posted Jan 12th, 2006 - Several NSL News stories in 2005 already provided updates of the top teams and their plans for the 2006 season. However, there are also many other teams that may not necessarily go after and past the 20.0 average in the AAA Class. In fact, the majority of the teams competing at 4-way league events set different goals than medals and world class averages.

The NSL News always encourages teams and competitors to provide enough information that can make a whole NSL News story in itself. The winter break is the right time to prepare for the new season and to put this kind of information together for the news department of the NSL.

One of the teams that continue into the 2006 season is Arizona Divewerkz. The team from Skydive Arizona was one of the busiest teams of the 2005 season and attended five meets (9.5 - 12.2 - 10.8 - 12.2 - 12.2) of the Southwest Skydiving League in the AA Class. AZDW then competed at the USPA Nationals 2006 and won the bronze medals in the Intermediate Class with a 12.6 meet average after an exciting race with Carolina Ice and Elsinore Equinox, which left the Arizona team one point behind the second place.

Arizona Divewerkz with Murel Addison (Outside Center), Blane Boynton (Point), Paul Gatling (Tail), Annaliese Peterson (Inside Center) and Kelly Green (Video) in the 2005 line-up also won the SSL 2005 Grand Prize, which was the sponsorship for SkyQuest 2005 and the NSL Championship at Fantasy of Flight.

Unfortunately, AZDW was not able to make the trip, as team member Murel Addison explained in November 2005: "Arizona Divewerkz is not making the trip to Florida. We have made two roster changes since the USPA Nationals, and we decided not to compete. We simply did not feel that we had adequate time to prepare a new team member, and obviously our video was a big issue as well. We regret not being able to participate in SkyQuest, but did not want to compete with an ill-prepared lineup."

The Air Force team Prodigy won the NSL Championship at SkyQuest 2005, and Arizona Divewerkz missed a great opportunity to win the NSL trophy, gold medals, cash and prizes. The winning team of the Colorado Skydiving League finished with an 11.8 average and would have been challenged much harder by the Southwest Skydiving League team.

However, Arizona Divewerkz was far from the end of the team's career, and Murel Addison indicated already in November what the team was planning for the 2006 season: "Right now, we are negotiating with a recently retired Airspeed member for a possible player/coach roster. As I stated in previous e-mails, Divewerkz will be competing next year in the SSL/NSL league meets."

AZDW's Murel Addison now followed up with the official team information for the 2005 season. The retired Airspeed member is Neal Houston, and he will take the position of the team's coach and alternate. The complete line-up consists of Blane Boynton (Point), Murel Addison (Outside Center), Annie Peterson (Inside Center), Cindy Nieves (Tail) and Gordon Lindsay (Video).

Team speaker Murel Addison confirmed that Arizona Divewerkz 2006 will compete in the AAA Class during the NSL/SSL season and go after USPA medals in the Advanced Class at the USPA Nationals 2006 on home turf in Eloy.

One reason why AZDW missed SkyQuest 2005 was Annie Peterson's injury. The team's engine in the center inside position had surgery on her shoulder in early December. She still had to get a pin and four screws removed. However, Murel Addison reported that "the surgery was very minor and that she will be back in time for our camp in late January".

Arizona Divewerkz has a new videographer, as well. Gordon Lindsay, formerly of Arizona Directe, has taken Kelly Green's position on camera. "Gordo" became available for the 2006 season, and AZDW did not hesitate to ask for his commitment to the team plans this year.

Divewerkz had several people trying out for the open tail slot. Murel Addison explains how his team selected the new member: "We didn't select the skydiver with the most jumps, but the one that we feel will best fill the slot. Cindy Nieves, formerly of the Air Force Academy teams and a past Collegiates champion, will join us this year at Tail."

Cindy Nieves is a relatively young competitor. Her profile at the AZDW website offers details of her skydiving career:

"Cindy Nieves is the newest addition to Arizona Divewerkz. Cindy has made a move from Inside Center to the Tail slot. Cindy Nieves began her jump career as a cadet at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA). She made her first jump in the Basic Freefall Course in 2002. Upon completing the program, she tried out for the USAFA Parachute Team "Wings of Blue" and was chosen from almost 200 cadets. While on the parachute team she was a member of the competition team. She competed in Style, Accuracy, and 4-way. Cindy’s first 4-way competition was at the 2003 US Collegiate Nationals with Air Force Ones. They finished 5th with an 8.4 average. The next competition for her Air Force team was supposed to be the USPA Nationals 2004, but due to military funding issues Air Force Ones was not able to compete. Cindy and her teammates were disappointed by the decision. They turned that disappointment to motivation and returned to training. Her second opportunity to compete 4-way came one year later at the Collegiate Nationals 2004. Cindy led her Air Force Ones team to a 1st place finish and a 12.1 average.

After graduating in June of 2005 from the USAFA, 2nd Lt. Cindy Nieves headed for her base assignment in Phoenix, AZ. Since Air Force Ones team members went separate ways with their military careers, she pursued accuracy and earned the opportunity to compete in the Malevsky Cup 2005 in Russia. After Russia, Cindy decided she still wanted to compete 4-way. In December 2005, she met up with Divewerkz at Skydive Arizona. Cindy and the three remaining members of Divewerkz made a few casual jumps over the weekend. The jumps went very well, and Cindy was offered a slot on the team. Cindy was asked to make the move from Inside Center to Tail, which she enthusiastically accepted.

Cindy Nieves joins Divewerkz with 730 skydives and 12 hours of SkyVenture tunnel time. She is currently living in Chandler, AZ, and works at Luke AFB as an Aircraft Maintenance Officer."

After considering the option of a player coach team for the 2006 season, Arizona Divewerkz finally decided against this concept for now. Murel Addison explained why: "The team's training model has proven successful for AZDW. We are going to continue operating the team as we have for the past two seasons."

However, AZDW will get more coaching this year to work on the six new blocks of the AAA Class dive pool. Neal Houston will be the team's coach and alternate for the 2006 season. The former Airspeed member has currently been attending helicopter flight school training on a full-time schedule after leaving Airspeed in October 2005. He has already about 50 hours of flying time by now and enjoys every minute of it, as Murel Addison reports.

Arizona Divewerkz is sponsored by Skydive Arizona, SkyVenture Arizona, Square Two and Big Air Sportz and appreciates the much needed support for the pursuit of the team goals in 2006. The NSL News will follow up with information, and the first AZDW scores are expected to be posted at the SSL Valentine's Meet 2006 in February.