posted Apr 1st, 2024 - The comeback of the ICL Midwest team was great breaking news alone, while it had more of an impact, not only on the Indoor Cloud League and its February scores. In fact, the submitted AAA Class video has shaken the 4-way world as soon as it was published.

The ICL update explained that the ICL Midwest team now continues with CSC Constellation XP leadership. It included the fact that the Midwest team from the Chicagoland Skydiving Center was a AA/Intermediate Class team in 2023 and continues in the same category for another year until this year's USPA Nationals in September at Skydive Chicago.

The Internal February leaderboard of the ICL Midwest team is showing that two current (Natalie Rodriguez, Russ Bayuk) and one former (Anne Webster) CSC Constellation XP members were in the lineup that posted the ICL score for the Open Class sequence (AAA) with a slot-switching block and extra memory (J,21,D,10) for the front piece. Experienced 4-way competitor Paul Webster completed this AAA Class lineup. Block 10 (Diamond - Bunyip) is not a part of the AA/Intermediate Class dive pool, and the CSC Constellation XP members were neither familiar with the block technique nor do they have to practice it much for their 2024 goal in the same AA/Intermediate Class competition as last year.

Indoor Cloud League February 2024	AAA	AA	A	RRR	RR	R	Total
Teams - ICL Midwest	J,21,D,10	F,21,11	G,A,2	G,A,B	M,J,D	M,K	Total
Natalie Rodriguez, Anne Webster, Russ Bayuk, Paul Webster	15	-	-	-	-	-	15
Barb Terlap, Natalie Rodriguez, Anne Webster, Paul Webster	-	-	18	-	-	-	18
Carolyn Smith, Russ Bayuk, Josh Hitchcock, Chuck	-	-	-	15	18	-	33
Natalie Rodriguez, Abby Smat, Eric Sweet, Andy Boyd	-	-	-	-	-	20	20
ICL Midwest's Best of February	15	-	18	15	18	20	86

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ICL Midwest AAA Class lineup with the February sequence

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Participation in the Indoor Cloud League offers six 4-way categories, and teams can accumulate their monthly total by submitting their best video for each one. ICL Midwest did not have a proper video for the AA Class, while the CSC Constellation XP lineup took on the AAA Class sequence anyway.

4Action, who are organizing the events for the ICL team at iFLY Fort Lauderdale, have been in the same situation. They train the AA Class dive pool to compete in the USPA Intermediate Class later this year, and they performed the AAA Class sequences for January, February and March to collect the scores in two of the six categories for their ICL team.

The two AA/Intermediate Class teams applied different techniques for Block 10, which is not quite in their team repertoire yet. 4Action used the traditional technique for the completion of Block 10 that 99% of the teams are using, including the best 4-way teams in the world. However, CSC Constellation XP found their own creative technique, which caught instantly the attention of the Indoor Cloud League judge in the NSL headquarters.

Indoor Cloud League February 2024			AAA		AA		A		RRR		RR		R		Total
Rank	Teams		J,21,D,10		F,21,11		G,A,2		G,A,B		M,J,D		M,K		Total
1	Hurricane Factory	CZ	23		22		15		23		20		20		123
2	iFLY Fort Lauderdale	US	11		16		15		21		21		19	-4	103
3	ICL Midwest	US	15		-		18		15		18		20		86

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Arizona Airspeed - Aethers - Golden Knights in Round 6 at the Shamrock Showdown

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The AAA Class video of the ICL Midwest was shared with some of the most experienced judges in the world (Jim Rees, InTime's Claire King and Dirk Venter), who had just completed their evaluation of the world-class performances at the Shamrock Showdown 2024, and they were just as surprised of the new technique as the ICL judge was.

None of the judges who saw the video first was familiar with the different technique, and the main question was whether or not this different technique would be eligible or seen as an infringement of the rules.

The answer for the specific situation at the completion of Block 10 (and similar situations) is not explained deliberately in the rules. Paragraph 3.3 of the FAI/ISC rules (Performance Requirements) is stating how a scoring point can be accomplished: "3.3.1 Each round consists of a sequence of formations depicted in the dive pools of the appropriate addendum, as determined by the draw." The key words are "depicted in the dive pools". The three expert judges said that FAI/ISC made an effort years ago to create very accurate graphics that are showing well enough in which way grips may be taken. The completion of Block 10 and the drawing of the Bunyip leave it open whether the necessary grips will be taken on a leg or an arm. CSC Constellation XP did it their own way, and they still received scoring points for the correctly completed blocks.