posted Jun 27th, 2017 - The recent NSL Live Talk with NMP PCH HayaBusa coach Gary Smith on 22 June also provided some information of the current 4-way situation in the United Kingdom. Gary Smith was working with NFTO in Spain at about the same time and mentioned the British national outdoor team in 4-way Women briefly.

Joey Jones, player coach for British 4-way team 4mula in the past years and DeLand Majik 2004 world champion team mate of Gary Smith, followed up with more information from the United Kingdom for the Sun Path Products NSL News. He said that NFTO members Anna Hicks and Catherine Anderson provided him with additional feedback:

"Our season started with a bit of a shakeup in terms of new members and switching slots all round; however, since then it has been a relatively smooth season for us, touch wood!! We started the season quite tunnel heavy coached by Dennis Praet, but are now getting more air time in Empuriabrava, with coaching from Gary Smith, and had a great weekend at Dunkeswell over the May bank holiday.

Our ultimate goal is to get to Australia next year so we're putting everything we have into being the top scoring team at the British Nationals. We've done about 80 jumps together so far and hope to have doubled that by the end of nationals, and our plan is to go big next year providing we can secure some more financial support."

UK Nationals 2016		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	22,B,8	L,C,10,14	19,H,E,7	12,11,16	N,J,4,G	20,18,5	Q,O,A,15	P,1,13	3,9,6	D,F,21,2	Total	Avg
1	Satori XL	17	20	26	15	22	17	25	19	21	22	204	20.4
2	4mula	15	18	22	15	20	15	24	16	19	21	185	18.5
3	Vision 99	15	17	22	16	19	14	22	15	19	22	181	18.1
4	NFTO	15	16	19	14	20	14	21	17	17	21	174	17.4
4	Eclipse	15	17	19	13	22	14	20	15	18	21	174	17.4

Joey Jones said that NFTO is not the only team with personnel changes this year. In fact, his own team 4mula recently went through a change in the lineup, as well.

The latest 4mula update was published by the Sun Path Products NSL News on 12 January 2017. Dave Rodgers and player coach Joey Jones had joined forces with former Vision 99 members Ady King and Pete Mather, who were ahead of 4mula in 2014 and then the team's toughest challengers in 2015 and 2016.

The new 4mula lineup was ready to challenge Satori XL for the UK top spot this year and made big plans to get ready for the national championships, which is the qualification event for the FAI World Meet 2018 in Australia.

Joey Jones said that things changed when the British Parachute Association (BPA) introduced a new qualification process for FAI sporting licenses. His own eligibility status for next year's world meet and this year's world cup was now in question. He said that 4mula had to withdraw from the FAI World Cup 2017 and adjust the 2017 training schedule: "Ady King eventually left the team due to the uncertainty surrounding my situation with the BPA."

FAI World Cup 2015			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		1,4,D	E,3,L,G	C,16,N,9	13,J,11	Q,2,A,14	K,7,8	P,18,21	15,12,F	B,22,O,10	20,5,M	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	22	32	32	24	23	24	24	22	23	24	250	25.0
2	Black Cat	RU	21	26	27	18	23	24	21	19	20	20	219	21.9
3	VR4 France	FR	20	26	25	19	23	20	22	18	20	24	217	21.7
4	Artemis Saumur Espoir	FR	18	23	21	18	21	21	19	17	20	20	198	19.8
5	4mula	UK	16	23	23	16	18	15	17	16	15	16	175	17.5
6	Final Fire	AT	15	19	21	15	17	19	16	16	15	18	171	17.1
7	AtomiX YUU-Skydive	DE	13	17	17	13	16	16	17	15	14	16	154	15.4

4mula also cancelled a planned 120-jump training camp in Spain before making new plans and trying to find a new team member for the open slot. Joey Jones, Dave Rodgers and Pete Mather then decided to continue and asked Will Cooke to replace Ady King in the tail slot.

4mula finally revised the training plan with the new lineup and still plan to compete at the UK Nationals 2017, regardless of Joey Jones' eligibility status. The team hopes to complete 100 training jumps and add 3 - 4 hours of wind tunnel training: "A far cry from the 350 and 15 hours 4mula originally had planned, but a least we will make it to the Nationals."

Joey Jones added that Ady King has now joined Satori XL: "It makes Satori the complete solid favorite to win the UK Nationals. They said they had a limited training plan this year, but I am sure they will go hard preparing for next year's World Meet in Australia. For the record: 4mula wishes Satori the best of luck and recognize that this was the best decision for both Ady and the UK to produce a solid team for the upcoming World Championships in Australia."

Joey Jones will now try to sort out and work on his own eligibility status, and the Sun Path Products NSL News will follow up soon with more details of the situation in the United Kingdom.