posted Jun 26th, 2009 - There have not been many 4-way meets attracting four Rookie Class teams to the same competition site at the same time, even though the Rookie Class is gaining momentum in general. The Czech Republic did it already for the second time.

Czech league manager Jan Klapka, member of the Bad Boys, has been nursing his 4-way community ever since he joined the international NSL Network in 2005 with several AAA Class teams. The Rookie Class was the second competition category that he introduced in 2007.

The August meet in 2007 was the first time when he had four Rookie Class teams attending the competition in the Czech Republic. Three of these teams (Fast Arrows, Monkeys, All 41) moved up into the A Class a year later and are now competing in the AA Class.

Jan Klapka knew that it would be important to recruit new Rookie Class teams, as he wanted his 4-way community to grow. His efforts on the very grass root level of 4-way competition are obviously very successful since he had four Rookie Class teams on competition site last weekend. It was the second time since August 2007.

Three of the four Rookie Class teams had an exciting race with each other and finished within four points after six rounds. They also took three of the top five spots on last weekend's international Rookie Class leaderboard of 17 teams. Crazy Dragons shares the 2nd place with DiZaster of the Florida Skydiving League.

The Relative Team and the Touch Team both increased their meet averages significantly compared to the May meet. The Crazy Dragons attended their first meet last weekend. The All 41 Ladies could not complete all six rounds, due to the weather conditions.

Accord in the AAA Class was also a victim of the rough weather and did not complete all rounds. The two best AAA Class teams, Skywalkers and Bad Boys, did not compete last weekend.

The Bad Boyz had an ill team member and are now eagerly looking at the next confrontation with the Skywalkers, the 4-way champion of the Czech Republic in the past years.

Jan Klapka will probably get more AAA Class competition in 2010 when the Rookie Class teams of 2007 and current AA Class teams will make their last step up and apply the complete IPC dive pool.

This will also be the time when the A Class competition will get more momentum, as the current Rookie Class teams will most likely move up next year.

In the meantime, Jan Klapke will probably continue to recruite new Rookie Class lineups.

The Czech Republic, host of the FAI World Cup 2009, has already registered two AAA Class teams for this event.

In July, Skywalkers and Bad Boys have another opportunity to face each other before the national championship, which is scheduled for the beginning of August. The final showdown for the top spot in the Czech Republic this year will take place at the World Cup.