posted Feb 13th, 2023 - The time period between the first meet of the New England Skydiving League in 2000 and the most recent 4-way competition in New England, the SkyVenture New Hampshire Indoor Fest 2023, is almost 23 years, and it still has direct connections.

In fact, the two most important participants of the indoor competition at SkyVenture New Hampshire together are the very strong connection of past and presence in New England. Meet Director Ben Liston and Chief Judge Jim Rees spent years together when they competed for Mass Defiance.

It was in 2017 when they competed together outdoors last time. Three original Mass Defiance members (Ben Liston, Jim Rees, Brian Stephens) had James Klinge in the lineup, with Patrick Walker on camera (bUSA Defiance), and they traveled to Germany to compete at the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2017.

Jim Rees and Ben Liston both had already taken their judging and managing positions at the annual SkyVenture New Hampshire Indoor Fest at that time. Ben Liston continued with his double and triple duties at the indoor event, while Jim Rees had more than enough work with the live judging.

New England Skydiving League July 2000		1	2	3	4	5	6	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
1	Impulse Rhode Island	12	13	12	10	15	11	73	12.2
2	Air Buddha	7	10	8	4	9	7	45	7.5
Rank	AA Class	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
1	Pepperell Expedition	10	7	8	14	4	13	56	9.3
2	Pepperell Event Horizon	9	9	8	11	9	-	46	9.2
3	Pepperell Burning Daylight	6	4	-	-	-	-	10	5.0

However, Jim Rees and Ben Liston together still had another showing in competition at SkyVentur New Hampshire's 2020 event. They had Brian Boyle and Doug Hendrix in their Total Compliance 2.0 lineup.

Jim Rees replaced his other original Mass Defiance team mate Brian Stephens, who has not been back yet at the indoor event ever since the corona virus interruption.

This year in January, Jim Rees was once again in the judging room, while Ben Liston completed his 20 competition rounds with Pretty Gnarly on the AAA Class leaderboard and with Brian Is 50 in the AA Class. Ben Liston's original Mass Defiance team mate John Silva joined the meet director for Pretty Gnarly, together with Doug Hendrix and Andrew Yin.

Ben Liston, Jim Rees, John Silva and Brian Stephens were Mass Defiance team mates and USPA Advanced Class champions when they initiated the comeback of the New England Skydiving League in 2006. However, they were in different teams when the league was launched in 2000.

Jim Rees trained and competed with Impulse Rhode Island and finished right behind the USPA medal positions on the AAA/Advanced Class leaderboard. His two Mass Defiance team mates John Silva and Brian Stephens were in the Air Buddha lineup between 1999 and 2001.

SkyVenture New Hampshire 2023		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA/Open Class	C,O,B,J,18	15,E,M,6	22,P,D,N	K,13,F,1	11,3,M	16,5,A	H,10,G,9	E,17,21	Q,20,7	D,L,P,14	Total	Avg
1	SNE Fly Girls	22	19	17	20	16	17	17	19	15	23	185	18.5
2	Pretty Gnarly	23	20	15	15	17	17	18	19	17	19	180	18.0
3	Flying Spaghetti Monster	17	18	16	14	14	18	14	16	11	20	158	15.8
4	Cornerstone Plus	16	18	13	13	13	15	14	16	14	18	150	15.0
Rank	AA/Advanced Class	1,L,7	P,J,N,9	6,M,C	F,A,H,G	B,K,15	14,D,Q	21,H,O	E,N,J,P	7,F,O	6,K,M	Total	Avg
1	Murders & Acquisitions	14	25	23	24	15	17	17	28	28	20	211	21.1
2	Left On Red	19	19	25	21	18	19	16	16	26	21	200	20.0
3	Good Point	14	16	16	22	12	16	15	22	26	19	178	17.8
4	SNE Gripswitch	13	16	17	22	14	13	14	20	25	18	172	17.2
5	Collective Illusion	12	17	17	16	15	14	14	18	25	18	166	16.6
6	Snatch Force	16	17	17	21	14	7	13	20	22	12	159	15.9
7	Foxy & the Hounds	12	19	16	14	14	12	13	18	19	17	154	15.4
8	Airbenders	11	17	14	18	9	13	13	15	17	11	138	13.8
9	Brian is 50	10	10	16	12	11	7	13	17	16	12	124	12.4
Rank	A/Intermediate Class	C,D,H	14,B,A	Q,J,7	E,N,9	F,L,P	9,K,M	14,L,N	O,Q,K	C,M,7	J,H,9	Total	Avg
1	Brane Damage	19	15	19	21	21	20	14	19	21	22	191	19.1
2	Guess Team	20	14	18	17	23	20	13	19	19	17	180	18.0
3	Non Broken Buddies	18	13	17	15	17	19	13	18	16	18	164	16.4
4	Meaghatron	17	12	14	13	20	18	8	15	17	14	148	14.8
5	Random Chaos	13	11	15	15	19	15	8	12	17	16	141	14.1
6	Fantastic 4way	10	7	14	10	14	15	9	18	12	17	126	12.6
7	Ain't First You're Last	10	8	10	10	13	11	9	12	11	11	105	10.5
8	Free Fly Friendly	13	9	8	11	10	11	8	11	11	12	104	10.4
9	Yeah Man	6	7	6	2	11	12	3	10	10	10	77	7.7
Rank	RRR/Rookie	K,J,H	P,N,Q	L,B,A	C,M,D	F,E,N	H,M,K	C,J,P	F,D,B	Q,A,E	L,O,B	Total	Avg
1	Not Enough Cowbell	18	13	17	17	25	19	18	25	16	18	186	18.6
2	Gripper Grabbers	9	10	10	13	11	12	10	18	10	13	116	11.6
3	The Leftovers	10	11	6	8	11	13	11	9	15	12	106	10.6
4	UConn	10	9	5	10	12	11	10	9	9	11	96	9.6

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Pretty Gnarly - Brian Is 50 at the SkyVenture New Hampshire Indoor Fest

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There was another 2000 competitor from New England who has been a direct connection in this 23-year time period. Jeff Atherton trained and competed with Pepperell Expedition in 2000 and has hardly ever missed an indoor competition at SkyVenture New Hampshire. He also won a USPA bronze medal in 4-way Advanced at the USPA Nationals 2019 with SNE CenterCell XP. However, he and Brian Stephens both did not sign up for last month's event.

Ben Liston, Jim Rees, John Silva and Brian Stephens eventually joined forces in Mass Defiance and attended their first national championship in 4-way Advanced at the USPA Nationals 2004, with Richard Smith on camera.

Mass Defiance legend Steve "Scuba" Feldman joined the team on camera the next year, when the New England team won USPA Advanced Class gold medals. That's when Mass Defiance began to prepare the first comeback of the New England Skydiving League.

The comeback of the SkyVenture New Hampshire Indoor Fest has been very successful, and a comeback of the New England Skydiving League would continue the apparent recovery of 4-way competition after the corona virus interruption.