posted Aug 9th, 2015 - More national championships are coming up soon and before teams will get ready for the remaining major international events this year, the World Cup 2015 in Teuge, Netherlands, then the 1st FAI World Indoor Skydiving Championships in Prague, followed by the Clash of Champions and the World Air Games at the end of the year.

The Dutch Nationals 2015 will be held at the Paracentrum Texel, two weeks before the Netherlands will host the World Cup in Teuge. This year's national championships will be the selection event for the Mondial 2016 in Chicago.

There is not too much serious competition for the best Dutch teams in 4-way and 8-way. The qualification as the national teams is probably just a formality for the 4-way and 8-way lineups of the M4trix/M8trix team project. M4trix member Leander van Schriek provided the Sun Path Products NSL News with an update shortly before the Dutch teams will compete together with the British 4-way teams at their nationals.

M8trix and M4trix are the Dutch national teams for the 2015 season and will compete for the Netherlands at the World Cup 2015 on home turf. M4trix will be joined by Cool Runnings who competed for the Netherlands at the FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2014. M8trix will be the only Dutch 8-way team in Teuge.

However, the Netherlands have a new 8-way team that will compete at the national championships. 8@work consists of experienced skydivers who have been training together for years and now decided to join 8-way competition.

The new 8-way team will also represent the Netherlands at the World Air Games in Dubai this year. M8trix decided not to compete in Dubai, as several team members don't have enough days off work any longer. M8trix has prioritized the World Cup in Teuge where the team expects more competition, and where the team members would love to compete at a 1st Category event on home turf.

World Meet 2014			Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Rd. 11	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		E,3,C,5	F,G,D,21	19,H,2	M,4,1	O,14,A,P	8,J,16	7,11,12	22,20,15	17,G,18	13,B,9	Q,10,N,L	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	24	22	15	26	22	21	19	26	21	20	-	216	21.6
2	Barkli	RU	19	18	13	25	14	16	16	19	18	13	20	191	17.4
3	Venturi	FR	19	16	14	23	18	13	18	19	15	16	19	190	17.3
4	Microclim8	UK	14	14	11	15	12	13	12	15	12	13	-	131	13.1
5	M8Trix	NL	15	13	11	17	11	13	13	15	10	12	-	130	13.0
6	Australia	AU	12	13	11	18	11	12	12	12	10	12	-	123	12.3
7	Dubai Asaar	AE	11	9	7	13	4	10	9	8	11	-	-	82	9.1
8	Maximum Ride	CA	10	9	6	11	8	8	8	7	7	-	-	74	8.2

The current M8trix line up consists of the M4trix members (Jaap Keuter, Leon van Leeuwen, Mechie Voermans, Leander van Schriek, Kim Reuvers on camera), plus player coach Gary Smith, Rogier Carper, Annelies Hasewinkel, Mieke Mulder and Ronny Dumay on camera.

Leander van Schriek said that the 8-way training had priority this year: "M8trix has been training harder than ever this year. The pre-season started with indoor training at Bodyflight Bedford. We visited the UK during on three weekends and flew eight hours with new team member Rogier Carper."

He said that Rogier Carper immediately proved to be a strong asset for the team, and M8trix was able to continue with the previous progression. After the indoor training, the team followed up at the Paracenrum Texel on several long weekends and whole weeks for a total of well over 200 training jumps so far.

Leander van Schriek said that the M8trix also looks like a team now with the new Sun Path Javelins. M8trix hope for a peak performance at the nationals first and then at the World Cup, with two opportunities to improve the national 8-way records once again. Leander van Schriek said that the team feels strong and is quite consistent with the block techniques.

As a "side project" to M8trix the 4-way members have not been able to put a lot of effort into their second event. However, M4trix has spent several evenings at Indoor Skydive Roosendaal, were they could train after the day job is over. Furthermore, M4trix trained on four weekends for a total of approx. 80 jumps.

M8trix will also have an internal family competition. The Belgian Thunderb8rds have Sven Ibens in the lineup, whose wife Annelies Hasewinkel is an M8trix member. Both 8-way teams have chances to win a medal, and one will probably go back to the Ibens home in Bussum. Then there is a coaching competition, as well. M8trix member Gary Smith is coaching the NMP-PCH Hayabusa members of the Thunderb8rds, while Sven Ibens works with M4trix at their indoor training. Netherlands and Belgium have quite a few cross connections...