posted Jun 1st, 2021 - Identity Crisis was the next and third Advanced Class champion in 2001, a team name that was not well know. In fact, the New England team competed only once under this name, while the team members were quite active in the 4-way community.

Robbie Spencer of the South African FAI bronze medalists in 1997, DeLand Equanimity, was finally eligible for USPA medals, after winning the Advanced Class the previous year as a guest team with Barry Jive's Uptown 5, together with Michelle Wenk.

Robbie Spencer's South African teammates Gary Smith and Solly Williams had become eligible, as well, and they were in the middle of planning their new 4-way project with DeLand Majik. They were still player-coaching Optic Nerve's Dr. Joel Shugar and Scott Keeler at the same time, who were ready to finally win their own USPA medals in the Advanced Class. Doug Park replaced Gary Smith for the USPA Nationals, and Optic Nerve finished with a new team record average, which would have been enough to win in 2000. However, Robbie Spencer won this internal South African player-coaching duel, and Optic Nerve was done.

Dr. Joel Shugar came back to 4-way competition in Florida once in 2002 and then rested for five years. The complete original lineup then competed once in the 4-way Open Class for a reunion in 2007, with Albert Berchtold on camera, before Dr. Joel Shugar's story came to a tragic ending in 2008. The NSL News had a summary of the USPA Nationals 2001 in the archives.

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USPA Nationals 2001		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Advanced	6,F,18	7,17,22	G,21,3	M,N,P,16	2,Q,1	12,4,19	H,14,L,15	B,24,J,23	9,A,8	C,5,E,10	Total	Avg
1	Identity Crisis	16	14	13	19	19	13	15	15	18	13	155	15.5
2	Optic Nerve	15	15	17	15	17	13	13	17	18	8	148	14.8
3	Nemesis	14	12	13	12	14	10	14	16	17	13	135	13.5
4	Arizona Fast 4ward	14	13	13	14	16	9	14	12	16	13	134	13.4
5	Arizona Inertia	13	11	13	14	15	11	12	14	14	11	128	12.8
6	RPM	14	10	9	14	16	11	13	14	14	12	127	12.7
7	Cross Connect	10	11	10	14	12	11	11	14	14	11	118	11.8
8	Flash	11	9	9	14	14	10	11	13	14	11	116	11.6
8	Angry Beez	14	9	8	13	16	9	9	15	16	7	116	11.6
10	Perris Centerpoint	12	11	12	13	13	11	9	12	12	10	115	11.5
11	Elsinore Enigma	10	8	11	11	13	10	12	12	14	10	111	11.1
12	Convergence	12	7	8	12	14	11	11	11	13	9	108	10.8
13	Air Brush	9	8	10	13	10	9	11	12	13	11	106	10.6
14	Ranch Equinox	11	7	8	13	14	8	10	9	9	11	100	10.0
15	Crosskeys Jetstream	8	10	8	13	12	8	11	11	10	7	98	9.8
16	American Flyers	13	6	8	9	9	11	11	9	11	10	97	9.7
17	DeLand Silver	11	4	9	12	11	11	9	10	11	6	94	9.4
18	Perris Time Warp	8	10	9	8	11	9	9	11	10	7	92	9.2
18	Mr. Pink	9	6	8	9	13	10	7	13	8	9	92	9.2
20	Back Draft	10	6	9	11	9	9	7	11	12	6	90	9.0
21	Just In Time	9	8	8	11	10	8	8	10	9	8	89	8.9
22	Millennium Alpha	9	8	8	9	11	6	9	10	9	8	87	8.7
23	Monomania	9	7	9	9	11	8	9	7	9	7	85	8.5
24	Lodi 499	9	8	9	10	10	6	8	9	9	5	83	8.3
25	Expedition 2001	9	8	8	10	7	6	8	7	10	9	82	8.2
26	Ranch Avgas	10	7	5	7	8	9	9	7	10	7	79	7.9
26	Carolina Verve	10	7	5	9	11	6	8	10	10	3	79	7.9
28	Aerohio Sin-Force	5	9	5	7	10	7	9	11	5	8	76	7.6

