posted Sep 15th, 2017 - Last weekend's AA Class competition was an interesting experience for the teams that plan to travel to Perris soon for the USPA Nationals 2017. It offered almost every variation that a competition draw may create.

The 6-round meet started with the fastest sequence of the six rounds, with only random formations (G,C,Q,O) which was followed by four block-heavy and technically challenging sequences. The last round eventually mixed up two random formations with a slow block, which generated the only 2-digit score (SDC Connect 4) of any team after the faster Round 1.

It was a good test of the piece-flying techniques for the teams heading to Perris. Nine of the 16 AA Class blocks were drawn for the six rounds and only six of the 16 random formations, with four of them in Round 1.

Slower sequences usually move the teams closer together on the leaderboard, and it was no big surprise that five of the six AA Class teams last weekend shared the highest scores for each round with each other. Winner SDC Connect 4 had a second sole highscore in Round 4 and tied another one. Freaks on Couches matched this with two sole highscores and a tie to place 2nd on the AA Class leaderboard.

September 9th, 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	Total	Avg
Rank	AA Class		G,C,Q,O	18,22	9,19	14,20	15,6	H,13,J	Total	Avg
1	SDC Connect 4	MWSL	11	7	6	7	5	10	46	7.7
2	Freaks on Couches	MWSL	12	6	8	4	5	6	41	6.8
3	SDC Rhelativity	MWSL	8	7	6	5	4	6	61	6.1
4	SDC Falcon	MWSL	9	5	6	4	5	6	35	5.8
4	PIIA	NPSL	9	7	5	5	5	4	35	5.8
6	4 Locos	NPSL	6	4	2	4	4	5	25	4.2

The A Class leaderboard featured the highest participation of all four categories with a total of nine teams from three different leagues (Midwest, Northern Plains, Northwest).

CSC Genesis, a team from the Chicagoland Skydiving Center, host of next year's USPA Nationals, finished on the top of the A Class leaderboard after improving the meet average once again significantly (4.8 - 6.7 - 8.2) at the team's third meet this year.

The French Toast Mafia of the Northern Plains Skydiving League did exactly the same (4.2 - 5.3 - 7.7) and finished three points behind in 2nd place. One more Midwest team (Dudes in Space) placed in the Top 3 before the best A Class team of the Northwest Skydiving League completed the 3-league mixture that was dominated by the Midwest Skydiving League.

One of the six sequences last weekend was identical for the AA and A Class teams. Round 3 had one of the four sequences with two blocks (9,19) for the total of 15 teams in both categories. AA Class team Freaks on Couches won the round with an 8-pointer, followed by A Class Winner CSC Genesis (7).

September 9th, 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	Total	Avg
Rank	A Class		G,C,Q	O,2	9,19	E,B,P	6,A	H,J,F	Total	Avg
1	CSC Genesis	MWSL	5	8	7	11	6	12	49	8.2
2	French Toast Mafia	NPSL	8	7	4	9	5	13	46	7.7
3	Dudes in Space	MWSL	6	7	5	9	6	9	42	7.0
4	Random Blockage	NWSL	6	8	3	8	7	-	32	6.4
5	CSC Get a Grip	MWSL	4	6	3	7	6	12	38	6.3
6	CSC Legos	MWSL	5	4	5	7	5	10	36	6.0
7	Rampage	MWSL	2	7	5	5	4	7	30	5.0
7	3 Ring Circus	NPSL	4	5	5	7	4	5	30	5.0
9	2GPRD	MWSL	2	5	3	3	5	3	21	3.5

The A Class sequence of Round 3 was the only one that could also be drawn for the Intermediate Class competition at the USPA Nationals, which is identical with the AA Class. The A Class dive pool includes eight of the 22 blocks, compared to the 16 blocks in the AA/Intermediate Class.

A Class teams have to step up into the AA Class to compete at the USPA Nationals or compete at the NSL Championship, which offers A and Rookie Class competition, as well.

This year's NSL Championship is scheduled for the first December weekend and features once again an indoor/outdoor combination. The indoor competition will take place at iFLY Tampa on Thursday evening. The outdoor meet is hosted by Skydive City, half an hour of driving distance from the wind tunnel, and begins on Friday afternoon.

This year's NSL Championship offers a new and very interesting feature. The competition draw will be identical for indoor and outdoor competition, and there will be three separate leaderboards and awards. The third leaderboard is the combination of the indoor and outdoor scores and will crown the best all-round 4-way team...