posted Mar 10th, 2006 - The NSL News already provided international updates coming from the United Kingdom, France and Belgium this year. The latest information covers the situation of the national team of the Netherlands, Punky Fish, at the beginning of the World Meet 2006 season.

Punky Fish visited Florida for a winter training camp in February/March 2006, and the NSL News used the opportunity to meet with the team for an update. Punky Fish began as a player coach project, and the team founders Paul Hofstee and Bert Hajee have been around for several years. The team name used to stand for the standard of player coaching combinations.

Hofstee and Hajee created their two-on-two line-up years ago and moved their skills up to a very high level of 4-way competition. Using mostly American and Norwegian world class player coaches Punky Fish attended several meets of the Florida Skydiving League over the years and also competed at the NSL Championships at SkyQuest 2002 and 2004.

Hofstee and Hajee scaled back their efforts in 2004 to recover from financial investments into their player coach project. Then they teamed up at the same time with two of their former teammates of the national 8-way team in 2003, Dutch Flight. The Dutch line-up of Punky Fish posted a 16.6 meet average at the Tomscat Trophy in 2004 and showed already by then that it was the best 4-way in the Netherlands.

However, Punky Fish did not compete as the Dutch national team at the World Meet in Croatia 2004. Paul Hofstee and Bert Hajee had already made plans to attend SkyQuest 2004 in November and posted an 18.3 meet average after ten rounds with DeLand Majik's Gary Smith and Norway's Ole-Petter Hjelle.

Punky Fish concentrated the team's efforts in 2005 on training and competition with the original Dutch line-up, which consists of Alexander Egberink, Bert Hajee, Paul Hofstee, Donald Verveld, Johan Wieken and alternate Marc Hoornweg. Punky Fish 2005 competed at the Malevsky Cup and finished with a 16.4 average in Russia.

Alternate Marc Hoornweg, Dutch Delegate to the IPC and Advisor to the IPC Formation Skydiving Committee, had to fill in for the injured Alexander Egberink for the the eight rounds of the Dutch Nationals 2005. Marc Hoornweg is a Dutch veteran Formation Skydiving competitor who competed for many years with the Dutch 4-way and 8-way teams.

Punky Fish with Marc Hoornweg won the 4-way event with a 15.3 average and qualified as the national team for the next World Meet in Germany 2006. The same line-up with Hoornweg also represented the Netherlands at the European Skydiving League Championship 2005 in September and finished with a 14.6 average.

Alexander Egberink was fully recovered when Punky Fish visited in Florida last month. The team trains and competes with exactly the same line-up as in 2005, which keeps the same team members together for the 4th year, including the earlier Dutch 8-way and 4-way line-ups.

Punky Fish completed 89 jumps with this line-up in 2003 and added 90 jumps in 2004. The team plans that were put together last year included a total of 600 jumps until the World Meet in Germany 2006. Punky Fish completed 300 jumps last year and added 100 jumps at the winter camp in Florida, which put the team right on track.

DeLand Fire's Gary Smith has worked with Punky Fish in DeLand, and he will continue coaching the team in the Netherlands this summer. Punky Fish will travel to Florida for one more training camp in April before the summer season begins in the Netherlands. The team trains at Blue Side Up on the island of Texel. Gary Smith usually works there during the summer season, and DeLand Fire held one training camp on Texel last year.

There is not much serious competition for Punky Fish at home this year. One team that was supposed to become a challenger is still incomplete, and the national team of the Women's Class, Infinity, is currently the strongest team behind Punky Fish.

This situation makes Punky Fish look for tougher competition practice at international meets. The Tomscat Trophy on June 16 will probably bring teams from other European countries to the Netherlands before the Dutch Nationals 2006 will most likely confirm Punky Fish's national top position at the beginning of July.

The biggest challenge is the World Meet in Germany 2006, which is scheduled for the beginning of August. The Punky Fish members mentioned that the team's scoring level is currently around the 17-point average, and the 18-point average is the dream goal for the competition in Germany.

Punky Fish expects the national 4-way teams from Spain and Denmark to be the main contenders at this scoring level at the World Meet. The ESL Championship 2006 will conclude the 2006 season for Punky Fish. The delegation of the Netherlands has to defend the "Spirit", which is the trophy awarded to the most successful nation at the ESL Championship. Punky Fish is one of the strongest cards the Netherlands have to play in September this year.