posted Mar 15th, 2009 - A team order of NSL Gloves from Finland brought the NSL News attention back to a team from the Scandinavian country that has been covered regularly in the past years. It was still far below freezing temperatures (-23 Celsius or -9 Fahrenheit) in Finland when Laura Miettinen asked for the gloves.

She flies the Tail position for the Pro Team. Kimmo Pohjola (Center Outside), Outi Pohjola (Point), Eija Suvala (Center Inside) and Mikko Kajala (Camera) are the other team members. The NSL News had introduced the Pro Team in detail with the story on 3 June 2008 (Archives > 2008 > News > search for: "Pro Team".

The 2008 season was the first year of a 3-year plan that has the participation at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2010 in Russia as the final goal. The first year was already promising, even though the Pro Team had to accept the second place at the national championship last year where the Tigers continued with their dominance in Finland once again.

The Tigers then represented Finland at the World Meet 2008 in France and finished tied with Austria's Monkey Circus in 16th place with a 14.5 average after six rounds.

The Pro Team broke the Tigers' dominance already once in 2008. The team from Rovaniemi in Lapland, far in the northern part of Finland, opened the 2008 season with a serious blow to the Tigers. The Pro Team won the indoor competition at the World Challenge 2008 (17.6 - 16.6) by ten points. It was the first time in both teams' history that the Pro Team finished ahead of the Tigers.

The Tigers fought back and won clearly on July 21 (16.2 - 14.8) when both teams competed in Sweden. The Tigers then barely managed to win the national championship by four points in August.

The Pro Team attended a total of six meets last year and finished the 2008 season at the ESL Championship 2008 on Texel in the Netherlands.

The 2009 season is the second part of the 3-year plan. It begins, as in 2008, with the World Challenge 2009. It will be time for the Pro Team to take control over the competition with the Tigers. The World Challenge 2009 brings back the memories of the success in 2008, even though the Tigers have not signed up for the indoor competition in Bedford this year.

Laura Miettinen confirmed for the NSL News that the 2009 season is very important for the Pro Team, which comes back with exactly the same lineup as in 2008: "Our plans are still the same for 2010. The national championship this year is the qualifyer, so this year is very important to us."

The Pro Team will get no help from the Tigers. Laura Miettinen added that the Tigers are still on track and continue with training and competing. She did not know any details of the Tigers' plans though.

The Pro Team will be well prepared for the World Challenge 2009. The team spent already four training days at Bodyflight Bedford at the end of December 2008. Additional tunnel camps were scheduled for the spring of 2009. Outdoor training followed at the end of February 2009 in Portugal. The Pro Team spent two weeks in Evora.

Laura Miettinen said that her team spent the rest of the winter and spring with other indoor activities: "We had creeping and training sessions in Rovaniemi this winter, however, nothing happened in the skies..."

The World Challenge 2009 will show where the Pto Team begins the 2009 season. The NSL News will once again follow the 2009 race for the Finish slot at the World Meet 2010 between the Pro Team and the Tigers.