posted Jun 24th, 2011 - The new meet weekend is coming up, and teams will compete at five different locations if the weather cooperates everywhere. It is time to look one more time at last weekend's leaderboard and find out which team deserves the unofficial title of the "Team of the Weekend".

The teams that have moved up into the next higher competition class are often in the center of the NSL News attention. One of those teams is Murphy Mania from the Netherlands who competed at the Tomscat Trophy 2011 last weekend.

Murphy Mania actually moved up for the second time in three years. The Dutch team started with a 7.3 average in the Rookie Class at the July meet in 2008, came back in August (5.7) and then competed for the Dutch delegation (4.3) at the ESL Championship 2008. The three meets in 2008 were enough for Murphy Mania in the Rookie Class.

Tomscat Trophy 2010			Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Total	Avg
Rank	A Class		N,4	21,H	19,B	6,D	L,O,9	Total	Avg
1	Netherlands Meo	INT	9	9	9	10	12	49	9.8
2	Netherlands Murphy Mania	INT	10	7	10	10	10	47	9.4
3	Netherlands Air Elementals	INT	8	8	6	7	8	37	7.4
4	Netherlands The Capones	INT	6	6	8	5	6	31	6.2
5	Netherlands Pari-Passu	INT	7	6	6	6	5	30	6.0
6	Netherlands Never The Same	INT	8	6	5	2	5	26	5.2
7	Netherlands TNT	INT	5	4	3	3	4	19	3.8

Murphy Mania came back for two meets in the Netherlands next year in the A Class (6.7 - 8.3) but missed the two major events, the Dutch Nationals 2009 and the ESL Championship 2009. That would not happen again in 2010 where Murphy Mania made up for those two missed meet opportunities and attended four meets (9.4 - 10.2 - 9.2 - 12.3) including the two majors with a 1st place at the Dutch Nationals 2010 and a 2nd place at the ESL Championship 2010.

Then it was time to make the next step up into the AA Class competition of 2011. Murphy Mania still decided to leave the A Class competition of 2008 and 2009 with a very strong statement and won the the ISR Grand Prix 2010, an indoor competition in Roosendaal, with a 23.0 average after seven rounds with sequences of only random formations.

Dutch team Meo actually did the same moves from the Rookie Class in 2009 to the A Class in 2010 and now to the AA Class in 2011 within a 3-year period and was on the same leaderboard with Murphy Mania last weekend. In fact, Meo had outscored the Dutch A Class rival at the Tomscat Trophy last year by two points. Murphy Mania turned it around now and won by eleven points.

Murphy Mania, one of the two Dutch AA Class newcomers this year, was only outscored by Cool Runnings last weekend who are in their second year in the same competition class. However, Murphy Mania won two rounds and tied two more. Meo was very close to both teams in a few rounds, as well. The Tomscat Trophy results in the AA Class promise an exciting 2011 race in the Netherlands.

Cool Runnings and Murphy Mania both also gave the two AA Class teams from the Northern Plains Skydiving League, HTH and Fourcast, a great race for the top spots on the overall leaderboard. Fourcast was only one single point behind HTH when the weather stopped the NPSL season opener, and the Dutch teams were three/four points behind the overall AA Class winner after four rounds.

The AA Class teams had one opportunity to compare their own performances directly with the AAA Class scores. Round 6 had the same sequence for both categories (13-E-19) and both Dutch AA Class top teams managed to keep up with two of the four AAA Class teams at the Tomscat Trophy.

Tomscat Trophy 2011			Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7	Round 8	Total	Avg
Rank	AA Class		20,14	M,4,D	Q,18,G	B,1,K	F,2,15	13,E,19	L,8,7	22,21	Total	Avg
1	Netherlands Cool Runnings	INT	6	14	9	11	10	9	10	8	77	9.6
2	Netherlands Murphy Mania	INT	7	12	10	10	9	9	8	8	73	9.1
3	Netherlands Meo	INT	7	8	8	10	8	7	7	7	62	7.8
4	Netherlands Habanero	INT	5	9	8	8	9	6	8	6	59	7.4
5	Paniek Kan Altijd Nog	INT	6	10	5	7	7	6	7	7	55	6.9
6	Netherlands Forte	INT	5	9	8	6	7	6	6	5	52	6.5

Tomscat Trophy Director Mike Pennock reported that there was actually a very special official award, as well. Jos Arkes, Gerard Fidom and Arie Slob, all original members of the Tomscat 4-way team, were present at the award ceremony, spoke to the teams and competitors and presented the "Stimulation Prize", 30 minutes of flying time, sponsored by Indoor Skydive Roosendaal.

This award considers specific factors, such as how to get the most out of a small team budget, maintaining a positive atitude, coping with obstacles, team enthusiasm, continuity and endurance. A Class team Pari-Passu won this award. The team had to continue with an alternate after a team member got injured in Round 1. The team's videographer stepped in, and Pari-Passu still posted a new team record score with the 13-pointer in Round 4.

Pari-Passu was also tied in 1st place after Round 5. Then the team forfeited the score for Round 6 and accepted a zero to make all scores for Round 7 count. Pari-Passu had the right for a re-jump, which the weather situation did not allow to be done. The 30 minutes of free tunnel time will ease the pain for the zero.