posted May 21st, 2019 - Teams of the Florida Skydiving League launched their 2019 outdoor season together with the Carolina Skydiving League last weekend. Both league areas will be hosting the USPA Nationals in the coming two years, Paraclete XP this year in Raeford, and Skydive City next year in Zephyrhills.

The USPA Nationals offers 4-way competition in the Open and Advanced Class (AAA) and in the Intermediate Class (AA), next to the additional Formation Skydiving events (8-way, 10-way, 16-way, 4-way VFS) and several other skydiving and parachuting disciplines. The 4-way Women competition and qualification is embedded into the 4-way Open Class.

There were still three teams last weekend, who started the 2019 season in the A Class, which is the next step after getting familiar with 4-way competition in the Rookie Class (RRR). The two teams from Carolina were new on NSL leaderboards, while DeLands Hit Show attended seven indoor and outdoor meets last year, all of them in the Rookie Class.

Last weekend's FSL season opener was the first A Class meet for the DeLand team, and Hit Show finished on exactly the same level where they were at the end of the Rookie Class outdoor season in November last year, for a promising starting point of the 2019 season.

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NSL Meet Weekend May 18th, 2019			1	2	3	4	5	6	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		20,17,6	H,22,Q,14	N,9,P,12	7,13,16	A,8,19	D,J,11,10	Total	Avg
1	SCZ ZEUS	FSL	5	7	5	5	-	-	22	5.5
Rank	AA Class		20,6	H,22,Q	N,9,P	7,13	A,8,19	D,J,11	Total	Avg
1	Carolina Ice	CASL	10	14	16	11	12	12	75	12.5
2	Purple HaZe	FSL	7	9	9	9	6	6	46	7.7
3	SP Moderate Risk	FSL	7	7	11	7	7	4	43	7.2
4	Relative Humility	CASL	5	7	8	7	3	-	30	6.0
Rank	A Class		21,6	H,K,Q	N,9	7,L	A,8	D,J,P	Total	Avg
1	DeLands Hit Show	FSL	6	7	7	5	-	-	25	6.3
2	Carolina Bootie Babes	CASL	4	7	7	5	3	-	26	5.2
3	Pick Something	CASL	2	2	2	1	2	-	9	1.8

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The AA Class leaderboard was showing a team in the top spot that has probably serious plans to finish in one of the medal positions of the Intermediate Class competition at the USPA Nationals. Carolina Ice XP is one of the longest standing 4-way teams in the country, with scores on NSL leaderboards that reach back into the 2004 season.

The 12.5 average is a strong statement at the beginning of the 2019 season and an average-point ahead of the 11.3 average at the USPA Nationals last year. The Intermediate Class medal level at the USPA Nationals 2018 was the 13+ average, and Carolina Ice XP will most likely arrive there before the competition on Paraclete XP home turf in September.

Skydive City will follow up with the USPA Nationals on the U.S. east coast a year later. FSL indoor and outdoor organizer Amer Kassas has begun preparing the local and regional teams for the big event and tries to bring his indoor participants at the events of the Indoor Cloud League and the World Tunnel League at iFLY Tampa and iFLY Orlando to the skydiving centers, as well.

His SCZ Zeus lineup last weekend consisted of four regulars at the indoor events (Suzette Hechst, Benji Turner, Randy Cutlip, Amer Kassas), and even videographer Charlie Hammond had attended last week's indoor event at iFLY Tampa.

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SP Moderate Risk - DeLands Hit Show at the May Meet of the Florida Skydiving League

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Amer Kassas introduced his latest SDC Zeus lineup: "Suzette has been active in the ICL scene lately. She is an aspiring athlete and has sought multiple coaching opportunities in the recent past. By recent I mean under a year. Suzette was very interested in the Advanced Class pool because of how complex and challenging the engineering of the sequences is. Suzette primarily trained in the point slot but started training outside center this year. This event was Suzette's first 4-way outdoor competition and the first time performing all the blocks in freefall, except for Block 9 and Block 7."

"Benji Turner is also going in full force in 4-way. Benji's schedule doesn't allow for much training, specifically during the winter. This was Benji's first 4-way activity in a long time while rehabilitating a recent back/shoulder injury. Benji made about 11 skydives this year. Randy Cutlip is joining the ZEUS forces this season in the AA/Intermediate Class, along with Emily Bombardi and Mike Talerico. Lastly, I managed to fly my least favorite point slot in this meet and allow Benji to fly his inside center home slot. Randy has experience with the rear piece and wished to stay there. Flying point was a lot of fun but was also a very foreign slot for me."

"The best thing about this team was that the group collectively decided to fly the Advanced Class draw because of how attracted they were to the challenge and the complexity of the skydives. The group had a blast collectively. Hopefully the momentum among the ICL participants will continue and grow to have more athletes and teams forming for the upcoming events and nationals..."