posted Feb 19th, 2019 - The Swedish Formation Skydiving delegation had a busy start into the new year. Both teams, Echochamber in 4-way Open and Team X in 4-way Women, traveled to Spain at the end of January for the Wind Games and completed their national indoor championships last weekend.

In fact, Echochamber and Team X have been attending 4-way meets together since the FAI World Meet 2018 in October, where Team X won the bronze medals in 4-way Women and Echochamber finished with a new Swedish record average of 21.5 in 5th place.

Both teams followed up a few weeks later at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2018 in Bahrain. Echochamber copied the 5th place with a 27.1 average, and Team X brought home to Sweden another set of FAI bronze medals. Echochamber's 27.1 average was also the second highest Swedish indoor average in history. Only the same lineup had scored higher (28.2) at the FAI European Indoor Championship 2018.

The new year began for both Swedish teams at the Wind Games, where Echochamber lifted the meet average to 27.7 and Team X to 23.5 after a 23.3 finish at the Belgian Indoor Nationals 2018 as a guest team. The latest scores at the national indoor championships brought Echochamber back to the 28-average level, and Team X confirmed the recent 23+ performances.

Wind Games 2019			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		F,21,6	L,H,22,7	C,8,19	9,D,5	16,N,14	13,20,G	4,N,J,M	11,17,Q	3,O,K,E	A,12,2	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	33	37	31	50	31	26	46	34	39	27	354	35.4
2	Weembi High Rollers	FR	29	33	26	47	31	28	44	32	34	29	333	33.3
3	Arizona Airspeed	US	28	34	28	46	29	25	37	30	31	26	314	31.4
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	31	29	27	39	26	24	39	29	32	24	300	30.0
5	SDC Rhythm XP	US	29	29	23	41	27	26	37	27	35	24	298	29.8
6	Echochamber	SE	25	26	23	37	23	23	35	28	31	26	277	27.7
7	Nephtys Weembi	FR	25	26	21	36	23	21	35	25	31	20	263	26.3
8	NFTO	UK	24	26	25	30	21	19	33	24	30	21	253	25.3
9	Papea Masculino	ES	24	24	22	28	22	21	31	20	28	18	238	23.8
10	Team X	SE	23	23	22	29	21	16	32	22	26	21	235	23.5
11	Voss Vind Girls	NO	19	22	18	27	19	18	27	20	24	19	213	21.3
12	Out of the Blue Project 20+	NL	21	20	19	28	19	17	28	21	23	15	211	21.1
13	Alakran	ES	19	18	20	22	17	16	30	19	22	14	197	19.7
14	Barak	ES	19	21	15	26	19	13	23	17	19	16	188	18.8
15	Só Pressão	BR	21	16	17	21	19	12	25	16	21	17	185	18.5
16	Are We There Yet?	HU	17	21	15	25	19	16	22	14	21	14	184	18.4
17	Les Affranchis	FR	19	17	16	22	17	15	20	15	20	17	178	17.8
18	Windobona Angels	ES	12	19	13	23	15	14	27	17	18	13	171	17.1
19	Papea 1	ES	19	17	16	17	13	16	25	12	19	14	168	16.8
20	Chimera	UK	0	0	0	0	0	18	28	26	27	20	119	11.9

Echochamber at the Wind Games 2019 - Team X at the Wind Games 2019

Both Swedish teams now have seven more weeks to get ready for the FAI Indoor World Meet at Weembi Lille. It would be no surprise if Echochamber leave the 28.3 team record average behind in April and get to the 29-average level. A favorable competition draw might even bring the 30-average benchmark into reach.

Echochamber spent the time between the FAI Indoor World Cup 2018 in Bahrain and the day before the Swedish Indoor Nationals to work on a new solid foundation on a higher performance level. Goal was to speed up the pace when the foundation would be strong enough. Team speaker Ulf Liljenbäck remembered that it was challenging to slow down:

"Going slow isn't easy, and it was indeed a tedious job spending hour after hour with little or no visible result. On the contrary, our average on a training competition was far from what we would have liked. Then we went to the Wind Games with our minds set on using the control factors we have been practicing on: Move - Stop - Simultaneous grips on and off - Repeat."

It did not work too well in the first three rounds of the Wind Games, after only four hours of sleep before Round 1: "We performed quite mediocre on the three first rounds, with easy mistakes taking the fun out of just about everything."

Swedish Indoor Nationals 2019		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	3,E,16	A,Q,11,12	J,C,L,10	14,5,6	22,B,4	H,D,8,M	15,7,21	19,O,P,N	18,17,K	2,20,G	Total	Avg
1	Echochamber	28	26	34	23	25	32	27	34	26	25	280	28.0
2	Team X	25	23	25	21	21	29	21	24	20	21	230	23.0
3	Edge	22	21	25	19	18	26	19	24	19	18	211	21.1
4	Team C4	22	20	23	18	17	26	19	24	18	18	205	20.5
5	Aurora	21	15	19	16	16	24	16	26	18	17	188	18.8
6	Penguins of the Sky	14	13	18	13	14	18	13	17	10	14	144	14.4
7	Cumulonimbus	12	14	15	12	11	16	13	12	8	13	126	12.6

Echochamber at the Swedish Indoor Nationals 2019 - Team X at the Swedish Indoor Nationals 2019

Coach Mattias Nord interfered with a serious talk at a team meeting, and things changed: "From that point on we executed flawlessly. Obviously not really flawless, in the regard of doing everything right, and we were clearly not outscoring our opponents. But we flew exactly the way we had practiced, and by doing that we knew that the foundation was solid and that we were ready to go back to Bodyflight and set things on fire."

Result was the 28.0 average at the Swedish Indoor Nationals, even though the preparations for the meet on home turf did not go as planned when one hour of training had to be canceled. However, coach Mattias Nord had a new plan for the team, and Echochamber liked it:

"We still had 45 minutes to add speed and, boy, wasn't that the most fun 45 minutes ever? Imagine hearing this from your Coach: Drop all the control factors we have been practicing on. When you have your grip, the formation is done. Move on, fast. If someone does not have the grips, clearly, he is late..."

Echochamber still performed with enough control for a 28.0 average after penalties and were happy with the results: "We didn't beat our best average, but the level of control was much higher, and the confidence we are flying with is very satisfying. We still have quite a long way to go until we can go even faster in control, but we are really looking forward to standing in the door counting down ready to enter the chamber for Round 1 in Lille..."