posted Nov 26th, 2018 - HF Cubs, the all-female 4-way Junior team from the Czech Republic, who recently won the bronze medals at the FAI Indoor World Cup, were not expected to face any serious opposition in the AA Class competition of the ISR Grand Prix 2018.

The three best 4-way Junior teams in the world (Air Devils from Canada, Aerokart Ak'demie from France, HF Cubs) are also far ahead of all other AA Class teams who have posted indoor scores in this category in 2018. Dive pools and sequences are identical between the official FAI 4-way Junior event and the AA Class of the four NSL categories.

The competition in Roosendaal also matched the number of rounds at FAI indoor world meets and world cups in 4-way Junior. However, the eight rounds are usually stretched out over three days at the FAI events, while all teams completed all eight rounds on Saturday at the ISR Grand Prix.

This did not seem to have any impact on the HF Cubs performance who shared the leaderboard with with teams of all gender combinations and ages.

ISR Grand Prix 2018			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Avg
Rank	AA Class		A,18,F	Q,N,11	6,G,14	J,B,L,2	O,15,M	D,21,C	9,H,K	7,E,22	Total	Avg
1	HF Cubs	CZ	24	25	22	26	28	25	31	24	205	25.6
2	KetchUp ADV	IT	18	22	15	20	26	21	26	20	168	21.0
3	Synergy	IT	22	15	14	23	23	19	19	18	153	19.1
4	Team Red	NL	16	19	16	17	20	19	28	15	150	18.8
5	Ayro	BE	19	19	12	19	22	20	24	14	149	18.6
6	Stardust	BE	16	18	14	21	19	19	23	17	147	18.4
7	FS ONE	BE	14	16	13	19	16	14	20	14	126	15.8
8	Phenix4Namure	BE	12	18	14	18	18	13	20	10	123	15.4
9	Zero!	IT	12	11	12	15	16	13	18	15	112	14.0
9	Bad Habits	NL	14	13	11	14	16	13	17	14	112	14.0
11	The Vipers	NL	13	15	11	14	16	12	17	13	111	13.9
12	Flying Circus	NL	13	15	10	10	18	14	15	11	106	13.3
13	Aeropotam's	BE	13	12	9	16	13	13	16	12	104	13.0
14	Try-out	NL	10	12	11	13	8	12	15	10	91	11.4
15	HF Dragonflies	CZ	10	13	11	13	12	10	14	6	89	11.1
16	Lightning	NL	9	11	9	10	11	11	16	11	88	11.0
17	Blue Knees	NL	11	9	10	10	11	8	10	11	80	10.0

The HF Cubs stepped back into their FAI 4-way Junior category (AA) to defend their Roosendaal title successfully. They had completed their first 10-round AAA Class competition a few weeks earlier at the Czech indoor winter season opener of the World Tunnel League, as the NSL News reported on 23 November.

The latest 25.6 average in Roosendaal is below the team's 27.3 record average that won the bronze medals in Bahrain. However, a closer look at the competition draw of both events adds value to last weekend's performance.

The eight rounds at the FAI Indoor World Cup included two Super Sequences for the 4-way Junior teams, and the HF Cubs added 94 points to their meet total. The scoring average of the other six rounds was 20.7 for the Czech team. The eight AA Class rounds in Roosendaal did not include a Super Sequence and only one faster sequence in Round 7 (31).

It seems like the HF Cubs are on track trying to get closer to the Air Devils and Aerokart Ak'demie at the FAI Indoor World Meet 2019 at Weembi Lille. It will be interesting to see whether the HF Cubs will continue to gather more AAA Class experiences at their Czech WTL meets in the Hurricane Factory or go back to the 4-way Junior/AA Class dive pool until April.

HF Cubs and HF Dragonflies at the ISR Grand Prix in Roosendaal

The HF Cubs were not the only 4-way Junior team from the Czech Republic in Roosendaal. The HF Dragonflies are another Czech all-female junior lineup and competed in the same category together with the HF Cubs.

The HF Dragonflies made a big step this year, skipped the A Class and moved from the Rookie Class in the last 2017/2018 indoor winter season to the AA Class at the first meet in October. Then they continued in the same category at the ISR Grand Prix.

In fact, the other three Czech 4-way Junior teams (Dragonflies, Flying Rebels, Chameleons) all competed in the AA Class at the first meet of the winter season in November. Czech 4-way godfather Jan Klapka, who is running the junior program and coaching the teams, said that he is trying to prepare the juniors for their national championships where they will compete in the 4-way Junior category (AA).

His plan prepares all Czech indoor juniors for a situation when a team needs a new member and gets the juniors ready for the senior events in 4-way Women and 4-way Open. It has been working very well so far, as the first 4-way junior, Tereza Zívalová, is now joining the HF Chicks 4-way Women team...