posted Sep 20th, 2017 - Three teams of the Florida Skydiving League came together at Skydive City in Z-Hills last weekend for the last meet of the 2017 season in Florida before the NSL Championship 2017, which will also be hosted by Skydive City this year.

It was also the last outdoor test for teams before the upcoming USPA Nationals in Perris, where AA Class team SCZ ZEUS will compete in the Intermediate Class for the second time. In fact, the ZEUS members had exactly one week after the last training jump on Sunday before the competition draw will take place in Perris this Sunday.

ZEUS first completed the 10-round draw of the weekend with eight rounds on Saturday and two more on Sunday morning and then continued with more training jumps for a total of 16 jumps before the trip to the west coast.

It was a successful meet test for ZEUS with its 2017 lineup. The 9.7 average for an average AA Class draw was a new team record and just short of the 10-average benchmark. Player coach Robert Chromy has once again prepared a new team well for the upcoming challenge and the near future.

16 September 2017		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AA Class	15,20	19,E,9	O,D,N,J	7,H,K	M,2,A	21,4	8,1	18,22	Q,F,11	L,C,6	Total	Avg
1	SDC ZEUS	7	9	14	12	10	8	8	7	11	11	97	9.7
2	Purple HaZe	4	7	10	9	8	6	-	-	-	-	44	7.3
Rank	Rookie	J,K,Q	E,P,F	O,D,N	H,B,A	M,G,L	C,J,E	K,O,H	P,B,G	Q,F,A	L,C,D	Total	Avg
1	SDC ZEUS Evolve	6	5	4	10	8	9	-	-	-	-	42	7.0

Robert Chromy has been successful before with setting up new teams and competitors on their way to successful 4-way careers. He was also the player coach for SDC Rhythm XP when the team competed in the AA Class in its first year. He had Laurent Beaudouin, JaNette and Steve Lefkowitz in the Rhythm linup, with Kevin Nafzger on camera. Rhythm finished with a 10.9 average in the AA Class at the Shamrock Showdown 2007 before moving up into the AAA Class the same year.

Robert Chromy took over the ZEUS reigns this year and started at the 7.7 average that team members Amer Kassas, Bill Bickner and Mark Messersmith had posted at the USPA Nationals 2016. Bob Byrne was not available at the national championships, where Fast4ward XP member James Hall helped out.

ZEUS finished in the middle of the Intermediate Class field in 14th place with the 2016 lineup and concluded the first AA Class season at the NSL Championships. Training with new player coach Robert Chromy began at the beginning of the 2017 season, and the first competition produced a 9.6 indoor average in March.

A year later, ZEUS performs at the 10-average outdoor level, which was within striking distance for USPA medals in 2016.

USPA Nationals 2016		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Intermediate	22,O,8	1,21	A,E,Q,J	D,L,C,15	M,P,9	F,B,13	20,2	18,N,7	11,K,14	4,G,19	Total	Avg
1	Seattle Swift	11	11	23	15	24	16	13	13	11	10	147	14.7
2	Zhills PreciZion	10	11	20	14	20	15	11	12	11	11	135	13.5
3	SDC Rhemix XP	9	9	15	9	18	11	9	9	8	9	106	10.6
4	Napoleon Dynamite	8	7	13	10	18	12	7	9	9	9	102	10.2
5	Bangarang	9	7	14	8	15	11	8	10	7	9	98	9.8
6	Suffolk Sabotage	7	6	16	7	16	12	7	11	8	6	96	9.6
6	4GetAboutIt!	8	8	15	11	14	8	8	9	8	7	96	9.6
8	Threat Level Orange	10	7	9	8	14	11	8	10	6	8	91	9.1
9	SCZ FutheranZe XP	6	8	16	8	12	7	7	8	6	8	86	8.6
9	Babes On Our Bellies (BOOBS)	8	8	14	6	12	11	7	9	6	5	86	8.6
11	Perris Nacho Key	8	6	8	9	13	9	7	9	6	7	82	8.2
12	Four Shades of Grey	8	5	12	7	13	10	7	3	7	8	80	8.0
13	Hard on the Kittens	7	9	12	7	11	7	7	6	6	7	79	7.9
14	SCZ ZEUS	7	7	11	6	13	6	7	9	4	7	77	7.7
14	Mark and Darryld 4ish Ways	7	6	12	7	11	10	5	8	7	4	77	7.7
14	Crackers & Beans & Rice	8	6	9	8	12	9	7	6	7	5	77	7.7
17	Semi4	8	5	6	6	13	8	7	6	7	8	74	7.4
18	Cosmic Remnants	6	6	11	9	13	4	5	5	7	6	72	7.2
19	In4mal Affair	6	5	12	8	10	9	4	6	5	6	71	7.1
20	Larry	5	6	8	6	11	7	6	6	6	7	68	6.8
21	My Milkshakes	6	4	8	6	12	7	7	6	6	5	67	6.7
22	SDMW Extreme	6	5	10	5	6	7	7	5	6	6	63	6.3
23	The Falling Misfits	4	3	6	4	8	2	3	4	4	3	41	4.1
24	4-Chick Chick Boom!	5	4	4	3	7	5	2	3	4	3	40	4.0
25	Beyond Ambition	2	2	2	0	1	1	2	3	3	3	19	1.9
26	Win or Lose We Booze	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.1

Z-Hills team PreciZion won the USPA gold medals for Florida last year, and ZEUS will represent the FSL state in Perris next week. The 2016 winner is not eligible for Intermediate Class medals any longer and has disbanded, while last year's guest team in 1st place, Seattle Swift, has moved up into the AAA Class. The 10-average performance level might bring teams once again within striking distance for the top spots in this category.

Seattle Swift was not eligible for USPA medals last year and would probably easily win the AA/Intermediate competition next week. The situation in USPA's Advanced Class will be much more challenging for the Northwest Skydiving League team in its first AAA Class year, and the team members are aware of that.

Dmitry Rudchenko now has his Green Card and knows the top contenders and opponents: "This year I think it'll be pretty tough! With R2G that took 2nd place last year, Air Force teams, Kirk Verner's player coach team and others we'll have to do our best. We're not super seasoned competitors just yet, but we're getting there."

Team captain Djordje Mandaric provided some of the team training data. Seattle Swift made approx. 80 local training jumps, including a camp with Christy Frikken and two NWSL meets, and additional 50 jumps in two training camps with Christy Frikken in Perris. The NSL News will zoom in on the Florida and Northwest teams next week...