posted Dec 9th, 2017 - No surprise that this issue, with the story of a "former-skydiver's 11-year-old kid now kicking ass in the tunnel has inspired me to go back to one of my favorite topics: 4-way juniors. I have been bringing up the wonderful addition to our sport for years, which came with the invention of the "vertical wind tunnel" for training purposes.

Yes, that's how Bill Kitchen called SkyVenture Orlando when he built the first wind tunnel in 1998, the beginning of the indoor empire that former Airspeed member Alan Metni created after he bought SkyVenture Orlando from Bill.

Kids were not even a thought in our sport before that, except when you needed a babysitter for the next visit at the DZ. Well, some of the progressive DZ owners eventually added playgrounds to their facilities to attract the skydiving fathers and mothers with their whole families.

That's different now. It's the kids who are dragging the parents to the wind tunnels: "You can hang out in the bar next door while I am flying, dad!" OK OK, I have not heard a youngster say that yet, as my "children" are old enough to drive to DZs or wind tunnels by themselves. However, I am sure that other parents have experienced similar situations. I love it...

TURNING POINTS: 4-way Juniors Part 4 - Revolution

Back to the topic. The kids are not only "kicking ass in the tunnel" in all the artistic events - I have pointed out 4-way juniors for a long time, first time in 2007, when SkyVenture Colorado had created the first 4-way junior team.

Yes, that was a decade ago! Airspeed member Gary Beyer and his British 4-way Women's world champion wife Emma were coaching the first 4-way junior team in history, Colorado Prodigy, in Denver.

It was an all-girls lineup, with Allie Newell (point) and her sister Rylie (tail), Tatiana Roman (center inside), Ellie McCoy (center outside) and alternate Laura Fletcher. Colorado Prodigy disbanded at the end of 2007 when the families moved to other locations.

Ellie McCoy was hooked though and continued with three adults (Emma and Gary Beyer, Paul Gatling) on Team Aeon. She became the first 4-way junior who posted scores on the SKYLEAGUE.COM leaderboard at the World Challenge 2008 in Bedford with a 21.7 average in the AAA Class competition.

World Challenge 2008			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		21,18,13	15,11,F	E,H,19,O	14,2,N	12,1,K	Q,5,C,3	P,9,A,J	6,G,7	4,10,M	16,20,B	Total	Avg
1	Airspeed Odyssey	US	21	26	37	23	22	33	45	29	21	26	283	28.3
2	XL	UK	22	25	38	23	23	30	43	29	24	24	281	28.1
3	Perris Fury	US	21	21	33	22	21	27	43	29	22	22	261	26.1
4	Arcteryx	NO	20	23	33	21	21	29	39	29	23	22	260	26.0
5	HayaBusa Defence	BE	20	23	35	20	21	22	42	26	23	22	254	25.4
6	Skylight Barkli	RU	19	16	33	20	17	24	45	26	21	21	242	24.2
7	Aerokart Mamba Pamiers	FR	18	22	29	18	18	26	37	24	21	18	231	23.1
8	Satori	UK	19	22	28	20	18	26	36	24	17	19	229	22.9
9	Paraclete XP	US	19	20	29	18	18	23	36	26	21	17	227	22.7
10	Bodyflight Storm	UK	18	21	26	20	18	23	39	26	19	16	226	22.6
11	Nice Maubeuge Holidays	FR	17	20	28	18	18	24	35	25	18	20	223	22.3
12	Kaktus Hunter	RU	18	20	28	21	16	21	39	24	19	16	222	22.2
13	Aeon	US	19	20	25	18	18	23	37	21	18	18	217	21.7
14	Hayabusa Beta	BE	17	19	24	19	17	23	35	22	18	17	211	21.1
15	EX3Mix	IT	17	18	28	18	17	22	31	22	16	18	207	20.7
16	White Nice Pujaut	FR	16	18	27	18	16	18	31	21	17	16	198	19.8
17	Fortitudo	NO	15	18	25	17	16	20	30	21	15	18	195	19.5
18	South Park	UK	13	15	26	13	16	22	29	21	14	16	185	18.5
19	Vertigo	IT	15	15	23	15	14	19	28	21	16	16	182	18.2
19	Magic 4	LT	15	18	20	16	16	18	24	21	18	16	182	18.2
21	Danish Blaze	DK	11	17	23	16	12	19	29	19	16	16	178	17.8
22	Pro Team	FI	15	16	23	16	15	20	25	17	16	13	176	17.6
23	Fusion	UK	14	16	24	16	15	18	22	17	14	15	171	17.1
24	X3M4S	NO	13	16	22	15	13	17	24	18	16	16	170	17.0
25	Voodoo	UK	15	15	18	15	13	17	26	18	15	14	166	16.6
25	Tigers	FI	12	13	19	14	13	18	29	19	16	13	166	16.6
27	Alpen Glow	AT	11	17	22	16	13	18	19	18	15	14	163	16.3
28	Sequence	DK	9	14	22	13	13	16	26	17	15	12	157	15.7
29	Sonic V	UK	12	14	20	12	11	15	19	16	13	13	145	14.5
30	Airmaggedon	HU	7	8	12	7	6	8	15	12	9	4	88	8.8

