posted Jan 6th, 2019 - The new calendar year is also bringing some new dive pool changes to the 4-way world, as the NSL News had reported a few times in 2018.

The Czech AAA Class team Bad Boys tested the two new blocks (1 and 13) shortly after the FAI/IPC meeting in January, and the NSL News story on 31 January 2018 included videos of the techniques that the Bad Boys applied at their first training session with Molar - Molar (Block 1) and Mixed Accordian - Mixed Accordian (Block 13).

The dive pool changes were suggested at the FAI/IPC meeting in January 2018, and they were scheduled to take effect in 2019, after official confirmation by the sanctioning organization at this year's upcoming January meeting in Lille, France.

Teams and meet organizers were dealing with the situation in many different ways, between practicing the new blocks in training and including them in competition. It has been challenging to balance training and meet preparations with the previous two block maneuvers (Block 1: Snowflake - Snowflake, Block 13: Offset - Spinner), as they were sanctioned by FAI/IPC for outdoor and not for indoor competition.

New in 2019: Block 1 (Molar - Molar) and Block 13 (Mixed Accordion - Mixed Accordion)

Event organizers, especially the ones who are hosting their 4-way meets in larger flying chambers, had no reason to exclude the two blocks at indoor events. For one example, the Swedish national 4-way team Echochamber was surprised by the new blocks at the Wind Games 2018, as the NSL News reported on 20 February 2018.

One of the reasons for FAI/IPC to change the maneuvers for Block 1 and Block 13 was to avoid such confusion by synchronizing the dive pool between FAI/IPC sanctioned indoor and outdoor events and bring back the two blocks into the FAI/IPC indoor dive pool, as well.

Most of the FAI/IPC sanctioned indoor events (world meets, world cups) were hosted by wind tunnels with 14-foot flying chambers. In fact, the upcoming FAI Indoor World Meet 2019 at Weembi Lille will be the first FAI/IPC indoor meet in a 16-foot flying chamber since the organization became engaged with indoor competition.

The 2018 season became a combination of indoor meet preparations without Blocks 1 and 13 for teams that would attend FAI/IPC indoor events, while the same teams had to include the same blocks for other indoor events, and also for outdoor training and preparations for national championships and the world meet.

Bad Boys practice and demonstrate the new Block 1 and Block 13 techniques

The new FAI/IPC dive pool changes are an effort to fix the previous discrepancy between indoor and outdoor events, and the author of Blue Skies Magazine's column "Turning Points" took a more critical look at the dive pool changes, which was posted on 21 March 2018.

The new maneuvers for Block 1 and Block 13 will become a part of the current dive pool if nothing changes at the FAI/IPC meeting at the end of this month, and they will most likely be included at FAI/IPC indoor and outdoor events both.

It is a farewell to the two 2-way cat pieces of Block 1, which have been a part of the FAI/IPC dive pool in different variations since 1985.

The front piece of most continuity plans is now completely released from cat-flying duties, while the rear piece still needs to maintain the skills for Block 8 (Canadian T - Canadian T). Block 22 (T - Chinese T) will continue to connect a variety of slots for the 2-way cat piece. The NSL News will soon follow up with more technical details and feedback related to the new block maneuvers.