posted Dec 13th, 2023 - It was in 2005 when 4-way teams in Brazil joined the NSL Network with the Brazilian Skydiving League, which was extended with the Brazilian Tunnel League in 2018. The founders of both leagues, Andre Ferraz and Manoel Medeiros Damasceno were both active 4-way competitors, Andre Ferraz with the the country's new national champion team, CTR Optimum, Manoel Medeiros Damasceno with So Pressao.

Andre Ferraz has competed at numerous indoor and outdoor world championships for Brazil and with different CTR Optimum lineups ever since, and his former team mates have continued without him when he stepped back and changed direction.

Manoel Medeiros Damasceno is still training and competing with So Pressao at indoor meets since he started the indoor operation of iFLY Sao Paulo. So Pressao did not continue at the end of the 2005 outdoor season, and the team had an indoor comeback at the Brazilian Tunnel League in 2018.

So Pressao, with three original team members of 2005 (Frederico Augusto Cardoso Martin, Marconi Medeiros Marques de Oliveira, Manoel Medeiros Damasceno) competed at this year's national indoor championship and battled with Prime for the bronze medals. The Prime lineup included two former CTR Optimum members, Pedro Ushizima and George Narita. Pedro Ushizima was in the original Optimum lineup of 2005 and competed at two outdoor world championships with the team (2006, 2008). George Narita joined CTR Optimum in 2018 and competed for Brazil at indoor and outdoor world championships and world cups, as well.

Brazil Skydiving League April 2005		1	2	3	4	5	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	C,N,H,5	O,22,2	P,Q,B,K,7	G,E,14,M	F,20,9	Total	Avg
1	CTR Optimum	13	12	18	14	14	71	14.2
2	Só Pressão	10	10	17	12	14	63	12.6
3	X-Press	4	5	8	5	5	27	5.4
4	Agora Vai	4	6	2	4	4	20	4.0

The new direction of CTR Optimum founder Andre Ferraz is directly related to a new team with a similar name, Optimum NXT. He continues the Optimum 4-way project with a new generation of Brazilian 4-way competitors. The Optimum NXT lineup consists of four very young 4-way competitors who are aiming at the world's highest level of 4-way competition in the long term, together with their coach and mentor, Andre Ferraz.

The team members are between 14 and 18 years of age, and they are all following their parents dedication to Formation Skydiving competition. Andre Ferraz has his own stepson in the lineup, Luca Se Marques, who is the son of Juliana Se and Kallay Marques.

Juliana Se was a CTR Optimum member between 2018 and 2020, together with Andre Ferraz. She has now joined the UVASDM lineup for the 4-way Women category, and she guided UVASDM to a new record indoor average at her first meet with the team. UVASDM are also attending outdoor events and threatened the country's strongest 4-way Women team, Cometas, for the top spot last year, as the NSL News reported on 9 August 2022. Enrico (14) and Paolo (17) Ce are the sons of the skydiving parents Sandro and Cristiane Ce. Vitor Weiss (18) completes the Optimum NXT lineup. His brother Lucas Weiss is a member of the new Brazilian indoor and outdoor champions, Netunos, who created the shift of 4-way power in Brazil that the NSL News reported on December 8th. Their father Everton Weiss is also a skydiver and supports both teams. Vitor and Lucas Weiss may be direct opponents as soon as Optimum NXT enter the AAA Class world.

Brazil Indoor Nationals 2023		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	N,K,10,1		H,19,22		E,18,11		A,12,Q,G		D,B,M,P,J		C,F,O,17		7,14,15		4,21,5		Total	Avg
1	Netunos	20	-2	21		18	-3	27		44	-10	29	-6	17	-5	18	-1	194	24.3
2	XBR	19	-2	16	-3	20		21	-1	44	-4	31	-4	19	-4	21		191	23.9
3	Prime	20	-1	16	-3	18	-1	23		46	-1	26	-5	18	-2	19		186	23.3
4	SP Brazil	19		17		18		19	-1	45		29	-1	16	-1	17		180	22.5
5	UVASDM	18	-2	17		19		22	-1	38	-1	27	-2	17	-2	17		175	21.9
6	SDA	13	-2	14		12	-2	14		31	-3	19	-2	13	-4	13	-1	129	16.1
7	Plano B	12	-3	14	-3	13	-1	10	-5	30	-3	20	-4	11	-4	12	-2	122	15.3
Rank	AA Class	K,E,11		P,Q,C,L		18,2		G,J,7		D,9,M		H,F,O,13		A,21,N		B,14,15		Total	Avg
1	Mine Ours	20		29	-1	15		23		35		26		18		18	-1	184	23.0
2	Foo Flyers	15	-2	23	-2	12		23		32	-1	24		16	-2	16		161	20.1
3	VSS	10	-5	19	-5	10	-2	22	-3	28	-4	15	-4	17	-2	15	-2	136	17.0
4	Pe de Pano	13	-2	15	-3	9	-1	16	-3	22		10	-5	12	-2	11	-2	108	13.5
Rank	A Class	M,Q,N,F		M,O,7		M,E,G,C		M,J,A,P		M,L,15		M,D,H,K		M,14,9		M,B,1		Total	Avg
1	Optimum NXT	32	-2	28		28		32		20		30		21		21	-2	212	26.5
2	Co.BRA	23	-5	26		19	-2	27		12	-4	21	-3	16	-3	16	-2	160	20.0
3	UVASDM B	24	-2	21		22	-1	18	-3	14	-1	21	-2	15	-1	17		152	19.0

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So Pressao - UVASDM - Optimum NXT at the Brazilian Indoor Nationals, Video Footage Courtesy of iFLY Sao Paulo2023

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Coach and project manager Andre Ferraz is hoping that the young team will soon transition together from indoor to outdoor training and competition, just as the Czech Skywalkers Junior have successfully done. They are now the current Czech indoor and outdoor champions and will probably bring Czech 4-way competition soon to new levels. Brazil could be next in the creation of a new 4-way generation.

Optimum NXT member Vitor Weiss has already made the next step to outdoor training. Andre Ferraz is hoping that his team mates will soon follow. He has set a 6-year time frame for the current commitment, which allows a casual transition from the current indoor environment to the new one.

Andre Ferraz plans to grow the 4-way team project gradually and develop a healthy foundation that generates new 4-way competitors for all categories, which has been working very successfully in the Czech Republic.

Andre Ferraz will contribute his own experiences and knowledge to the young participating teams and competitors until they have reached the AAA Class level. That's when he plans to reach out to world class competitors and coaches as Niklas Hemlin and David Grauwels to finally guide the young Brazilian 4-way competitors to their own world class level.