 10.2 2 Carolina Groove CASL 10 6 9 15 13 8 9 13 12 6 101 10.1 Click on the team names for more information, click on the scores to view the jumps on NSL-TV

Carolina Groove (Steve Jones, Siobhan Mulvey, Paul Peeler, Jeanne Welsh, Eric Bobenhousen on camera) competed at four meets of the Carolina Skydiving League 2008 season and was still working on breaking the 10.0 average benchmark. Groove posted a 10.0 average after four rounds in June, which included a 16-pointer for a fast sequence. Groove was obviously the underdog for the NSL Championship, however, the 16-pointer in June was already a warning for any future Rookie Class competitors.

Groove followed up with the 15-pointer in Round 4, which is now featured on NSL-TV. Cold Turkey had the 16-pointer for the same round already on the scoreboard before the Carolina team went up for the jump. The DeLand team probably thought that the 16-pointer would eventually create a more comfortable lead after coming from behind for the first three rounds.

Groove's 15-pointer may have been so surprising for Cold Turkey that the DeLand team lost the next two rounds before recovering once again. Cold Turkey was almost more competing with the judges and the team's nerves than with the actual opponent in DeLand. Cold Turkey lost several points due to penalties, while Carolina Groove had a clean slate and struggled only with a few exits.

Cold Turkey recovered just in time with the 14-pointer in Round 7, which is also featured on NSL-TV. It eliminated the previous deficit and created the slimest 1-point lead. The DeLand team managed to protect this 1-point lead throughout the remaining three rounds and won the meet by the same single point.

The new NSL-TV videos offer the complete overview of the Rookie Class competition. The NSL News will follow up with more details of the competition later.