posted Jul 17th, 2011 - This weekend's overall leaderboard is already the largest one of the 2011 season, and it is far from being complete. The scores from Great Britain, France and the Netherlands alone combine for for a total of 52 teams. The UK teams are once again competing in all four categories and have the major share of team names on the overall leaderboard.

Vannes 2011		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	H,7,19	C,J,17,11	K,P,12,G	M,8,15	L,F,16,6	9,18,10	Total	Avg
1	Maubeuge NPC B1	18	17	18	15	19	13	100	16.7
2	Maubeuge NPC B2	18	14	16	15	16	13	92	15.3

However, the current leaderboard does not show the whole truth. The highest number of teams actually attended the Coupe de France competition in Vannes. 25 French teams are not listed since the French dive pool and rules for intermediate teams do not match with the competition classes of the international NSL Network. French national manager Jeremie Rollett said that he will try to synchronize his categories next year.

Aerokart 2011		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7	Round 8	Round 9	Round 10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	G,H,11,C	L,17,E,20	D,22,J,10	16,19,O	K,M,2,18	B,15,9	N,4,3	Q,P,8,12	5,F,A,6	14,7,21	Total	Avg
4	Maubeuge NPC B2	21	20	17	20	17	24	18	20	24	20	201	20.1
5	Maubeuge NPC B1	21	18	17	19	18	23	20	21	24	19	200	20.0

The scores from France were the first ones on this weekend's leaderboard, and they show a situation that the NSL News audience has seen two times at earlier meets this year. The two French national "B Teams" seem to be glued to each other, as they were at the Aerokart Indoor Championship 2011 and then at the World Challenge 2011.

Bedford 2011		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7	Round 8	Round 9	Round 10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	10,C,5	20,P,2	H,M,Q,K,A	L,J,16,12	E,7,15	O,11,22	14,B,17	6,13,9	4,3,21	1,G,8	Total	Avg
13	Maubeuge NPC B1	19	18	38	21	24	16	21	19	16	19	211	21.1
14	Maubeuge NPC B2	16	17	43	20	22	16	21	20	17	15	207	20.7

It is always worthwhile to keep an eye on the French farm teams. The French 4-way and 8-way world champions have been raised in those officially selected lineups for many years, and this system has been very successful by producing French world champion after world champion.

The current B-Team linups consist once again of very young competitors, as well in age as in time in the sport. The current French national teams will be together until the World Championship of Formation Skydiving in Dubai 2012. Then the national coaches will select the new lineups, and there are always a few open slots that go to the new generation of French competitors.

The national B1 team seems to move ahead of the B2 team. The 2011 season began with a 1-point advantage for the B2 team at the Aerokart Indoor Championship. The teams switched their positions in Bedford, and the B1 team now won the first outdoor competition by eight points. Both teams are registered for the World Cup 2011. By the way: Arnaud Mille, Julien Olek and Thomas Perrin-Gachadoat all competed in the French B-Teams at the World Cup 2009 in Prostejov and then won 8-way gold medals in Menzelinsk last year...