posted Jun 7th, 2023 - The Rookie Class actually won last weekend's competition on the combined leaderboard with a total of five teams. The comeback event of the Great Lakes Skydiving League took place at the same time when the British 4-way teams competed in Langar.

The NSL News had announced the comeback of one of the earliest NSL 4-way leagues in the United States with the story on January 16th, and Cleveland Skydiving Center became the host of the first competition this year.

Kaleidoscope won the Rookie Class competition for the United Kingdom Skydiving League, and the two U.S. teams placed behind in 2nd and 3rd place and ahead of the other two British teams in this category. The placings on the combined leaderboard are based on the three rounds that the U.S. teams completed despite the inconsistent weather conditions.

The British version of Kaleidoscope, which was launched at the British indoor Nationals 2022, posted the highscores for each of the six rounds that were completed in Langar. They followed up from jump planes at both UKSL meets this year and confirmed once again a very competitive performance level.

NSL Meet Weekend 3 June 2023			1	2	3	4	5	6	Total	Avg
Rank	Rookie		M,B,H	K,G,Q	J,O,F	E,A,C	N,P,D	L,K,J	Total	Avg
1	Kaleidoscope	UK	10	6	12	10	6	5	(28)	8.2
2	Aerohio Resurgence	US	8	4	7	-	-	-	(19)	6.3
3	NoRhth SEARs	US	8	3	4	-	-	-	(15)	5.0
4	Genesis	UK	5	1	5	2	4	2	(9)	3.2
5	The University of 4ORK	UK	1	0	2	2	0	1	(3)	1.0

Kaleidoscope had won the silver medals at their first competition, the national indoor championship in December last year. Only Wavey Wackers had placed 37 points ahead of them at the indoor competition, and they decided to step up into the A Class already for the outdoor events this year, as well.

Kaleidoscope continued in the Rookie Class after their first 4-way competition and have now turned into the top contender of the Rookie Class at the British outdoor championship in September. The 8+ average level that Kaleidoscope presented at both UKSL meets this year would have been enough to win the Rookie Class outdoor championship title in 2022.

The Hurricane team of the Royal Air Force won the Rookie Class competition at the British Outdoor Nationals 2022 with a 7.1 average, the same event where Children of the Corn finished in 4th place before coming back in the A Class at the indoor championship and now at the UKSL May meet.

The U.S. teams don't have the Rookie Class at the USPA Nationals, where the A Class is the entry level for new 4-way teams and competitors. AerOhio Resurgence and NoRhth SEARs still have two more meets of the Great Lakes Skydiving League this year, where they can enjoy more 4-way competition.

British Outdoor Nationals 2022		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		Total	Avg
Rank	Rookie	A,P,H		L,O,E		N,F,J		G,B,Q		K,M,C		D,Q,O		D,B,N		F,G,J		Total	Avg
1	RAF Hurricane	7		7		10		7		9		3		6		8		57	7.1
2	One Trick Ponies	5		6		7		7		7		7		6		8		53	6.6
3	Black Phoenix	8		4		4		7		6		7		1		8		45	5.6
4	Children of the Corn	4		7		9		8		5		7		4		0		44	5.5
5	Floating Points	5		4		6		4		0		3		3		4		29	3.6
6	Muppets	4		3		2		0		4		1		2		1		17	2.1

AerOhio Resurgence's player-coach Ed Ganley was glad that the three hosts of the Great Lakes Skydiving League are bringing back 4-way competition to the region: "I really enjoyed participating in the Great Lakes Skydiving League meet at the Cleveland Skydiving Center this weekend. The two local teams both scored at and above 5.0 average. At first glance that might not sound like much, however, consider that it was the 1st ever competition for six of the players. For some, it was their 1st jump at a different DZ."

Winds and scheduling issues limited the GLSL duel in the Rookie Class to just three rounds on Saturday. Steve Loufek, newest member of SDC Rhythm XP, was helping both teams with engineering and advice.

Ed Ganley was competing himself when the Great Lakes Skydiving League was launched in 2000, as the NSL News reported on January 16th. He continued with 4-way and 8-way training and competition when the league did not offer the regional events any longer.

He won a USPA bronze medal in the AA/Intermediate Class with Hands Free at the USPA Outdoor Nationals 2018 and still competes at national indoor and outdoor championships. His team AerOhio Resurgence will be back at GLSL meets this year.

USPA Nationals 2018		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		Total	Avg
Rank	Intermediate Class	15,7		A,E,Q,M		11,9		1,22		J,P,F,8		2,20		13,O,K		B,D,6		4,G,14		21,N,19		C,L,H,18		Total	Avg
1	TSC Cadence	11		23		14		10		19		11		13		17		8	-3	12		-		138	13.8
G	SDC Rhevolution XP	13		22		11		11		15	-3	12		14		16	-1	12		11		-		137	13.7
2	SDMW X	10	-1	26		12	-1	9		20		11		11		13		11		9		-		132	13.2
3	Hands Free	11		22	-2	13		11		16		6	-3	9		13	-1	10	-1	11		14		122	12.2
4	Cali4nia Kids	11		21		9		10		15	-1	11		10		14		11		10		12	-2	122	12.2
5	Platinum XP	10		20		12		9		14	-1	9	-1	10		15		10		10		-		119	11.9
6	The Mostly Asians	9	-1	17	-1	12		9		13		10		10		15		10		9		-		114	11.4
7	Carolina Ice XP	9		18		12		8	-1	13		9		9		15		9		11		-		113	11.3
8	Spaceland Toxic	9		19		9		8	-1	14		10		7	-2	13		8	-1	9		-		106	10.6
9	TSC Off Cadence	9		14		10		9		13		10		7	-2	10	-1	7	-1	8		-		97	9.7

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Hands Free - Cali4nia Kids at the USPA Nationals 2018, video footage courtesy of USPA/Omniskore

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