posted Jul 16th, 2010 - The road to a set of medals at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2010 in Menzelinsk, Russia, goes through Italy, as well.

The NSL News has covered the situation of the Italian national team Sinapsi a few times this year. The coverage began with a comprehensive update on 1 February 2010. The NSL News followed up on 17 April 2010 when Iceland's erupting volcano Eyjafjallajökull interfered with a scheduled training camp.

Sinapsi has not competed with the complete lineup so far this year. The last scores were posted at the World Cup 2009 in Prostejov, Czech Republic. Sinapsi won the bronze medals at the World Meet 2006 in Germany and did not compete at the World Meet 2008 in France. UK correspondent Jo Hawley spoke with Sinapsi member Steve Hamilton three weeks before the start of the World Meet 2010.

September 3rd, 2009		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Round8	Round9	Round10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAAClass	8,19,A	7,L,12	10,14,9	22,N,J,G	C,6,5	D,O,4,Q	15,13,18	21,2,20	1,H,17	3,B,M,K	Total	Avg
1	Aerodyne Cypres Maubeuge	23	24	21	26	23	30	20	20	22	31	240	24.0
2	Belgium HayaBusa Defence	21	23	19	24	22	29	16	19	25	31	229	22.9
3	Italy Sinapsi	20	21	19	22	22	28	18	19	18	27	214	21.4
4	Russia Black Cat	21	21	19	25	20	26	17	14	21	28	212	21.2
5	Russia Skylight Barkli	18	21	19	23	22	26	18	13	21	29	210	21.0

The Road to Russia

With the World Meet just around the corner, many teams are cramming in some last minute jumping. We spoke to Steve Hamilton, member of the Italian 4-way team Sinapsi. The Italian national team is currently training in the Czech Republic. We discussed his hopes for the meet and what it's like being Italian.

Steve isn't new to the World Meets. Along with Sinapsi team mate Pete Allum, he has represented the United Kingdom at international level as part of the British national team Sebastian XL. The popular duo have been team mates since 2000 and work closely together coaching many international teams. Steve puts such good team harmony down to valuing each other:

"Respect and support are the most important things and an acceptance that, for the most part, we are trying our best even when we make the same mistakes several times."

The pair enjoy representing Italy, and Steve says he loves Italy for the "Good food, good wine, nice people and shiny sunglasses." Indeed it's representing Italy where Steve bagged his first top class medal at last year's World Cup and he would dearly like to add another to his collection. Steve admits that'll be a challenge this year, but is looking forward to the competition: "We'll focus on our own performance and just enjoy the jumps. Also, it will be my first trip to Russia. It's always an adventure to visit new places."

The Italian team have had their fair share of bad luck this year with the Icelandic volcano wiping out their main training camp in Deland. With busy diaries and international commitments, the team have only managed around 50% of their planned training for this year. By the World Meet they'll have only 150 team jumps under their belts and a mere six hours of tunnel, but they are still keen to push for a 23-point average in Russia.

Dealing with meet pressure is something Steve has learned a lot about during his years competing at the highest level. He admits that he used to get too caught up inside his own head during competitions. But with 17 years in the sport and over 11,000 jumps, he has now learned to shrug his shoulders and simply enjoy jumping with his buddies.

In fact, sharing special moments with his team makes up some of his most treasured memories from previous World Meets: "The cameraderie with my team mates, sharing the emotions with them is a great feeling." Although he also counts a naked snowball fight on a Spanish mountain as one of his favourite World Meet moments...

So what's next for Signore Hamiltoni? Steve is keen to try other sports once the World Meet is finished and UK and Italian Nationals are out of the way. "It will be my last World Meet, so I'm excited to try some new sports. I've got plans for skiing, speedriding and high-altitude mountaineering, so that should keep me occupied for a while."

In the meantime, the Italians won't be the only ones cheering on Steve in Russia. We might not need such shiny sunglasses in the UK, but we still have a soft spot for the old XL boys.