posted Feb 5th, 2023 - The NSL News recently reported the comeback of the Great Lakes Skydiving League. Nicole Land, a passionate competitor of the recent 4-way generation from the Great Lakes region, is working together with the operators of three different skydiving centers, including Sherry Schlater Butcher of AerOhio Skydiving. Nicole Land and Sherry Schlater Butcher together cover a time period of more than two decades of 4-way competition within the network of the National Skydiving League.

Another change in the management of another NSL affiliated 4-way league took place more quietly with the change of the year. Josh Hall was passing the baton of the Southern California Skydiving League to new SCSL Director Christy Frikken. Both grew up together in 4-way competition when Sherry Schlater Butcher hosted meets of the Great Lakes Skydiving League in 2000.

In fact, the Southwest Skydiving League, mother of the Southern California Skydiving League, was launched a few months before Sherry Schlater Butcher hosted the first GLSL competition at AerOhio. Skydive Arizona hosted the inaugural SSL competition in March 2000, as the NSL News reported on 25 March 2000.

Neither Josh Hall nor Christy Frikken competed in 4-way at that time. It would take another five years until they were ready to launch their own team project, Perris Fury, at the March meet of the Southwest Skydiving League.

Southwest Skydiving League March 2005		1	2	3	4	5	6	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	11,16,J	15,17,H	F,20,9	P,L,5,6	7,Q,21	E,3,K,4	Total	Avg
1	Perris Fury	16	16	16	17	16	15	96	16.0
2	Perris Storm	11	7	13	9	11	11	62	10.3
3	Perris Rebels	8	7	11	10	11	9	56	9.3
4	Perris Helion	6	6	10	8	9	9	48	8.0
Rank	AA Class	11,1	15,8	F,20,9	P,L,6	7,Q,21	E,4,K	Total	Avg
1	Elsinore Alloy	9	8	12	10	11	10	60	10.0
2	Elsinore Equinox	8	7	12	12	10	9	58	9.7
3	Japanese Shooting Star	7	8	9	8	9	9	50	8.3
4	Perris Quest	3	4	4	4	6	3	24	4.0
Rank	A Class	21,J	8,H	F,9	P,L,6	7,Q	E,4	Total	Avg
1	Elsinore Momentum	4	3	6	5	4	2	24	4.0

Perris Fury team mates Christy Frikken and Josh Hall eventually became world-class competitors, and Perris Fury challenged Arizona Airspeed for the U.S. top spot for several years. They discontinued the team at the end of 2011, and Josh Hall joined the Arizona Airspeed lineup who won the FAI Outdoor World Championship in Dubai 2012.

Christy Frikken continued her own 4-way career in a more diversified style and eventually attended her first world championship in the U.S. delegation, as well, when she replaced JaNette Lefkowitz at the FAI Tanay Mondial. SDC Rhythm XP won FAI silver medals in Russia. The NSL News gave Christy Frikken special attention after the event for the highest placing of a female 4-way competitor since 2010.

The Southwest Skydiving League eventually split into the northern and the southern part at the end of the 2006 season, and Arizona launched a separate NSL league project, too. Perris Fury, with Christy Frikken and Josh Hall, competed in both leagues ever since the team was launched. They attended twelve SSL/SCSL/ASL meets between 2005 and 2008, and their vast competition experiences at league meets and other major events helped them to get to the world's 4-way top level.

Josh Hall then decided to offer his experiences and management skills for the Southern California Skydiving League area and volunteered as the league director in 2014, two years after becoming a 4-way world champion, as the NSL News reported on 3 July 2014.

USPA Nationals 2010		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open	16,21,11	3,L,K,10	6,22,1	12,20,4	Q,M,2,N	H,D,9,G	19,5,13	F,E,17,O	C,8,7	A,18,14	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	21	23	15	15	32	42	23	40	25	19	255	25.5
2	Perris Fury	21	22	18	16	25	38	22	36	23	20	241	24.1
3	Golden Knights Gold	17	21	17	15	27	32	18	33	22	18	220	22.0
4	Paraclete XP4	18	20	15	15	26	28	20	29	22	19	212	21.2
5	SDC Rhythm XP	17	19	16	15	23	30	19	32	20	14	205	20.5
6	DeLand Shmeland XP	15	17	13	13	21	28	15	30	17	12	181	18.1
7	Speedy Kids XP	14	16	14	14	23	23	15	24	17	13	173	17.3
8	Founding Fathers	13	15	14	13	21	20	17	27	16	13	169	16.9
9	Amphibious Attack Tigers	12	16	14	12	18	25	16	27	14	14	168	16.8
10	Heat	11	11	11	12	17	25	13	22	14	11	147	14.7
11	Golden Knights Black	11	14	11	11	17	19	14	13	15	12	137	13.7
12	SDC Furies	10	11	11	9	16	16	12	14	11	11	121	12.1
13	Arizona Frenzy	8	11	10	9	14	14	10	15	14	11	116	11.6
14	Monstrosity	10	11	6	8	13	13	8	14	9	9	101	10.1

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Perris Fury at the USPA Nationals 2010

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Christy Frikken and Josh Hall both continued as coaches and player-coaches. Josh Hall guided Elsinore Elevate to USPA Advanced Class bronze medals in 2018 and silver in 2019, with new SDC Rhythm XP member Keith Conner in the 2019 lineup. Christy Frikken even spent two years with SDC Rhythm XP for the world championships preparations when JaNette Lefkowitz had to step back.

Josh Hall now decided to pass the SCSL baton over to his former team mate, after nine years as the league director. Christy Frikken is still highly engaged in the region's 4-way community, with indoor and outdoor coaching and events, and she thought that it was her time to become more engaged in the league operation.

Christy Frikken has also been active after her two years with SDC Rhythm XP. She was player-coaching the 8-way team Perris Byte to the USPA gold medals at last year's national outdoor championships.

Perris Byte with Christy Frikken have plans to continue and move up to USPA's Advanced Class in 8-way. They cannot meet the 2022 champion on the Advanced Class leaderboard, Elsinore Jambalaya, who competed for Josh Hall's skydiving center around the corner. They won the gold medals and would have to move up to the Open Class competition. Christy Frikken's 8-way team can only try to keep the USPA championship title in California. In the meantime, she will take care of all the 4-way teams at the Southern California Skydiving League's 4-way meets.

USPA Nationals 2022		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Intermediate	A,N,G,J	18,L,M	K,17,H	19,O,1	Q,F,14	4,7	10,13	16,3	8,21	D,B,5	Total	Avg
1	Perris Byte	0	9	8	9	8	9	8	9	6	5	71	7.1
2	Partially Disturbed	6	6	6	5	7	5	6	10	5	4	60	6.0
3	Carolina Gr8ness	5	5	6	6	4	7	5	7	1	5	51	5.1
4	Platinum 8	2	4	5	5	5	5	4	6	3	4	43	4.3
4	Keith's Insubordin8ors	2	4	5	4	4	6	4	5	5	4	43	4.3
6	Illumin-8	5	4	4	4	3	6	4	3	4	4	41	4.1
7	Full Moon Rising	2	5	2	5	5	4	4	0	3	4	34	3.4

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Perris Byte at the USPA Nationals 2022 - Video Footage Courtesy of USPA/InTime

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