posted Oct 30th, 2019 - The Arizona Skydiving League is special and unique in many ways. It is the only league in the NSL Network that runs meets every month all the way throughout the whole calendar year. The winter in Arizona allows for training and competition, and Eliana Rodriguez and Michelle Karamon take full advantage of the weather situation.

The combination of the winter weather and the meet coaching is unique, as Eliana Rodriguez and Michelle Karamon also get regular support from Airspeed members who live near Skydive Arizona. Last weekend, they were able to add Craig Girard, Niklas Hemlin and Mikhail Markine to the coaching staff, and Michelle Karamon's Ranch 2nd Generation team mate Joey Marshall joined, as well.

All coaches also competed in different lineups, except for Eliana Rodriguez who was judging and administrating. She just won another FAI medal with the 3rd place at the FAI Outdoor World Cup, for Airspeed Odyssey and together with Craig Girard.

The ASL meets are also unique with prizes that Eliana Rodriguez and Michelle Karamon solicit for the participants. Last weekend's event was the 10th of the year after the league's comeback in January, and they wanted to make it a special treat with an amazing list of rewards for the teams and competitors.

1. Red Sky Rigging - Reserve pack job (Aviva Maidman)
2. Hidden Rhythm Acupunture for One Acupuncture Session (Craig Amrine)
3. Lucky Sushi & Chinese Restaurant - $100 Gift Certificate
4. Desert Sky Rigging - Reserve Pack Job (John Lyman)
5. Toltec Wellness Center - Gift Certificates for five 30-minute massages (Kitty Powell)
6. DropLyne Hot Air Balloons - Gift Certificate for One Balloon Jump (Cornelius VanDer Walt)
7. National Skydiving League - Gift Certificate for 5 pairs of Gloves
8. Square1 - Gift Certificate for 5 pairs of Square 1 Summer Gloves (Tony Dominico)
10. Tonysuit - 25% off Base Price of Jumpsuit
11. Bent Prop Restaurant - $10 Gift Certificate

Eliana Rodriguez said that the teams in 1st place could choose their prizes before the rest were raffled off to the other participants. AAA Class winner Joey Who??? with their world-class lineup chose the prize of five 30-minute massages from Kitty Poweel at the Toltec Wellness Center. Frostbite, with player-coaches Niklas Hemlin and Craig Girard, won the raffle, and they donated their prize to Team Eggplant, who finished in 2nd place of the A Class competition.

Eliana Rodriguez said that the generosity translated to all participants who continued donating or sharing their prizes with other teams and competitors: "We would like to thank all those who contributed in helping us make this a special event. We also want to thank Skydive Arizona who have been very supportive and donated prizes, medals, and certificates throughout the year. And last but not least we want to thank present and past Airspeed members Niklas Hemlin, Mikhail Markine and Craig Girard for continuing to support this event, plus visiting coach Joey Marshall."

The award ceremony was still not the end for Eliana Rodriguez and Michelle Karamon. They had decided at the beginning of the ASL comeback year not to give back only to teams and competitors. They also wanted to make an impact outside of the skydiving community and saved a portion of the revenues at each competition to support an organization that is doing something good in the world:

"We decided to start closer to home, and the organization we were going to support this year is called YOUTH ON THEIR OWN. It's an organization in Tucson, AZ, that is helping homeless teenagers stay in school and graduate from high school. The teens in the program are homeless for no fault of their own, and they are required to maintain passing scores, meet school attendance requirements, and exhibit appropriate behavior to get support from this organization. The kids in this program get support to graduate from high school and many end up going to college afterward."

Arizona Skydiving League October 2019		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	8,G,10		4,12,B		F,A,M,20		1,11,15		17,9,13		C,O,5,6		D,H,7,E		Q,22,3		Total	Avg
1	Joey Who ???	17		18		22	-3	14		21		18	-2	32	-1	16	-2	158	19.8
2	AZ Defiance	8		8		16		9		11		10	-1	19		11		92	11.5
3	Frostbite	8	-1	10		19		7	-4	7	-1	13		13	-2	8		85	10.6

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Last and not least, there was also the athletic part of the ASL October meet, and Eliana Rodriguez provided a summary of the highlights: "Seven teams joined us for this competition, three in AAA and four in A. We were able to complete eight of the ten scheduled rounds, seven on the first day like at USPA Nationals, and one round on the second day before the winds started to pick up."

