posted Jun 21st, 2011 - The Northern Plains Skydiving League had a change of leadership this year. Sandy Grillet, father of Arizona Airspeed's alternate Nick Grillet, launched the league from scratch in 2001 and has guided it like a godfather for ten years. He helped to ceate a strong following of passionate and casual 4-way competitors in the Northern Plains area and participated himself actively all the time.

It was somehow shocking for the NSL headquarters when he said that he would not be able to continue with his efforts this year. He left NPSL Director shoes of a very large size, and it was unclear who would be able to step in and fill the slot. The NPSL community was willing to help and support the successor, but nobody signed up for the job for a while.

Then Mike Betz, a new skydiver and young competitor, contacted the NSL and offered his help. He had only a total of 42 jumps in January 2011 and was actually asking for information how to put a Rookie Class team together. The conversation soon turned into discussing the situation of the NPSL this year, and Mike Betz eventually took Sandy Grillet's NPSL ball and ran with it. The NPSL community and Sandy Grillet helped him to collect as much information as possible, and result was a very successful season opener with nine teams last weekend. Mike Betz also provided the first meet report this year.

NPSL 2011 - June Meet

Our first NPSL meet of 2011 is in the books. Brianne Thompson, our VIP coach for the weekend, got in on Friday evening and started coaching right away by helping teams dirtdive for the morning. Friday evening, Brianne also got her first exposure to cheese curds.

For those not from the upper Midwest, cheese curds happen when you take the most fattening part of dairy cream and deep fry it. Did you know that clinical research has proven that cheese curds are the number one reason there aren't more vegans...? Thank god for cheese curds. It still doesn't explain why they are so weird (vegans, not cheese curds)...

Some teams tried to start the meet at 6 AM on Saturday to get ahead of the tandem crowds, only to be foiled by a brief airplane issue, that one guy who slept in, and an ensuing rain hold. Who knew you could hold a wing on a plane with duct tape?! Storms were all around the area, but we stuck it out and all but one team were able to complete four rounds before the beer light came on.

Finishing four rounds took a lot of patience and effort for the competitors and the awesome crew at manifest. Brianne spread her smile, humor, and expertise and did a great job helping teams dirtdive in time to pack and make their loads or debriefing during the rain delays. We wrapped up jumping after 7 PM, and lets just say there were a lot of wet canopies that had to dry out on the packing floor after the final load.

Although some teams could have started Round 5, the general consensus was that it was too wet and most teams were awfully tired after such a long and humid day. Being in Wisconsin, there was some serious drinking to be done, and we could only let skydiving get in the way for so long. Naturally, several hours into the party it was time to bring out skateboards, unicycles, explosives, bowling balls and other things that seem safe when your blood alcohol content exceeds the dollar equivalent of a Swiss Franc (.82). The less daring settled for drinking shots and bicycling in the lightning storm.

Also on Saturday, during a weather hold, our Regional USPA Director, Merriah Eakins, recognized John Goswitz for 35 years of service to the USPA, as well as 1,000-jump wings and freefall badges to Kim Rehm, Kevin Burkart, and John Kretzchmar.

NPSL 2011 - June Meet		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	20,14,K	M,4,D,F	Q,18,G,2	B,1,5	Total	Avg
1	Four Shizzle	8	13	6	9	36	9.0
2	Gang Green	3	5	6	7	21	5.3
Rank	AA Class	20,14	M,4,D	Q,18,G	B,1,K	Total	Avg
1	HTH	9	12	11	11	43	10.8
2	Fourcast	7	14	10	11	42	10.5
3	Airborne Illness	6	10	4	9	29	7.3
4	Free Radicals	3	5	7	4	19	4.8
5	D Bags	2	6	5	3	16	4.0
Rank	A Class	D,7	M,4	Q,G,C	B,H,J	Total	Avg
1	Wissota Baby Beavers	3	4	2	5	14	3.5
1	Random Blocks	1	4	4	5	14	3.5

The weather Sunday morning looked promising. Unfortunately, the clouds quickly rolled in and we started off the day with a several hour weather hold. Many competitors also started off the day with two aspirin, lots of fluids, a greasy breakfast, bloodshot eyes and a pounding headache. As the morning progressed, the clouds hung around, although I was pleasantly surprised that no casualties were reported from the previous evening's festivities.

After hanging around for a couple of hours Sunday morning, we decided to call the meet after Round 4, as it was unlikely that all teams would have been able to complete Round 5 before we had to shut down the meet and get our hard working coach to the airport. Many teams stuck around to fun jump or to jump the remaining blocks for training.

In the tightly contested AA Class, HTH, the only team that needed to finish Round 4 on Sunday, got a break in the weather and hung on to their 1-point lead after Round 3 by equaling Fourcast's 11-pointer in Round 4 to seal the win. The A Class was tightly contested as well and ended in a 14-14 tie between the Wissota Baby Beavers and TRandom Blocks, our only pickup team. Four Shizzle won the AAA Class with 36 points. No Rookie Class teams competed, however we continue to offer $50 off the registration fee for new teams jumping in their first Rookie Class meet.

What struck me the most about my first NPSL meet was a new appreciation for how easy Airspeed makes it all look in the tunnel. Even more impressive was the sportsmanship, camaraderie and eagerness to learn. Most amazing though was realizing how much patience it requires to work in manifest. Finally, I'm sure my inexperience shows when I exclaim that even senior citizens don't talk about the weather as much as skydivers during a weather hold. I now believe that most skydivers were meteorologists in their past life. Too bad the majority of those past lives ended prematurely from exposure to the elements or drowning in a slow moving flood.

I can't thank the staff at Skydive Twin Cities enough for the great job they did as hosts. I would also like to mention that just about every videographer took videos for multiple teams. Some teams didn't have a video person at all and some, like mine, didn't have one for part of the meet. It was so nice of them, given that it was very humid and miserable out there.

We have a change of venue for our 2nd meet, which will now be held at Westside Skydivers in Winsted, MN, who are also hosting our third meet. Big ups to Westside for their flexibility. With this change, all remaining NSPL meets in 2011 will be using a Cessna Caravan. I for one, am looking forward to our next meet on July 16-17, with Hannah Betts making another visit to Minnesota as our VIP coach.