posted Sep 6th, 2005 - The AAA Class teams have been on a hold after the completion of round nine. Actually, all teams except the top five continued jumping to complete round ten but have not been judged yet. Plan is to send the top five back in the air at 3:00 pm and have a live judging on stage and in the middle of the crowd.

The live judging was introduced at the USPA Nationals 2003 in Lake Wales and created a lot of excitement and great atmosphere at the competition site. The race for the first place is obviously close enough to make round ten a final showdown.

The sequence for the last round (13 - 18 - J) offers the potential for a team to win ground or give it all up. Block 13 (Hammer - Hammer) is one of the faster blocks and still includes the potential for mistakes, especially communications errors. Block 18 is on the slower side for most of the teams, and missing the completion happens frequently.

The tactic for the round is an additional factor. DeLand Fire almost has no other option than going as fast as the team potential allows. The second place is pretty much secured and does not mean that much anyway. What will the Golden Knights decide to do?

The 2-point lead is not enough to feel completely safe. On the other hand, it is a pretty good cushion and head start. However, if the Army team decides to skydive on the safe side and slows down, then the door opens for DeLand Fire to catch up with a top performance.

The Golden Knights might also continue to skydive as hard as they can. This could be dangerous and shoot backwards at the wrong time. Some observers mentioned that the style of the Golden Knights looks like a constant walk on the edge. The Knights already lost two points to DeLand Fire in round eight. It was a jump where the Army team looked rough, while DeLand Fire did not take any chances.

The showdown at 3:00 pm will be exciting, no matter what, and the NSL News will try to deliver as much of the atmosphere as possible.

In the meantime, the AA Class competition continues and is almost at the end of round eight. Elsinore Equinox had a 3-point lead going into round eight and gave up two points to Arizona Divewerkz. Does that remind us of something? Yes, it is absolutely identical with the Golden Knights - DeLand Fire situation around round eight. It is also a 1-point race between the two west coast teams going into round nine.

The NSL News tried earlier to get Elsinore Equinox members on live camera during the meet. The team was not ready for the same distraction that might have cost Carolina Ice a point or two in the same situation. Equinox promised to talk to the NSL News after the end of the meet.

Carolina Ice has won back pieces of ground jump by jump after a slow middle part of the competition. Ice is back in third place and still in reach of the first place. Elsinore Alloy had a terrible round seven and fell hopelessly behind the medal rankings after holding the third place by then.

Cross Keys, one of the favorite teams in the AA Class, has lost a total of ten points to non-judgeable formations or maneuvers at this point. The team videographer had to cancel on the way to Perris, and the alternate camera flyer was obviously not experienced enough to keep especially the exits in frame. However, Cross Keys has made its way up from the bottom of the leaderboard after a 4-pointer in round two to the 4th place after eight rounds.