posted Dec 7th, 2008 - The NSL-TV coverage of the NSL Championship 2008 is now complete. All videos of all teams and all competition rounds have now been uploaded. The last bulk of uploads presents the AAA Class competition.

The NSL News story on 12 November 2008 already mentioned that there would be a sad aspect of this year's event. The NSL Championship has traditionally been the last and final showdown of each competition season between two of the longest standing 4-way teams in the country, Optic Nerve and Teiwaz.

Optic Nerve's founder in the Tail position, Dr. Joel Shugar, had died this year in a skydiving accident, which was probably also the end of his team. The same article mentioned already that this year's award ceremony of the NSL Championship would be dedicated to the memory of one of the greatest fans and contributors in Formation Skydiving competition.

NSL Championship 2008		League	Rd1	Rd2	Rd3	Rd4	Rd5	Rd6	Rd7	Rd8	Rd9	Rd10	Total	Av.
Rank	AAAClass	League	G-17-B-16	22-4-K	M-9-L-1	F-15-19	H-20-A-3	N-14-P-2	18-C-Q-L	8-7-6	21-E-10	5-13-D	Total	Av.
1	Sebastian Tempest	FSL	18	14	22	16	17	16	19	15	14	17	168	16.8
2	Teiwaz Red	FSL	19	13	20	14	16	16	15	15	14	6	148	14.8
3	Teiwaz Blue	FSL	15	13	16	13	11	14	15	15	14	11	137	13.7

Meet Director Kurt Gaebel followed up, and a minute of silence at the opening ceremony and meet briefing on Friday reminded the teams and competitors of the tragic loss for the skydiving community this year. The memory came back, as well, when the NSL Shugar Cup was handed out during the award ceremony to the official NSL Champion of the 2008 season, Sebastian Tempest.

Teiwaz, Optic Nerves's traditional adversary, honored Dr. Joel's memorial with the presence of two lineups. In fact, the whole AAA Class competition was like a Teiwaz 4-way boogie since all three competing teams consisted of current and former Teiwaz members. Only two AAA Class competitors, JaNette and Steve Lefkowitz, had never competed for Teiwaz before and are the latest additions to the 44-member club.

The visit of the CSC Rhythm XP front piece in Florida gave the AAA Class competition a special touch. JaNette and Steve Lefkowitz had just completed an exciting competition across the 4-way Open and Advanced categories with the defending NSL AAA Class champion, Sebastian Tempest at the USPA Nationals 2008. The NSL News mentioned this battle within the meet during the live coverage from Eloy in the story on 20 October 2008.

It was an indirect competition between the Midwest and the Florida team since they both competed in different categories, and Sebastian Tempest was not in contention for any medals in the Open Class, while CSC Rhythm XP won the Advanced Class gold medals. The complete Tempest lineup and the front piece of the Midwest team then met each other again in the AAA Class competition of the NSL Championship at SkyQuest 2008.

JaNette and Steve Lefkowitz teamed up with their former coach of 2007, Teiwaz Tail Robert Chromy, and Center Inside Rodney Cruce who has competed with Teiwaz at several meets in the past years and with team Inept at this year's Open Class competition in Eloy. Teiwaz Red, aka Teiwaz Rhythm, was ready to take on Sebastian Tempest.

It was a very stong Teiwaz lineup. Sebastian Tempest knew that it would not be easy to defend the NSL Shugar Cup in DeLand. In fact, Rodney Cruce with his Inept lineup had outscored both Sebastian Tempest and CSC Rhythm XP with a 17.4 average at the USPA Nationals 2008. All three teams were very close to each other, and Inept finished right in front of Tempest.

Rodney Cruce's Inept teammate Jim "Bu" Klinge competed with the other Teiwaz Blue lineup, aka Teiwaz Bu. JaNette and Steve Lefkowitz had asked to compete with their former coach Robert Chromy at this meet, so there was no other slot available for Center Outside Jim Klinge. He ended up with other current Teiwaz members in the Blue lineup, which had its own special story as a 3-way with Robert Chromy and Rodney Cruce taking turns filling the open slot.

Eventually, the original and well trained Sebastian Tempest lineup, with all previous Teiwaz members, had no problem winning the meet. Teiwaz Red offered great competition, even won a round and tied some Tempest scores before falling far behind in the last round. The NSL News will follow up with more meet details later.