posted Nov 15th, 2011 - The NSL News mentioned a few days ago that the Norwegian national team in the female 4way category, Polaris, is currently training in DeLand and accepted an invitation for a new round of NSL Talk.

The complete team visited the NSL News office a day after Gudrun Rokne's birthday. It was also the day off after three days of intensive jumping, and the weather situation supported the Polaris scheduling. The Kaleidoscope Divers who came earlier for SkyQuest 2011 warmup jumps also have an unexpected day off so far.

Polaris won the bronze medals at the World Cup 2011 and continues with exactly the same lineup. Only head coach Steve Hamilton did not make the trip to DeLand, and substitute coach Gary Smith is working with the Norwegian team.

World Cup 2011		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	4way Women	C,22,19	E,M,1,2	12,9,16	O,8,10	Q,14,5	P,17,K,18	21,L,J,13	3,11,B	20,G,H,4	N,F,A,7	Total	Avg
1	Aerodyne DB Defenders	16	20	16	17	19	20	19	17	17 (-1)	28	189	18.9
2	Illusions	12 (-2)	21	17	14 (-3)	16 (-3)	16 (-3)	19	18	15 (-1)	19 (-7)	167	16.7
3	Polaris	13 (-2)	19	13 (-3)	15	15	17	17	13 (-2)	16	23 (-1)	161	16.1
4	Golden Knights	13 (-1)	16	14	15	14	14 (-1)	13 (-1)	15	15	24	153	15.3
5	Bodyflight Aerodyne	13 (-2)	18	12 (-1)	14	12 (-1)	16	12 (-1)	14	14	23 (-1)	148	14.8

Gary Smith has also been working with the German team ISB Air who had to take a year off after an injury. He reported that ISB Air is very close to a comeback with the new lineup that was formed at the end of the 2010 season and that the NSL News introduced during the preview of the Shamrock Showdown 2011. Polaris and ISB Air now have the Shamrock Showdown 2012 on the agenda for next year as they both missed th 2011 event.

Gary Smith guided ISB Air to the 4th place at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2011 with an 18.0 average, where Polaris finished in 5th place with a 15.9 average.

ISB Air then had a change in the lineup and had to sit out in 2011 after a very promising start into the new training and competition season, while Polaris moved on to win the bronze medals at the World Cup in Germany with a 16.1 average. Gary Smith will continue with ISB Air after this camp with Polaris, and Steve Hamilton will resume his work with the Norwegian team.

Polaris and ISB Air will both have to deal with the French national team, Aerodyne Deep Blue Defenders, and the new US national team, the female lineup of the TGolden Knights, when it comes to the medals in Dubai 2012. France has a change in the lineup, as well, that the NSL News will explain later, and the Golden Knights just impressed the female top contenders with a 17.4 average at the USPA Nationals 2011.

The Polaris members know the US team, as they defeated the Golden Knights by eight points (16.1 - 15.3) at the World Cup. They know how strong the Golden Knights are after following the progression on the NSL News. The Golden Knights average went from 15.3 in August to 16.3 a few weeks later in Carolina and then to 17.4 at the USPA Nationals.

However, Polaris has the goal to win medals again next year, and the team is very much aware of the hard work ahead after jumping the same competition draw in training. The Norwegian team provided the NSL News with a few videos of the jumps in DeLand and talked about the international competition on NSL-TV.