posted Mar 2nd, 2023 - It used to be normal procedure in the NSL 4-way Network that teams in the United States and in other different countries around the world would use the same competition draw on any given weekend. Enough events were scheduled which would generate the interesting leaderboards with participating teams from regions far away from each other.

The implications of the corona virus crisis interfered heavily with this well working and popular format and the according procedures, and other ways to connect teams with each other did not generate similar results and combined leaderboards from different live events.

The recent comeback of leagues and events indicate that the same format will eventually also bring back the interesting weekends with enough different events and the related NSL News information. The same format of the NSL 4-way Network has also worked just as well for indoor events as it has connected outdoor events for many years.

The Calendar of Events at Skyleague.com is not even close to showing the number of events as several years ago. However, some of the meets are falling on the same weekends, and there will be more combined leaderboards in 2023 than in the last three years. Teams and organizers from the Czech Republic and Finland recently resumed the application of the same format, which is a similar comeback as it has been announced earlier by other leagues with 4-way outdoor competition in the United States.

February 24th, 2023			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		11,C,M,6	14,J,3	B,16,D,19	1,P,H,13	O,22,G,17	7,4,15	2,5,9	Q,E,L,21	20,10,A	F,12,8	Total	Avg
1	HF Cubs	CZ	26	22	25	29	25	24	22	29	21	22	245	24.5
2	HF Flying Circus	CZ	25	22	27	25	23	22	23	30	21	22	240	24.0
3	Purple Maze	FI	26	20	26	26	20	21	25	31	20	20	235	23.5
4	HF Flying Rebels	CZ	24	19	26	25	21	21	20	26	16	22	220	22.0
5	HF Chameleons	CZ	19	18	23	23	20	18	20	24	16	18	199	19.9
6	M Team	CZ	17	13	17	16	13	13	12	17	11	10	139	13.9
7	Accord	CZ	14	11	14	14	11	11	11	15	8	12	121	12.1
8	4K	FI	12	9	12	12	9	10	11	14	7	11	107	10.7

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HF Flying Circus - Purple Maze on the 24 February weekend

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Finland's national team of the last 15 years, the Pro Team, with different combinations of team members of the Pohjola family, represented the country at many international events, including world championships and world cups. The family team project came to an end after the national indoor championship in 2022.

However, three members of the last Pro Team lineup (Emilia Sormunen, Eija Suvala, Matthew Iles) decided to continue without the Pohjola family and began to look for a new team member. Inside center Eija Suvala trained and competed with the Pro Team since 2008, and Emilia Sormunen joined her in 2014. Matthew Iles replaced Kimmo Pohjola's son Kalle in 2021.

The Pro Team 3-way finally recruited Nadja Lonnroth when Kimmo Pohjola also decided to step back, and the new lineup has a fresh start with a new team name, Purple Maze.

The new team attended Finland's national indoor championship in February as their first competition, after they had announced earlier that they were also planning to represent Finland at the FAI Indoor World Championship in Slovakia this April. The competition draws for Finland's indoor nationals and the February meet of the Czech Tunnel League were synchronized, and the national teams in 4-way Open had the opportunity to compare their scores.

FAI Indoor World Meet 2019			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		M,K,D,14		Q,4,5		P,E,9,15		3,N,G,2		6,1,8		F,12,11		13,22,J		H,L,B,18		O,20,A,17		21,7,19		Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	39		36		42		35		27		32		29		42	-1	38		31		351	35.1
2	Weembi High Rollers	FR	38	-2	33	-1	44		32	-1	27		29	-1	26	-2	47		37		31		344	34.4
3	Arizona Airspeed	US	39		33		40		30		27		29		24	-3	39		33		27		321	32.1
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	34		30	-2	36		29		22	-3	27	-1	28		36		32		28		302	30.2
5	Airheads	CH	35		28	-1	33	-2	29		25		27		24	-1	36		30		25	-1	292	29.2
6	Black Cat	RU	34		29		39	-1	29		25		22	-2	25	-1	36	-1	26	-3	22	-2	287	28.7
7	Echochamber	SE	34		27	-1	35		26	-1	22	-2	25		20	-5	35		26	-3	24	-1	274	27.4
8	ACM Weembi	UK	32	-1	28		32	-2	26	-1	20	-1	24		19	-2	35		26		25		267	26.7
9	Airfource	DE	33	-3	22	-1	33	-1	25		22	-1	23		20	-3	35	-2	25	-1	24	-1	262	26.2
10	HF Flying Circus	CZ	31		26		28	-1	23		24		22		18	-2	33		19	-5	23		247	24.7
11	Pro Team	FI	27	-2	24		30		23		23		22		22		30		23	-3	22	-1	246	24.6
12	Monaco Indoor Skydive Team	MC	27	-1	21		27	-2	23		20		22		21		29		21		21		232	23.2
13	FlySpot Sky4Four	PL	27	-1	23		28	-1	23		19	-2	20	-1	20		29		21	-1	21	-1	231	23.1
14	Papea Masculino	ES	28	-2	23		26	-1	16	-3	21	-1	20	-1	21		30	-1	23	-2	22		230	23.0
15	Out of the Blue	NL	24		22		27		19	-1	19		19		18		27		24		20	-1	219	21.9
16	H40	IE	22	-1	19		23		17		18		17	-1	17	-1	24		20		19		196	19.6
17	Skydive University Slovakia	SK	23	-2	19		23	-1	17	-2	18		17	-1	14	-3	22		19		17	-2	189	18.9
18	Magic 4	LT	26		15	-1	19	-5	15	-2	17		16	-3	17	-1	21		-		-		146	18.3

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HF Flying Circus - Pro Team at the FAI Indoor World Meet 2019, video footage courtesy of FAI/Weembi Lille

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It is naturally impossible to compare two different competition draws with each other, even though there are sometimes at least similarities. However, it is possible to interpret results of different draws and compare them indirectly somehow. The application of two identical draws still creates at least an almost totally realistic leaderboard.

There are still relevant differences, which are mostly related to the judging panels and procedures at the different event sites, while the scores on the combined leaderboards, in combination with available videos, create a realistic picture for the participating teams and the audience.

The combined leaderboard of the 4-way meets in the Czech Republic and in Finland provide a preview before Purple Maze and HF Flying Circus will meet each other live at Slovakia's Hurricane Factory. The same lineup of the Czech national team in 4-way Open had outscored Finland's Pro Team, with Emilia Sormunen and Eija Suvala in the lineup, by one single point at the previous indoor world championship in 2019.

Purple Maze and HF Flying Circus don't seem to be far away from each other at this point in time. Finland and Czech Republic could be close to each other again on the 4-way Open Class leaderboard. The HF Cubs did not have the opportunity to compare their scores with a 4-way Women team from Finland, even though there are three female competitors in the Finnish lineup...