posted Dec 11th, 1998 - The recent August meet of the Midwest Skydiving League brought back thoughts of the very beginnings of the National Skydiving League in this area of the United States.

Florida, Texas and Georgia had joined forces with their 4-way leagues in 1998, and their league champions (Genesis/PD Blue, Convergence, Mr. Pink) competed for the first time for the NSL Championship in November 1998 at Skydive DeLand. Several new leagues grew in the winter of 1998/1999, including the Illinois Skydiving League that Andre Wiese initiated at the Chicagoland Skydiving Center in Hinckly.

The name changed to Midwest Skydiving League before the 1999 season had begun, and Howy Hensen, 4-way competitor with the MWSL team Hinckley Mock 4, was the first MWSL director. Alan Butt became his successor when Howy Hensen stepped back after a few years. Hinckley Mock 4 placed 4th in the Advanced Class competition of the USPA Nationals 1999 after the end of the first MWSL season. Florida Skydiving League team Optic Nerve took the 1st place as a guest team, and FSL team Frost won the USPA gold medals. FSL team Z-Spot placed 3rd.

Leaderboards of the earliest years in the history of the National Skydiving League are not available, not even in the NSL News archives. Only a few news updates and photos are left - besides nice memories and the OmniSkore archives. Chicagoland Skydiving Center, birth place of the Midwest Skydiving League in 1998, eventually hosted the USPA Nationals 2018.

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Midwest Skydiving League August 2020		1	2	3	4	5	6	Total	Avg
Rank	A Class	B,F,21	7,N	E,H,4	C,G,6	L,O,M	8,Q	Total	Avg
1	Quattro Ronas	4	4	4	3	4	4	23	3.8
2	Rock It!	5	1	3	3	6	2	20	3.3

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Did you know that another new league is in the works? NSL News on 11 December 1998

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Illinois shows great interest in starting up as soon as possible. Andre Wiese, operator of Chicagoland Skydiving, has already begun to get things going this year. His dropzone has a lot of team interest - four teams from Hinckley competed at the UUPA Nationals this year. Andre id now looking for other skydiving centers in the area who would like to be a part of the new skydiving league and share the advantages of more activities and business.

The NSL will help to get the new league started. Everybody in the Illinois/Ohio/Wisconsin area who is interested league can get in touch with the NSL headquarters or directly with Andre Wiese.

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Did you know that the Illinois Skydiving League has just finalized its schedule for the inaugural 1999 season? NSL News on 2 Apr

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Four dropzones will be hosting one meet each: Chicagoland Skydiving (May 15th), Skydive Illinois (June 26th), Skyknights (July 17th), and Skydive Greensburg (August 21st). Howy Hensen, league director for the Illinois Skydiving League, has put it all together. He says that the teams are looking forward to the start of the season.

For the season opener at Chicagoland Skydiving, he organized one of the best coaches available. Solly Williams or Gary Smith, team members of the South African bronze medalist DeLand Equanimity and professional coaches, will offer free coaching services to the participating teams on May 15th.

With the Illimois Skydiving League, eight NSL leagues have now posted their schedule for 1999. There still is a chance that even more leagues will join the club this year. Arizona, California and Ohio/Pennsylvania are still working on it. The National Skydiving League will go up from three affiliated leagues last year to eight or more leagues for this season. Information and news regarding each league can be found through the links on the front page. The complete schedule of all league events is posted at the NSL Schedule of Events. Check out the format and the general rules, too. Welcome to the fun, everybody.

OmniSkore leaderboard of the USPA Nationals 1999 Advanced Class competition

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Did you know that that the Midwest Skydiving League will run its first season meet this weekend? NSL News on 13 May 1999

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League director Howy Hensen is looking forward to beginning the inaugural season. He is expecting at least six teams to participate for the whole season. Three skydiving centers will host the meets: Chicagoland Skydiving in Hinckley, Skydive Illinois in Morris, and Skydive Greensburg, with a fourth drop zone possibly signing up as a host for the meet on July 17. Information regarding registration for the meet is posted at the Midwest page. The scores and more information will be posted at the NSL website soon after the meet.

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Did you know that we can forget quite easily some of the major purposes of our sport? NSL News on 29 June 1999

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After the second season meet of the Midwest Skydiving League last weekend, league director Howy Hensen, who is a competitor himself with Hinckley Mock 4, took the chance to reflect about some of the competition components. Here is his message to his regional competitors which is just as valuable for all of us:

"Hi everyone. I hope you all had a good time at the Morris Meet. My hat comes off to all of you who have the courage to put yourself in the competitive spot light. Any skydiver can jump out of an airplane and experience the rush of freefall but it takes a different kind of skydiver to compete in 4-way Formation Skydiving. 4-way is the most difficult discipline in skydiving - but I am biased because it is also my favorite.

"The 4-way competitor is putting her/himself in front of the camera for everyone to see. There is nowhere to hide. As a 4-way competitor all our mistakes as well as our triumphs are recorded for 'posterity' sake on every competition jump. As a competitive skydiver I can't help but feel a sense of pride and comradeship just being associated with all of you who are not afraid to put your egos on the line every skydive.

"As I write this, some words come to mind that I came across while watching an Airspeed video: 'Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go' by T.S. Elliot. These words fit each and every one of you.

"After the Morris meet it was clear to me that I overlooked something. The purpose of these meets is to have fun, gain competition experience, and share our combined pool of knowledge. Every team should feel that they can ask questions on technique, strategy, continuity (figuring out who goes where), launches, or anything else. Just because there is a competition going on does not mean that you can not ask anyone a question. Most competitors that I know love to share their knowledge in an effort to advance the sport. Please keep this in mind for the future, because I hate to see teams losing points for things that they shouldn't have. I wish you all the best.