posted Feb 14th, 2019 - The January competition of the World Tunnel League was just completed with new record participation, and the first scores for the ten February sequences are already on the new leaderboard.

Four teams from Florida posted the first February numbers when Arizona Airspeed member visited for the indoor activities last weekend. Thirteen Czech teams followed up this week, and the best ones put the U.S. teams from Florida once again in place, as they have been doing it on a regular basis.

The all-female HF Chicks seniors have picked up the pace again, after the all-female HF Cubs juniors outscored them at each of the three WTL meets at the Hurricane Factory since the start of the Czech indoor winter season in November. However, the 4-way juniors finished only three points behind with the highest AAA Class average that the complete lineup has posted so far.

The HF Cubs had two slow rounds (2 and 7) that held them back behind the HF Chicks this time. They won or tied the other eight rounds and were not even far behind the Czech AAA Class indoor champions, HF Flying Circus. In fact, there was only a 2-point difference for the total of the same eight rounds between HF Flying Circus and HF Cubs.

World Tunnel League February 2019			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		18,G,14	6,9,F	A,3,15	N,16,1	7,M,5	17,C,E,13	Q,J,K,10	20,H,2	B,4,8	19,22,12	Total	Avg
1	HF Flying Circus	CZ	20	30	21	23	30	22	25	22	21	17	231	23.1
2	HF Chicks	CZ	18	29	22	19	29	23	23	20	19	15	217	21.7
3	HF Cubs	CZ	19	22	23	21	29	23	18	22	20	17	214	21.4
4	Skydive University Slovakia	SK	17	25	18	17	23	18	18	15	18	14	183	18.3
5	Sky....	CZ	15	23	17	15	23	17	19	16	12	11	168	16.8
6	Tampa Kickers	US	14	23	14	17	24	16	17	14	15	11	165	16.5
7	SCZ ZEUS	US	12	22	15	14	21	15	16	12	13	10	150	15.0
8	M Team	CZ	14	20	10	13	19	12	13	10	12	11	134	13.4
9	Accord	CZ	11	15	12	9	14	11	13	12	13	8	118	11.8
Rank	AA Class		18,G,14	6,9	A,15,21	N,1,11	7,M,D	C,E,13	Q,J,K,F	20,H,2	B,4,8	19,22	Total	Avg
1	HF Flying Rebels	CZ	13	20	16	13	25	20	28	10	16	10	171	17.1
2	HF Dragonflies	CZ	13	16	15	14	21	22	23	11	14	11	160	16.0
3	Ladies&Gentlemants	CZ	12	17	15	13	25	18	23	12	13	11	159	15.9
4	SCZ FurtheranZe XP	US	10	16	14	10	18	13	19	10	12	10	132	13.2
5	Mimozemky	CZ	10	12	13	10	19	15	20	11	12	8	130	13.0
6	HF Chameleons	CZ	6	11	8	8	12	11	12	6	3	6	83	8.3
Rank	A Class		G,D,F	6,9	A,21	N,K,P	7,M	C,E,O	Q,J,K	H,2	B,4	19,L	Total	Avg
1	High Five	CZ	25	14	16	21	22	19	19	13	14	12	175	17.5
2	SCZ ZEUS Evolve 1.2	US	17	13	14	16	20	0	13	10	11	9	123	12.3

The HF Cubs juniors perform only eight AA Class sequences when they compete in the 4-way Junior event at FAI world meets or world cups. However, the HF Cubs have been competing in the AAA Class on their home turf for a more challenging competition experience. They will go back to the AA Class dive pool at the FAI Indoor World Meet in April.

The NSL News reported on February 12th how the French national team in 4-way Junior, Aerokart Ak'demie, applies the same training strategy. They have competed at several meets in the AAA Class for the same reason.

The French 4-way Junior world champions of 2017 posted a 24.2 average on last weekend's AAA Class leaderboard at the Coupe de France indoor meet. The HF Cubs finished with 21.4 this week, which seems to be a large difference. However, the Czech juniors would be closer to a 23+ level without the team's two slow rounds.

Aerokart Ak'demie and HF Cubs were separated by only seven points in the 4-way Junior competition of the FAI Indoor World Cup 2018 in Bahrain, and the next showdown on French home turf at Weembi Lille in April will probably be just as close.

AAA Class indoor scoring progression of HF Flying Circus

Both teams will be back to the AA Class dive pool and finish with significantly higher meet averages. They will also compete for the gold medals this time, as the world cup winners of 2018, the Canadian Air Devils, will not travel to France in April. The Air Devils had finished with a 30.1 average in Bahrain.

In the meantime, the Czech AAA Class champions, HF Flying Circus, were slowed down with their impressive progression at the last two meets. The 24.6 average in January is still the team's highest number. They had confirmed the 24+ level in February (24.2) and finished with 23.1 this week.

It was a slower competition draw for the ten February sequences, and HF Flying Circus will get two more opportunities for competition practice in March and April, before it will be time for the World Challenge and then the FAI Indoor World Meet. The chart of the team's scoring progression is showing that it was not the first time that a step back was preparing for the next step up.

Jan Klapka also mentioned that this year's national outdoor championships will be an open competition in Most for the first time, as the Czech Republic consistently develops into a Formation Skydiving powerhouse in Europe. The NSL News will follow up with more details soon.