Once again, the participating teams and competitors had the opportunity to get support from some of the best coaches in the world. Five coaches (Niklas Hemlin, Mikhail Markine, Craig Girard, Michelle Karamon, Eliana Rodriguez) were on the podium at the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2019 earlier this month. They were available to support the teams with their exits, engineering or creeping. R2G member Joey Marshall was competing and available to support the teams, as well.

The winning AAA Class team, Joey Who???, included ASL Director Michelle Karamon, together with her R2G team mate Joey Marshall. Arizona Airspeed members Niklas Hemlin and Mikhail Markine completed the lineup, with Taylor Buffington on camera. Judge Eliana Rodriguez said that Joey Who??? suffered a few video busts, which kept the team below the 20-average level.

Eliana Rodriguez reported that Niklas Hemlin, Mikhail Markine and videographer Taylor Buffington were doing double duties and competed with other teams, as well: "Niklas was part of team Frostbite who ended up in 3rd place after a battle with AZ Defiance. He was joined by Craig Girard. Perry Stone and Tukes Iwamoto completed the lineup, with Jim Stengall as video. Perry Stone has competed in other teams at ASL meets throughout the year. Tukes is new to the ASL meet since he currently lives in Dubai but not new to the local fun 4-way competitions. He had also joined the local 4-way meets that Craig and I organized in Dubai in the past. This time he was on a completely different performance level."

Arizona Skydiving League October 2019		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		Total	Avg
Rank	A Class	8,G		4,B		F,A,M		19,L		9,J		C,O,6		D,H,7		Q,P,E		Total	Avg
1	Smash the Patriarchy	6	-2	6	-1	15	-2	7	-1	8	-1	9		9	-1	5	-4	65	8.1
2	Eggplant 7.0	6		2		14	-2	6		11		6	-1	8		7		60	7.5
3	Mikhail's Navy	4		6	-1	11		6		8		5		6		1	-1	47	5.9
4	SkyRyders	2		1	-1	0		1		2		2	-1	0		2		10	1.3

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She also explained that AZ Defiance have a perfect attendance at the ten ASL meets this year and placed 2nd this time:

"Cris Howard was filling in as an alternate. Joe Howard had issues with an elbow injury, so he wasn't able to do all the jumps. The placings changed many times throughout the meet. Frostbite was in 2nd place through Round 4. After suffering some mental mistakes and a penalty they dropped down to 3rd place, and AZ Defiance moved up to 2nd place. They battled it out going back and forth between 2nd and 3rd place three times throughout the meet. In the end, AZ Defiance won that battle and took 2nd place. AZ Defiance was the cleanest team of the meet with only one bust."

Four teams competed in the A Class, and Eliana Rodriguez had more details: "In first place, Smash the Patriarchy took the lead in Round 2 and maintained it all the way to the end. Other teams got close, but in the end Smash the Patriarchy was able to hold on to their lead. Eggplant 7.0 was back again with another combination of past Eggplant members. Lori Zito one of the Eggplant founding members has attended nine of the ten ASL meets. Eggplant had a rough Round 2 and spent the rest of the competition trying to catch Smash the Patriarchy. Mikhail's Navy came in 3rd with two new ASL competitors, local David Robinson and Steve Joyce from Texas. Mikhail Markine and Jim Brenneman joined the newcomers. Jim had competed at earlier ASL meets. Taylor Buffington was filming his second team."

"The fourth A Class team, SkyRyders, were new to the ASL and visited us from Utah and Idaho. They had a great time learning the formations, which were almost all new to them. I have the feeling that we will see them again in the future!!" There are more than enough reasons to visit the remaining ASL 2019 meets in November and December...