posted Mar 14th, 2006 - The upcoming weekend does not only feature the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2006. It is also the first time in NSL history that the Shamrock Showdown weekend in March is the season opener for two other leagues.

The Georgia Skydiving League and the Texas Skydiving League both have scheduled their first meet of the 2006 season for the March 18 - 19 weekend. The Georgia Skydiving League is running its "Roaming DZ Dublin Boogie", which includes the GSL 4-way competition, while Skydive Spaceland is hosting the season opener in Texas.

TSL Director Ryan Smith received several requests for more meets throughout the regular season and reacted to the demand in his last TSL newsletter: "More meets, more locations - you asked for it, and we delivered… By popular demand, we have added more meets this year. Last year we only had four 4-way meets, this year there are six 4-way meets and three 8-way meets scheduled. We will also be visiting more drop zones. In addition to Skydive Dallas and Skydive Spaceland, we will be hosted by Skydive Houston and Skydive San Marcos this year. We should have a great mix of competitors from all over the state."

The Texas Skydiving League held the first meet of the 2005 season in May. This year, the start of the competition season is obviously much earlier and coincides with the meets in Georgia and Florida. TSL competitors even traveled to Florida in March 2005 to enjoy an earlier meet. The "Glitter Pimps" with Joey Jones, Marianne Kramer, Alex Pincus and Jim Walker competed at the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2005 in DeLand.

TSL teams and competitors don't have to travel any longer for an early start, the Texas Skydiving League is ready to go. The TSL participation is once again very promising with 13 teams already registered for the 2006 season, four teams in the AAA/Open Class, seven teams in the AA/Intermediate Class and two teams in the Rookie Class.

Dallas Thunder is the only AAA/Open Class team coming back from the 2005 season. The line-up for the 2006 season consists of Ryan Smith, Ron Hill, Mike Inabinet and Dave Burton, according to the Dallas Thunder website. Dallas Morpheus is also registered for the AAA/Open Class competition. However, Morpheus stepped up into the higher class after one year of 4-way competition in the AA/Intermediate Class of the Texas Skydiving League 2005 season.

4Fun competed in the AA/Intermediate Class last year and has signed up for another year in the same competition class. Dallas Avalanche competed in the AA Class of the Texas Skydiving League 2005, as well, attended the Intermediate Class competition at the USPA Nationals 2005 for Skydive Spaceland and has moved back to Skydive Dallas for the 2006 season.

Team America, the first NSL Champion of the Rookie Class at SkyQuest 2005, announced already earlier that the team planned to step up into a higher competition class (check NSL News on February 9). Team America decided to skip the A Class and has signed up for the 16-block dive pool of the AA/Intermediate Class competition in Texas.

The TSL Rookie Class has become popular enough to continue with new teams in 2006. Air Junkies and Spaceland Calamity have already registered for the TSL 2006 season and will try to follow in Team America's successful path.

The upcoming meet weekend will already be the first multi-league competition of the 2006 season. Many new teams and scores will be added to the records of the NSL 2006 season after the SSL Valentine's Meet 2006, and the competition will be exciting in each competition class.