posted Sep 28th, 2011 - The September meet of the Florida Skydiving League was the second visit of the NSL News at Skydive Miami in Homestead this year. Pam Manos and Fred Whitsitt once again activated all of their 4way locals and put them together in three lineups.

One team was also visiting from Clewiston, a skydiving center north of the Everglades and on the southern shore of Lake Okeechobee. The Clewiston Collusion competed together with the Miami Dropins in the A Class competition.

The FSL used to host meets in this area years ago when Skydive America was running an operation in Pahokee. Skydive Clewiston may join the FSL Network next year, as Collusion members mentioned last weekend. Teiwaz member Ron Hill, a seasoned 4way and 8way competitor and coach calls Clewiston his home dropzone, and his wife Heather competed with Collusion in Homestead.

FSL 2011 - September		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	8,E,F,K	N,10,17	1,20,7	Q,9,3	2,15,G	C,D,18,6	Total	Avg
1	Teiwaz South	13	9	9	12	10	10	63	10.5
Rank	AA Class	8,E,F	N,K,7	1,20	Q,9,G	2,15	C,D,18	Total	Avg
1	Miami Dropouts	4	3	3	4	4	2	20	3.3
Rank	A Class	8,E	N,K,7	F,G,J	Q,9	2,O	C,D,6	Total	Avg
1	Clewiston Collusion	1	5	7	2	4	-	19	3.8
2	Miami Dropins	3	4	4	-	-	-	11	3.7

Teiwaz South and Miami Dropouts both moved up one category in their respective competition classes since their last meet in May. Teiwaz South had a change in the lineup. Phil Peggs was in the AA Class lineup in May since Tail Trevor Cedar had to work and was not available for the weekend training and competition.

He has moved to the DeLand area in the meantime to continue with his pursuit of a full time skydiving career. Now he went back south to Homestead and attend the competition with his player coach project, headed by Robert Chromy. Former Tenacity member Jane McGuire made the long trip from Ohio to South Florida once again and was rewarded with a black eye for this effort.

She made contact with Robert Chromy's leg during the vertical transition of Block 5 (Opal - Opal) in Round 9 on Sunday when Teiwaz South continued with the remaining rounds for training purposes. The collision was the last action for her, as the jump was at the end of the working time and the weather did not allow any more jumps before she had to travel back north.

All Teiwaz South members have studied and practiced the AAA Class dive pool since the last meet in May. The first competition in the AAA Class brought everything to the table that can be expected in a competition with the complete dive pool. Two of the first six rounds rounds had memory with slot switchers, one for the front piece (Round 4) and one for the rear piece (Round 2).

The video of the nine Teiwaz South jumps shows that the team mastererd the challenges well and finished with a 10.5 average after six rounds. Teiwaz South is probably the only Teiwaz lineup that actually has a training plan. The schedule for the whole 2011 season did not exactly materialize as originally planned. However, the goal of a 2-digit average was achieved anyway.

The Miami Dropouts did exactly the same this year. They had attended the FSL May meet in the A Class competition after competing at four meets of the 2010 season in the Rookie Class with a flexible lineup, guided by either Pam Manos or Bob Byrne.

The Dropouts then moved up into the AA Class last weekend to experiment with some of the eight additional new blocks in the dive pool. They were lucky in the first two rounds, where the competition draw had only A Class blocks in the sequences. The sequence of Round 3 made up for that, as two AA Class blocks (1,20) now challenged the Dropouts who have also been without a player coach this year.

Robert Chromy offered as much help with coaching as possible while he was jumping with Teiwaz South, and the Dropouts enjoyed testing the new maneuvers. Two more new blocks in Rounds 5 and 6 offered a good combination of four A Class blocks and four AA Class blocks for the Dropouts in the 6-round meet.