posted Jan 24th, 2005 - The NSL News mentioned in the news story of January 11 that an update on the Norwegian national 4-way team "Arcteryx" will follow soon. The NSL News met with team captain Ole Petter Hjelle at the end of the team's last winter camp at Skydive DeLand and got the information needed for this update.

The current line-up was formed in 2004 under the supervision of the Norwegian national coach and team manager by then, Lise Aune. Arcteryx consists of Tore Buer (Center Inside), Oyvind Buer (Tail), Ole Petter Hjelle (Center Outside) and Ditta Valsdottir (Point). Jan Terje Welkom is th new team videographer. This is probably the youngest national team in the Norwegian Formation Skydiving history.

Arcteryx attended its first competition in the spring of 2004 at the Florida Skydiving Center in Lake Wales and posted a 15.7 average. Coach Lise Aune filled the open slot by then, which was later taken by Tore Buer. Arcteryx finished the 2004 season with the 7th place and a 15.8 average after nine rounds at the World Meet in Rijeka.

Aune stepped down as the national coach after the World Meet in 2004 and hired DeLand Fire member Shannon Pilcher as the new coach for the team. Aune also stepped own from her position as the team manager in the beginning of 2005. Pilcher had already mentioned time constraints when he discussed the plans with the team. Eventually, he never began the work with Arcteryx and recently became a team member of DeLand Fire. Arcteryx worked with DeLand Majik member Doug Park for the whole duration of the team's first training camp in 2005.

Team captain Ole Petter Hjelle, who had previously been training and competing with the international team "Punky Fish", reported that his Norwegian team completed 130 jumps in the 12 days of training in DeLand. He mentioned that Arcteryx was disappointed when Shannon Pilcher could not commit to work with the team. However, the team understood the difficulties Pilcher had due to his other commitments with the PD Factory Team and DeLand Fire. There were no hard feelings left when Arcteryx and Pilcher went different ways.

Even though the Norwegian team is currently without a head coach and the association without a project manager, the coaching issue was resolved for the moment when Doug Park agreed to work with the team in January. Lise Aune still tries to help the team to find a new permanent coach. However, Arcteryx will use different coaches for this year. Doug Park and his former Majik team mate Gary Smith will share the coaching job for the 2005 season. In the meantime, the Norwegian team will continue to look for a team coach for the whole 2006 season, while the Norwegian association will provide the new project and team manager.

Hjelle and the other Arcteryx team members believe that the shared work with Park and Smith will work well for the team. It will provide Arcteryx with the complete knowledge and detailed expertise of the whole Majik continuity plan. Smith was in Majik's front piece, while Park was the Center Inside of the rear piece.

The coaching experience of the 2004 season with Lise Aune had provided this young Norwegian team with the details of the successful plan of the DeLand Norgies who won bronze medals at the World Meets in 1999, 2001 and 2003. Aune used to be the Center Outside of the best Norwegian 4-way team in history. Hjelle explained that the DeLand Norgies had their own style, which was a combination of the dynamic French way and Airspeed's accurate stop-and-go philosophy.

Hjelle said that Arcteryx mainly followed the DeLand Norgies when Lise Aune was coaching the team. Doug Park brought the Majik style more into the picture. Hjelle thinks that Arcteryx now has the chance to pick the best from the best and develop the team's own style as a result of all the input. He explains that it seems to be beneficial to hear things in different words and languages and to see things from different angles.

Hjelle brought up the technique for Block 8 (Canadian T - Canadian T) as one example. The DeLand Norgies used to sheer the pieces, and Arcteryx did the same in the beginning of the training. The technique changed with new input and coaching, and Arcteryx is now cogging the pieces.

The Arcteryx plan for 2005 has a total of 850 jumps on the agenda, which will be completed in ten training camps. The majority of the training jumps (approx. 500) will be done in DeLand. Arcteryx will hold one longer training camp at home in the Norwegian summer, and another summer camp is scheduled around the Malevsky Memorial Cup 2005 in Russia. The summer training in Norway will also include meets of the Norwegian Cup, which will be resumed this year. The Norwegian Cup with four events might become a part of the European Skydiving League.

Two Norwegian skills camps in DeLand and three additional skills camps in Norway are a part of the commitment to the Norwegian association, which supports the team financially. The national championship of Norway is a mandatory part of Arcteryx' summer agenda, as well. The Norwegian skills camp of the past have regularly produced the future members of the national teams and the "farm teams".

Each current team member went through these skills camps, which have become very popular due to the success. Participants know that they will have a serious shot at a slot in the national teams if they want to go that far. Tore Buer, who joined Acteryx in April 2004, is only 23 years old and has the responsibility of the Center Inside position. Hjelle began skydiving in 1999, while the Buer brothers started in 2000.

Arcteryx will attend meets of the Florida Skydiving League during their training camps in DeLand, including the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2005. The 2005 competition season will be concluded for Arcteryx with the World Cup of Formation Skydiving in October, hosted by Skydive Arizona in Eloy.

Hjelle explains that Arcteryx has also determined the team goals for the 2005 season and for next year. The team expects an average between 18 and 19 points at the end of this year. The main goal for 2006 is a medal at the World Meet in Germany. Hjelle has no doubt that the team's progression is right on track: "We started with a 10.2 average in January 2004 and finished the 2004 season with 15.8 in Croatia. The progression has continued throughout the first camp this year."

Hjelle finished his update with a few words explaining the unique team composition: "Our team works almost like a family. The brothers Tore and Oyvind are really symbiotic. They have grown up together, are very close to each other and even still live in the same house, although they do have different personalities. So there are the brothers in the rear piece, while Ditta and myself are a couple in the front piece. Sometimes we feel like a real family, the parents in the front piece with the kids in the rear piece."

Hjelle considers himself lucky that he had the chance to join the Norgies Lise Aune and Pal Kolbenstvedt, plus Paul Hofstee for a 4-way Punky Fish camp when he had only 350 jumps. This camp got him on the way toward the current slot with Arcteryx. His girl friend Ditta Valsdottir was already a member of the "Norgie Girls" who won silver medals at the World Meets in Spain 2001 and France 2003. Hjelle did not know that Ditta was interested in joining the new national when he signed up for Arcteryx. However, she decided later to switch into the Open Class and put her talent and experience into the new national team. The first Arcteryx scores in 2005 will be posted at the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2005 in March in DeLand.