posted Jun 29th, 2018 - It was in the summer of 2014 when two of the Dutch AAA Class teams at the Tomscat Trophy 2018 competed with and against each other on the same leaderboard of an outdoor competition.

4igami and Shinobi have competed together in the Netherlands since 2012 and still had two very different roads until they ended up for the first time on a AAA Class leaderboard last weekend.

They have in common that they moved up from the AA Class to the AAA Class at an outdoor competition this year, while even this step happened in different ways.

4igami tested the AAA Class dive pool for the first time at the ISR Grand Prix 2017 before the first outdoor competition in the same category last weekend. Shinobi was still on the AA Class leaderboard at the same event in November 2017 and switched straight to AAA Class outdoor competition at the Tomscat Trophy 2018. However, fact is that both teams competed for the first time in the ultimate 4-way category last weekend and created an exciting duel for the 2nd place behind the AAA Class winner, the Dutch national team in 4-way Open for the FAI World Meet 2018, Out of the Blue.

Tomscat Trophy 2018		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	16,M,14		6,G,11		C,P,E,10		D,Q,20,B		19,18,7		N,A,2,12		22,L,5		1,8,F		Total	Avg
1	Out of the Blue Project 20+	13		14		17		16		13		14		13	-1	13		113	14.1
2	4igami	9		9		9		8		8		9		7		8		67	8.4
3	Shinobi	8		8		9		7		8		7	-1	8		8		63	7.9

It was not an easy start into the AAA Class world for the two Dutch teams. The meet began with a sequence for Round 1 that included the first slot-switcher for the front piece (Block 16), and 4igami won by a point. Round 2 brought a familiar AA Class sequence (6,G,11) to both teams, which was the same for all teams on the AA Class leaderboard.

AYRO from Belgium actually outscored all AA Class teams in this round and left 4igami and Shinobi behind, as well.

However, the same two Dutch AAA Class teams had the sequence of Round 4 for themselves again, as Block 10 (Diamond - Bunyip) was the next slot-switcher for the front piece.

Shinobi kept up with 4igami this time, who had seen Block 10 at the team's first AAA Class indoor competition in November last year.

The sequence of Round 6 challenged the front pieces with the third slot-switcher of the 8-round meet, and 4igami won again, this time by two points.

It was still not the end of the first experiences with the AAA Class dive pool. In fact, the biggest challenge came in Round 7 when Block 5 (Opal - Opal) usually creates slot-switchers for both pieces.

However, both teams engineered the sequence in a way that brought the front piece partners back to their original slots, while it was the first time for the rear pieces to deal with two different pages.

Tomscat Trophy 2014		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	A Class	B,M,A	7,H	P,C,E	F,N,6	D,9	21,J	19,8	K,Q,L	O,G,2	4,H	Total	Avg
1	Sonic	17	12	9	11	10	8	5	10	8	9	99	9.9
1	Dimension	19	9	13	7	9	8	7	12	7	8	99	9.9
3	4igami	14	8	9	10	8	8	7	8	10	5	87	8.7
4	Bad Habits	14	10	6	8	9	6	8	4	9	8	82	8.2
5	Maverick	11	8	9	7	3	5	4	6	5	6	64	6.4
6	Inside-Out	15	10	10	5	4	5	3	1	4	1	58	5.8
7	Shinobi	11	5	5	4	6	1	3	8	7	7	57	5.7
8	Winging It	9	2	6	6	3	4	5	6	6	3	50	5.0

Shinobi won Round 7 by one point, which tied the teams' scores for the new AAA Class sequences.

4igami and Shinobi were quite far away from each other when they were on the same A Class leaderboard at the Tomscat Trophy 2014. They never shared any scores on a AA Class outdoor leaderboard before they ended up separated by only four points last weekend at the Tomscat Trophy four years later.

Shinobi had joined the 4-way world in the Rookie Class five years after 4igami posted their first 5.3 average in the same category at the Tomscat Trophy 2007. They spent one year in the Rookie Class, followed by two years in the A Class. The ISR Grand Prix 2015 was the first AA Class event before the final move up into the top category last weekend.

4igami started in 2007 and moved back and forth between three competition classes (RRR - A - AA) before making the final move into the AAA Class. They may compete for Dutch AAA Class medals at the national championships in a similar way as last weekend if nothing changes in the meantime...