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NSL News on 29 October 2001: History repeated itself in the Advanced Class

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Perris, October 2, 2000. Optic Nerve and Barry Jive's Uptown 5 have been giving each other some tough competition for eight rounds. Optic Nerve is up by three points going into the last two rounds. A bad round and a penalty in Round 9 costs the team four points. BJU5 is now up by one point and does not let go of the lead in Round 10. Optic Nerve end up in 2nd place.

Many things were similar in Eloy last week, some things were different. Last year, Optic Nerve and BJU5 were guest teams, as Solly Williams and Gary Smith were not eligible for Optic Nerve. Orla Bannan could not win medals for BJU5. This year, both teams had different lineups. Optic Nerve's Solly Williams was now eligible for the Advanced Class. Teammate Gary Smith was not eligible at the time of the nationals, however, Smith was not available anyway. Former FX member Doug Park replaced him at the last training camps and in Eloy.

Earlier this year, Solly Williams, Gary Smith and Doug Park had formed the team DeLand Majik", with Joey Jones as the fourth member to compete for the Open Class gold medal next year. All four members still had commitments through this year's USPA Nationals in their player-coaching positions with Optic Nerve (Solly Williams, Gary Smith, Doug Park) and Touch of Majic (Joey Jones). Dr. Joel Shugar and Scott Keeler have been Optic Nerve team members with Solly Williams and Gary Smith since 1999.

In the other team, Robbie Spencer and Michelle Wenk have been heart and soul of Barry Jive's Uptown 5 in 2000 and Identity Crisis in 2001. Spencer was team member of DeLand Equanimity, together with Solly Williams and Gary Smith in 1999, when the South African 4-way team won the bronze medals at the FAI World Meet 1997 in Turkey. Spencer formed BJU5 in 2000 to challenge his former teammates and Optic Nerve at the USPA Nationals. He had recruited former Ranch Air Traffic members Michelle Wenk and Bruce Helier for BJU5 in 2000, with Orla Bannan from Australia completing the lineup.

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Florida Skydiving League April 2008			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		2,9,E	F,P,4,18	3,B,21	5,N,20	O,12,8	19,L,10	Q,G,22,6	15,K,D,A	M,17,1	16,7,C	Total	Avg
1	Evolution	CA	22	22	22	22	16	16	21	23	23	23	210	21.0
2	Arcteryx	NO	24	22	22	22	19	18	22	-	-	-	149	21.3
3	Danish Blaze	DK	15	14	14	13	10	8	12	16	10	15	127	12.7
4	Fastrax Blue	US	18	17	16	16	14	12	-	-	-	-	93	15.5
5	Teiwaz Red	US	17	16	16	15	13	-	-	-	-	-	77	15.4
6	Optic Nerve	US	16	17	15	13	12	-	-	-	-	-	73	14.6
7	Sequence	DK	13	14	12	9	7	-	-	-	-	-	55	11.0
8	Turbulence	NL	14	11	9	9	9	-	-	-	-	-	52	10.4
9	Orange Blue	NL	8	9	9	6	7	-	-	-	-	-	39	7.8

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Optic Nerve's last reunion competition in 2008

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This year, Michelle Wenk and Robbie Spencer trained with two members of Robbie Spencer's local team, Impulse Rhode Island, for the USPA Nationals. Jim Rees and Dennis Rook had competed with Michelle Wenk and Robbie Spencer earlier this year with Diversity in the New England Skydiving League. The lineup of both teams, Optic Nerve and Identity Crisis, was very similar and quite even. Two very experienced competitors had teamed up with two weekend amateurs in both lineups.