Shamrock Showdown 2018 Information: Cessna Caravan and Twin Otter both confirmed as jump planes

It was the same event where the next 4-way junior story began with Team Future. 11-year young Kayla Tinucci and her brother Justin (8) were flying at SkyVenture Colorado, as well, where they probably saw the Prodigy girls training 4-way. SkyVenture instructors Rusty Lewis and Daniel Perry took them under their wings and they competed in the AA Class at the World Challenge 2008, finishing with an 8.6 average at their first meet. A year later they posted 18.4 in Bedford.

There were more 4-way junior stories over the years, including Kalle Pohjola with the Pro Team from Finland and Yannick and Valerie Bisson from Canada. It would take too long to cover it all, and I will skip the 4-way junior decade between the 2007 beginnings and the present for now.

Fact is that we have an official 4-way junior competition now, which was introduced by FAI/IPC as a separate category at the Indoor World Cup 2016.

The 4-way junior boys and girls post their scores on the same leaderboard and apply the AA Class dive pool and rules. Some of the 4-way junior teams and competitors also participate at AAA Class events randomly and voluntarily.

Now I am finally coming to the point after skipping the ten years of 4-way junior experimenting and development. The 4-way junior teams are kicking ass in the tunnel.

Huh, and I am not only saying this because it sounds cool and because it fits with the December issue of BLUE SKIES MAG. No, this is literal, as the best 4-way junior teams in the world are leaving the adult teams in the dust. It's a 4-way revolution.

Worled Challenge 2008			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AA Class		1,G,11	M,6,8	A,O,H,D	N,Q,13	J,19,K	9,P,18	E,C,F,15	22,2	B,L,20	4,14	Total	Avg
1	S4	UK	14	18	22	19	18	15	23	12	17	13	171	17.1
2	Phobia	UK	12	14	26	17	16	14	20	10	15	11	155	15.5
3	Kaizen	UK	9	14	25	16	14	15	19	12	17	11	152	15.2
4	Fend 4 Yourself	UK	11	15	23	18	11	14	18	12	14	12	148	14.8
5	Bacchanalia	UK	11	14	24	14	11	12	16	9	13	11	135	13.5
6	Block Party	UK	9	13	19	15	12	11	14	11	13	11	128	12.8
7	Escondido	UK	9	12	23	11	12	12	15	8	13	11	126	12.6
8	Phantom Force	BE	5	11	14	7	6	13	11	10	11	8	96	9.6
9	Team Future	US	7	12	11	10	9	7	14	6	10	0	86	8.6

SKYLEAGUE.COM keeps track of a lot of records. One of them is the annual world ranking in each Formation Skydiving event. The ranking calculates the meet averages and compares them directly. There are inaccuracies due to the nature of the competition draw, while it still provides a basic idea of the performance level.

These rankings separate teams by their categories (AAA - AA - A - Rookie) and the meet environment (indoor - outdoor). I am now looking at the AA Class teams who have attended indoor meets in 2017. Guess who is on the very top of the ranking? Yes, the winning teams in the 4-way junior category at the FAI Indoor World Meet 2017, which took place in Montreal in October.

They did not compete directly with AA Class adult teams at this event. You have to look at the SKYLEAGUE.COM rankings to see what I am talking about. The meet averages of the 4-way junior teams are not only on the top of the ranking. The latest results are simply kicking ass of any other AA class teams in the world.

Other countries have taken the 4-way junior top spots and are preparing their AAA/Open Class top teams and competitors of the future, even though the roots are in the U.S. France won (28.8) with one of the three Aerokart Ak'demie junior project teams, followed by the Canadian Air Devils (26.0) and the Czech HF Junior Cubs. The Skyblockers from Singapore finished in fourth place, and the U.S. delegation did not have a 4-way junior team.

28.8 - it's a revolution.

Okay, this was the AA Class competition, and NMP PCH HayaBusa from Belgium won the AAA Class with a 32.7 average in Montreal. So what? Do you think that the 4-way juniors will stop there? This is only the beginning, and it will only be a matter of time when the first 4-way junior team will kick ass in the AAA Class. HayaBusa: watch out :-)