posted Jan 14th, 2009 - The FSL Shamrock Showdown has become one of the prime events in 4-way competition over the years. This year's meet is the 7th showdown at Skydive DeLand.

The Shamrock Showdown with its current format was first held in 2002. It was the third meet of the regular Florida Skydiving League season in 2002 and 2003. The FSL decided in 2004 to offer teams and competitors in Florida a longer winter break. The Shamrock Showdown has been the official FSL season opener ever since.

The 4-way competition at the Shamrock has grown ever since and eventually turned into a top event when more and more world class teams traveled to Florida early in the skydiving season. In fact, every 4-way world champion since 2004 won the Shamrock Showdown first before taking the gold medals at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving the same year.

DeLand Majik won the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2004 and then the World Meet 2004 in Croatia. DeLand Fire defended the hometurf successfully in March 2006 and then became 4-way world champions in Germany 2006. Airspeed Odyssey won the Shamrock Showdowns of 2007 and 2008 and took home Excalibur from France last year. Winning the Shamrock Showdown in DeLand seems to be a good stepping stone.

The 2009 season does not have a world championship on the international agenda. However, the field of teams in 2005 and 2007 was on the same world class level, and it will be again this year in March. The two best US 4-way teams, world champion Airspeed Odyssey and runner-up at the USPA Nationals 2008, Perris Fury, both have the Shamrock on the 2009 schedule.

France Maubeuge, silver medalist at the world meet last year, is coming back after visiting the Shamrock for the first time in March 2008. The French national team in the female category and bronze medalist of the last world meet, Deep Blue, has also signed up for this year's Shamrock. Both French 4-way teams will be well prepared for the competition at the end of a 2-week training camp in DeLand in March.

The meet management is making a few adjustments for the Shamrock Showdown 2009 to accommodate the growing participation and the high quality of the competition. The Shamrock Showdown has been a 2-day competition over ten rounds in the past. The 2009 event will already begin on Friday to take the time pressure off teams and management.

Competition draw and opening briefing will take place on Friday at noon. Two competition rounds are scheduled for Friday afternoon. Six or seven rounds will follow on Saturday. The remaining rounds will be completed on Sunday morning.

The meet management could also confirm that the judging of the world class competition will live up to the quality of the field. Three of the most experienced 4-way judges in the sport will also travel to DeLand in March.

Eric Heinsheimer, Golden Knights member and one of the most experienced and most successful 4-way and 8-way competitors in the world, was already judging the world class competition at the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2008. He delivered such an accurate and consistent performance as a judge that there was simply no complaint throughout the whole competition - although he surely did not make it easy for the teams...

Eric Heinsheimer will have two other high-profile judging veterans by his side this year. Judy Celaya and Rina Gallo make the judging panel at the Shamrock Showdown 2009 the best and most experienced one that this event has ever had. This 3-way in DeLand would be able to handle any performance level at any international world class competition.

The NSL News has already met Judy Celaya and Rina Gallo at numerous high-profile world class events over many years, such as World Championships, World Cups, Malevsky Cups, USPA Nationals. Both have already been selected as chief judges and event judges by the International Parachuting Commission (IPC) at previous events and know the rules in and out.

Eric Heinsheimer, Judy Celaya and Rina Gallo will bring a new and even more competitive atmosphere to the Shamrock Showdown. The judging panel for this year's event will probably inspire all teams to bring out the very best, and it will provide additional quality for the event.