However, something had clearly changed compared to last year. Both teams were now eligible for medals. At the USPA Nationals in 2000, gold medal winner Teiwaz did not have to compete for the medals with experienced world-class competitors in other teams. BJU5 and Optic Nerve had signed up in the same category, while they were not a part of the medal game from the very beginning. Lucky Teiwaz. This year, other amateur teams, such as bronze medal winner Nemesis, had to accept Optic Nerve and Identity Crisis competing for medals in the Advanced Class.

One result of this situation was the fact that Nemesis scored three points more than Advanced Class winner Teiwaz in 2000 and still ended up on 3rd place behind Identity Crisis and Optic Nerve. In 2000, Nemesis had won the silver medals behind Teiwaz.

It could have become worse for Nemesis. Another team in a similar situation as Optic Nerve and Identity Crisis, Touch of Majik, eventually decided to sign up for the Open Class competition. TOM consists of veteran coach and world-class competitor Joey Jones, plus Brian Johnson, Scott Franklin and Jamie Johnson. Brian Johnson had trained and competed last year in the Open Class with Perris Energy finishing with a 14.9 average. Amateurs Jamie Johnson and Scott Franklin trained and competed with Nemesis in 2000 and the Chain Gang before.

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USPA Nationals 2001			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		6,F,18	7,17,22	G,21,3	M,N,P,16	2,Q,1	12,4,19	H,14,L,15	B,24,J,23	9,A,8	C,5,E,10	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed Vertical	US	21	17	21	23	24	19	20	23	24	21	213	21.3
2	Golden Knights Gold	US	21	20	18	22	24	17	23	23	23	20	211	21.1
3	Arizona Airspeed Zulu	US	19	18	18	24	21	17	20	21	21	14	193	19.3
4	DeLand PD Blue	US	21	18	18	15	21	16	20	22	23	17	191	19.1
5	Elsinore Matrix	US	19	18	17	23	20	11	18	19	21	12	178	17.8
6	Endeavour	CH	16	15	17	19	16	14	14	17	19	17	164	16.4
7	Touch of Magic	US	14	15	16	17	19	13	14	17	17	17	159	15.9
8	Synchronicity	US	15	13	11	16	17	13	13	17	19	14	148	14.8
9	Golden Knights Black	US	14	8	12	11	16	11	12	14	16	11	125	12.5
10	Murph & the Magic Tones	US	11	12	12	11	13	10	13	9	14	11	116	11.6

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Touch Of Majik had the option to sign up in either of the two USPA categories. Their well respected decision to compete in the Open Class saved Nemesis the bronze medal in the Advanced Class. TOM finished the meet with a 15.9 average. That would have been four points ahead of Identity Crisis and the gold medal in the Advanced Class.

The definition of the competition classes still causes controversial discussions. Teams have the freedom to decide in which class they compete. The current rules only block the defending Advanced Class champions to compete in the came category again. Theoretically, teams as the Golden Knights, PD Blue, Airspeed Zulu, Elsinore Matrix or any of their team members (except Kirk Verner and Robert Healy) could sign up for the Advanced Class. However, realistically only teams on the bottom of the Open Class and the top of the Advanced Class are in this grey zone. Their performance and scoring level could justify signing up in either class.

The discussion becomes even more complicated when it gets to the special situation of teams as Touch of Majik, Identity Crisis and Optic Nerve. These teams consist of a combination of Open Class pros and weekend amateurs. It has become a very efficient and productive option for weekend competitors to hire a player-coach and learn 4-way faster and better. Logically, team players as Solly Williams, Gary Smith, Doug Park, Robbie Spencer and Michelle Wenk make life much easier for the 4-way students in the same team.

Teams without top-level player-coaches are wondering whether it is fair that they have to compete with these teams in the same category. In Eloy, Nemesis were good sports and accepted the bronze medals behind Identity Crisis and Optic Nerve with pride. For many teams and competitors, Nemesis is now the real Advanced Class champion of the USPA Nationals 2001 anyway. And USPA is working on finding ways how to fix this situation.