posted Oct 30th, 2016 - The 2016 season competition is hardly over, while the preparations for next year are beginning. It happens earlier in regions where the weather does not allow much skydiving in the fall/winter season.

Germany's competition season is usually over after the national championships, which took place at the end of August, even though some of the teams still attend outdoor meets later on. Germany's national teams (Airbus 4-way and 8-way, Skymix) competed at the FAI Mondial 2016, and AtomiX YUU won the AAA Class competition at the ESL Championship 2016 at the beginning of October.

Germany's two top teams have to start early this time with the 2017 preparations since both are facing personnel changes. Inside Center Olaf Biedermann and Point Christian Schafer will not come back for Airbus next year. Thomas Mack and Goeran Meyer are in the process of re-building the team.

AtomiX YUU is in the same personnel situation, as this year's Inside Center Janine Tillenburg will not continue with the silver medalist of 2014, 2015 and 2016. She finished with the highest meet average in the AtomiX team history at this year's national championships.

Former Paratec-Saar member Markus Bastuck filled the open slot when AtomiX competed at the ESL Championship, where Janine Tillenburg did not score for AtomiX any longer.

However, AtomiX has completed the recruiting and selection process for the open slot early and recently announced the new team member. Mark Zimmermann has been in the rear piece of Flash Four Soest in the past years and will take the Inside Center slot for AtomiX YUU.

German Nationals 2016		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA/4-way Open	1,17,B	8,15,20	D,M,13,A	12,5,7	G,O,3,P	22,F,11	18,21,6	16,2,C	14,J,19	L,Q,10,N	Total	Avg
1	Airbus 4-way Illertissen	20(-1)	17	22(-1)	19	24	18	17	17(-1)	19	21	194	19.4
2	AtomiX-YUU Skydive	17	14	20	17	19(-1)	15	14	16	17	18	167	16.7
3	FSC Remscheid	16	13	19	14	17	13(-1)	14	15(-1)	14	17	152	15.2
4	FSZ Saar NeVa	16	13	16	11(-1)	17	13	13	13	13	14	139	13.9
5	FlashFour Soest	11	9	17	10(-3)	14(-1)	13	11	12	10	13(-1)	120	12.0

AtomiX team speaker Peter Ingenhaag introduced the new team member: "Mark Zimmermann fits perfectly in the team. He shares the same energy and passion that we do to achieve our goals, and we are sure he will fill this slot perfectly and very quickly. Now we need to bring him up to speed, and we are sure to become even way stronger with him. We are very happy that he accepted our invitation and takes the chance to continue our way to the top in Germany."

"Bringing him up to speed" is one of the main tasks on hand for AtomiX, as Mark Zimmermann's former team has performed on a 12-average level this year. However, AtomiX is expecting to continue the pursuit of the top spot in Germany and catching up with Airbus in the light of even heavier changes on the opponent's side.

Peter Ingenhaag said that his team has already started the 2017 preparations with indoor training and has intensive training and meet attendance on the 2017 agenda: "We will have, of course, the German Nationals on our schedule for next year, as well as the European Championships/World Cup in Saarlouis. We will also attend the ESL Championship again and try to defeat our gold medals."

AtomiX YUU plans to spend even more time and money than in the past to catch up quickly: "We will be able to spend a bit more money than last year, so we can afford more training jumps and tunnel hours to become stronger than ever, with the best possible lineup for the next years, despite the change. We see the change as an opportunity!"

Mark Zimmermann is 31 years of age and has a total of approx. 2,000 jumps. He is motivated to move up to the significantly higher level quickly and do the additional home work that it takes, Peter Ingenhaag and the whole team believe: "If you follow our history and progression, you can see the permanent progression we have shown. Of course, it's a lot of hard work and efforts to have a successful team like that.

The Sun Path Products NSL News will follow up as soon as possible with more information of the Airbus changes...