posted Mar 29th, 2006 - Round five of the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2006 has already replaced the previous round on the NSL-TV page and at the on-line scoreboards of the NSL website. However, all the earlier competition jumps can still be reviewed at the special NSL-TV page of the event.

In the race for the top of the leaderboard, the big question was how Sinapsi PD would be able to digest the significant defeat in round four. Would DeLand Fire now continue as the team performed last year and in rounds three and four? Would the Italian team become nervous after giving up the lead? The team members said in the NSL News interview that they prefer to be in the lead and feel the pressure from behind.

The Italian answer was strong and clear when Sinapsi PD delivered a great performance in round five, eliminated the 2-point deficit and now shared the top spot with DeLand Fire. The days when Sinapsi PD would miss the necessary confidence and become nervous seemed to be gone after the statement of round five.

The Italian score of round five was good enough to win the round before and after handicap. This shows how strong Sinapsi PD performed at the right time.

From here on, the Italian team gained even more confidence with each round that it defended the top spot. Sinapsi PD won each single round for the remainder of the meet.

However, the featured teams of round five both come from Denmark. Vibeke Birk and Torben Tiepemann had just completed a training camp of the Danish 4-way project in DeLand and were trying to form a team for the Shamrock Showdown. They succeeded literally in the last second on Saturday morning.

The 3-way line-up was complete Friday evening, and the search continued next morning. The team name changed from Last Minute to Last Second during the meet, due to the desperate recruiting efforts in the morning. Finally, John Peterson, Thiago Muradas and Richie Orford completed the line-up.

Thiago Muradas even served double duties when Optic Nerve member Marco Arrigo had to leave Saturday afternoon. He competed in the AA Class with Last Second and in the AAA/Open Class with Optic Nerve on Saturday afternoon and Sunday. Last Second took the first place in the AA/Intermediate Class competition with a 10.4 average after ten rounds.

The Danish Last Second members were coached before the meet by members of the Danish national 4-way team, the Danez. The NSL News story on September 29, 2005, was the last update of the Danish 4-way project. The headline of the story said it all: "Did you know that the Danish pursuit of world meet medals has been put on a hold?"

The Danish national team had great plans and high goals before team member Mikael Toft explained to the NSL News in September 2005 that the support by the government had been discontinued:

"Team Denmark has discontinued the support for our Danish Parachuting Association, and also for 15 other small sports associations, such as rugby, volleyball, etc.) It was a political decision made this year. We still continue the projekt with a reduced budget, and we hope to find funding again in the future. Then our association can start a new serious 4-way projekt."

The Danez kept their promise and continued with the team training and the Danish team building project. It was very impressive to see at the FSL Shamrock Showdown how efficiently and successfully the Danez have used their limited resources to move on.

In fact, the Danish performance in DeLand has set new standards for the small Scandinavian country. The 19.1 meet average, as well as the 35-pointer in round four, are both new inofficial record results for Denmark. The Danez have been facing a similar situation as the Norwegian team Arcteryx, which has always been compared with the success of the DeLand Norgies. The NSL News story on March 25 provided the Norwegian story and shows that Arcteryx seems to be on the way to write a new chapter of Norwegian history.

Denmark had a very successful 4-way team between 1993 and 1995. Team "Touche" won bronze medals at the World Meets in Eloy 1993 and Gap 1995 with 16.9 and 17.9 meet averages. There was a big hole in Denmark when this team retired, and the next Danish national team finished in 24th position two years later.

The Danez had planned to fill the hole and bring Denmark back to the top of the international leaderboard. The team was obviously stopped with the bad news of September 2005. However, the scores of the Shamrock Showdown provide the evidence that the team has the potential to do what was originally planned.

The Danez will not be able to win medals at this year's World Meet in Germany where the expected medal average will probably begin at the 21.0 level. The team has still gained a lot of respect with the performance at the Shamrock Showdown and will be in the race for the "amateur title" at the World Meet. Maybe the Danish association will even review the situation after this strong performance and make new plans for the upcoming years.