posted Jan 30th, 2018 - It has recently been quiet as of updates related to the U.S. team SDC Rhythm XP, even though earlier articles mentioned the team several times, including the coverage of the indoor and outdoor world rankings at the end of the 2017 season.

SDC Rhythm XP is in fact one of the best 4-way teams in the world and finished in 4th place of the ultimate 4-way rankings, which is the combination of indoor and outdoor results of the year. The shortage of Rhythm updates by the NSL News does not mean at all that the Rhythm members and the team have not been active in their professional skydiving world.

The NSL News made the annual trip to the Rhythm winter headquarters in Sebastian yesterday to get a fresh update directly from the team, which included a summary of events and activities that Rhythm is managing this year. The live conversation also covered Rhythm's meet agenda this year, new services that have been developed, such as a brand-new 401 coaching application, and other 4-way topics.

It was a windy day in Sebastian, and the jump planes staid on the ground all day, which offered the easy opportunity for a lengthy conversation. Rhythm has still been training a lot and has plans for the highest number of training jumps this year.

Paraclete XP Indoor 2017		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	7,20,G	17,J,4	10,16,B	12,F,D,E	O,P,22,19	K,N,6,15	3,14,M	C,1,21	13,2,L	9,18,8	Total	Avg
1	SDC Rhythm XP	28	25	25	30	27	27	26	26	23	23	260	26.0
2	XP4	27	28	24	30	27	27	26	23	22	24	258	25.8
3	Arizona Airspeed	21	29	25	31	27	29	23	25	23	24	257	25.7
Shamrock Showdown 2017		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	4,E,P,12	20,5,L	J,6,13	N,7,K,C	15,1,F	G,B,18,3	8,11,Q	H,22,19	14,2,16	M,D,21,O	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	23	22	25	34	22	23	21	20	18	31	239	23.9
2	SDC Rhythm XP	22	23	22	29	22	22	18	19	19	31	227	22.7

One of the many topics of the new NSL Talk was the dive pool change that is coming up next year. Belgium's IPC delegate David Grauwels, NMP PCH HayaBusa's inside center, told the NSL News in yesterday's NSL Live Talk that he came back from the recent IPC meeting in Bulgaria with two new blocks.

Block 1 (Snowflake - Snowflake) will be replaced with Molar - Molar, and Block 13 (Offset - Spinner) turns into Molar - Molar. David Grauwels said that the changes are coming at the beginning of the 2019 season in an effort to synchronize FAI/IPC's dive pools for indoor and outdoor events.

The current versions of Block 1 and Block 13 are excluded from FAI/IPC indoor events, while the new ones are designed to fit into 14+ flying chambers that the organization is hosting indoor events at. The upcoming dive pool changes became a topic for the conversation with SDC Rhythm XP, as well, and the discussion also turned to the broader picture of the sport's rules.

Shamrock Showdown 2018			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1	RealFly-Sion	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1	SDC Rhythm XP	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1	French Weembi Girls	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1	Qatar Tigers	QA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1	Airbus	DE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1	Adventure Flyers	PY	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

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

The current dive pool remains unchanged for the entire 2018 season, and SDC Rhythm XP's meet schedule begins in February at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2018, followed by the Shamrock Showdown 2018.

Rhythm attended both events last year, which started with a big upset when the challenger outscored Arizona Airspeed in Raeford. It was the first competition for Airspeed with new member Ari Perelman, and Rhythm was able to take advantage of Airspeed's situation and their own well trained lineup after the first complete 2016 season.

However, Airspeed was striking back three weeks later in DeLand and won the Shamrock Showdown 2017. Both teams met again in June at Paraclete's Summer Classic 2017 where the difference was down to eight points after a 12-point advantage for Airspeed in DeLand.

Rhythm then cut the distance to Airspeed by two more points at the USPA Nationals 2017, which was closer than ever before at an outdoor competition. The Shamrock Showdown 2018 will define the outdoor starting point for both teams in the run-up to the national championships at Chicagoland Skydiving Center early in September...