posted Dec 27th, 2008 - The NSL News once again goes back in time. Christmas of 2008 is over, and the New Year is approaching quickly. This time, the step back found the last NSL News story of 2003, which was posted on December 31 and cannot be found in the NSL News archives.

The story was a summary of the 2003 season and all of its major events. The NSL News was already busy by then covering the actual events of the NSL Network and also the other major Formation Skydiving competitions. The NSL News agenda has become even busier ever since, and a summary of the 2008 season will hopefully follow very soon. Here is what the NSL News reported at the very end of the year 2003.

Did you know that 2003 was a great year for Formation Skydiving competition?

The year 2003 fading away is a good opportunity to look back and see what happened. It was a very exciting year for Formation Skydiving competition. A total of 204 teams competed at least at one meet of all the NSL meets in the U.S.A. Many of these competitions included great races between local and regional teams. All the top teams in the country, except Arizona Airspeed who focused on 8-way this year, participated in NSL meets. Several national 4-way teams from other countries attended meets and gave them an international atmosphere.

The European Skydiving League was launched this year and includes more and more countries in the old continent. The progression of the European league has been very impressive. NSL and ESL have been working together by synchronizing the competition draw at several meets of the regular season and also at the ESL Championship and the NSL Playoffs 2003. The Belgian team Hayabusa is the first European Skydiving League champion. DeLand Majik won the NSL Championship 2003.

The Florida Skydiving League opened the 2003 season at Skydive DeLand in January with the UK national team Sebastian XL and the Danish national team DaneZ attending the meet. The Valentine's Meet at Skydive Arizona in February had the Airspeed 4-way teams and the Golden Knights posting their first 2003 scores. The Army team was now on its way to the World Meet in September in France.

The Florida Skydiving League followed in March with the second version of the Shamrock Showdown. The record participation of 18 teams included a world class competition between DeLand Majik, the Golden Knights and Italy's Sinapsi PD. DeLand Majik won with a 22.1 average after eight rounds. Sinapsi PD beat the Golden Knights and catapulted themselves into the elite club of 4-way teams in the world.

Sebastian XL followed up with the team's own big bang at the FSL April meet where they posted a 23.2 meet average after six rounds.

All of a sudden, the number of teams charging for the gold medal at the 2003 World Meet in September had gone up by two more teams and now included the U.S.A., France, Norway, Italy and the United Kingdom.

The next big event was the Malevsky Memorial World Cup 2003 in Russia. As in 2002, DeLand Majik traveled to Europe and won the money. Sinapsi PD was the only other world class contender in Russia within a field of 13 teams. Majik needed a 21.0 meet average to win the meet nine points ahead of Sinapsi. However, Majik continued their winning streak on their way to the USPA Championship 2003 in October.

The international highlight of the 2003 season was the World Championship of Formation Skydiving at the Mondial 2003 in Gap, France. The NSL News traveled to Europe and reported live on site.

It was worth the effort. The NSL website traffic reached new record numbers while the best teams in the world offered a very exciting competition. France Maubeuge walked away in the 4-way event after a very dominating performance on their home turf.

Russia and Airspeed battled it out in 8-way, including a jump-off round and a tie-breaker. Russia defended her title successfully. V-Max of the United Kingdom won the gold medals in the 4-way Women's event after a close competition with the Norgie Girls. For the first time in history, the U.S. Formation Skydiving delegation returned home without a gold medal.

The season was not over yet. The Golden Knights still had to defend their national title in October at Skydive Lake Wales.

The USPA Championship 2003 would be the qualification event for the World Meet in 2004. DeLand Majik had used the NSL Playoffs 2003 in September in Lake Wales to get ready for the championship. Airspeed Vertical would also compete with the Golden Knights for the 4-way Open Class gold medal.

Majik won the most exciting battle after ten rounds and is the new U.S. national 4-way team. Airspeed won the 8-way competition and will represent the U.S.A. once again in Croatia next year. The Golden Knights competed with the new 8-way lineup. Spaceland Inferno won the AAA Advanced Class competition. Windline Lightning took the first place in the AA/Intermediate Class on their home turf.

The 2003 season was concluded with SkyQuest 2003 at Fantasy of Flight. The multi-discipline event was a great success with great weather and a lot of fun. DeLand Majik won the AAA Class NSL Championship 2003 and defended the NSL Shugar Cup successfully. The Air Force team from Colorado repeated the AA Class victory at Fantasy of Flight, as well. The Victims of the Wind from Seattle took the A Class championship trophy to the Northwest Skydiving League.

This was a quick summary of the 2003 season. The NSL headquarters would like to use this opportunity to say thank you to all teams, competitors, league directors, hosting skydiving centers with their staff, sponsors and supporters for another great year of 4-way competition. We wish you all a great new year and more competition fun in 2004. What will the near future bring for the National Skydiving League? We will talk about this next year. Happy New Year.