posted Nov 22nd, 2021 - The 4-way Beginner Class competition at the USPA Nationals 2021 was almost a copy of the exciting finish in the Intermediate Class. Two teams were in a duel for the two top spots, while two other teams were tied in 3rd place after Round 3 and needed an extra jump-off round for the last medal position.

In fact, all four teams together created the tightest top of any leaderboards in Formation Skydiving competition at this year's national championships. It was a 7-point difference between winning the USPA gold medals and ending up in 4th place without any of the medal sets, and that even after the jump-off round.

It was more than encouraging for USPA to see how well attended the Beginner Class competition was in its first test year as a part of the USPA Nationals. Most of the teams confirmed at the Beginner Class meeting with USPA Director of Competition, Steve Hubbard, and meet director Randy Connell that they would not have made the trip to Eloy if they had to compete in the Intermediate Class instead.

The 6-round competition was exciting from the beginning to the end. The NSL News expected a competitive finish already on October 26th. Four rounds were completed at the end of the first day, and even five teams were very much in the race for the medal positions at that time.

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USPA Nationals 2021		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Beginner	G,9		D,A,Q		19,H		6,K		B,2		J,O,P		7,M		Total	Avg
1	Air Force Zorro	11		12		6	-2	7		9		13		-		58	9.7
2	Anion Flux	8		10		10		7		7		12		-		54	9.0
3	Air Force Night Fury	10		10	-1	7	-3	6	-2	8		10		13		51	8.5
4	CSC Constellation	6	-2	11		7		7		9		11		9		51	8.5
5	D.a.Danielson	7	-1	7		4	-1	7		6		10		-		41	6.8
6	Perris Chutists	8		11	-1	2	-2	8		8		-		-		37	7.4
7	Altitude Junkies	5	-1	6	-1	5	-1	6	-1	5		7		-		34	5.7
8	Toxic LED	3	-3	6	-1	4	-4	7		5		6		-		31	5.2
9	Unicorn Riders 2.0	4	-2	5		6		3	-1	5		2		-		25	4.2
10	Gold Diggers	4		1	-2	2	-1	3	-2	3		6		-		19	3.2

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Air Force Zorro - Anion Flux at the USPA Nationals 2021 - Video Footage Courtesy of USPA/OmniSkore!HD

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The Air Force Zorro team was one point ahead of Anion Flux after Round 4, and the second Air Force team Night Fury had a 2-point lead over CSC Constellation. The Midwest team eliminated the difference in the remaining two rounds next day and forced Night Fury into the jump-off round. Both teams were only three points behind the silver medal position.

The most exciting competition created a discussion after the event, which ended with the message for USPA not to wait another year before integrating the Beginner Class fully into the national championships. The Beginner Class has been well known and attended as the A Class in the international NSL Network for many years.

Teams and competitors at the USPA meeting in Eloy had actually only one request to make the event even better. They were asking to increase the number of rounds from six to at least eight. The A Class dive pool allows a draw of eight sequences without the repetition of any of the eight blocks or 16 random formations. The NSL News met with one of the A/Beginner Class teams, Anion Flux from Florida, to discuss their first visit at national championships and the team future.

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Air Force Night Fury - CSC Constellation at the USPA Nationals 2021 - Video Footage Courtesy of USPA/OmniSkore!HD

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Anion Flux was one of the medal winners in the new category at the USPA Nationals 2021. The team trained mostly at Skydive Sebastian this year and met at Spaceland Clewiston last weekend, as the weather situation required this move not the first time.

The Sebastian team had hopes to get into medal contention after their online participation at Skydive Chicago's Cloud Games where they placed 2nd with a 5.0 average. The scoring level for USPA medals in the same category was significantly higher, however, Anion Flux trained enough to lift their meet average to 9.0 at the USPA Nationals.

They were even happier when they realized in Eloy that they were going up against two Air Force teams and eventually managed to split them up in the top positions of the 4-way Beginner leaderboard.

According to the USPA rules for the other categories, Anion Flux could come back and go for the gold medals next year. However, they decided earlier that they are now more eager to learn and train the next eight blocks, and they are in the planning stage for the 2022 season. New team member Felipe Della Giustina is replacing outside center Logan Taylor and takes the inside center slot. Austin Shelton switches from the rear to the front piece. Point Katie Lazarus and Paul Civitella (tail) continue in their 2021 slots. Dean Nordstedt continues on camera after his first competition, where he kept his team out of any video troubles.

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NSL Live Talk with Anion Flux

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