posted Apr 28th, 2004 - Last week brought great news for the active NSL 4-way fans. In short words: the NSL SkyVenture Competition is back on for the 2004 season. It took a little bit longer to put the whole 2004 game plan in place since Perris SkyVenture joined SkyVenture Orlando to make the NSL SkyVenture Competition even more attractive and convenient for the winners. Both SkyVenture operations in Perris, California, and Orlando, Florida, agreed to work together with the NSL headquarters and offer the same prizes as in the past two years.Trevor Thompson of SkyVenture Orlando and Melanie Conatser, owner of Perris Valley Skydiving, worked out the details together with the NSL headquarters. SkyVenture Orlando and the NSL have already enjoyed a very productive relationship ever since the wind tunnel in Orlando opened in 1998. Conatser has been a host for NSL events ever since the Southwest Skydiving League joined the league's network. She has also liked the league system from the very beginning and has always encouraged the NSL to continue the good work. Both NSL and the Perris owner were looking for ways to work closer together. The NSL SkyVenture Competition now offered a good opportunity.The advantage of both locations providing and sharing the most popular NSL SkyVenture Competition certificates is the fact that the winning teams can now choose the location that works better for any required traveling. SkyVenture Orlando provided all the prizes ever since the beginnings of the NSL SkyVenture Competition, and the winning teams had to travel to Orlando for their tunnel time. The cooperation between SkyVenture Orlando and Perris SkyVenture will make it much easier for many teams to use the tunnel certificates and free flying time.The NSL continues to administrate the popular game without changing the rules. After each meet weekend with synchronized competition draws, teams of participating NSL leagues have the chance to win the free tunnel time. SkyVenture provides prizes for the winners of the three competition classes (AAA - AA - A), 30 free tunnel minutes if five or more teams competed in the same class, 10 free minutes if less than five teams competed. The Rookie Class is not officially included in the game since the rules are not synchronized between all leagues. However, SkyVenture and NSL headquarters agreed to still reward the teams of the grass root level and sent out several certificates for participating Rookie Class teams in the past years.The NSL SkyVenture Competition has always applied the NSL Shugar/O'Connor handicap system to give all participating teams the chance to win prizes and will continue doing so. SkyVenture's mission is to reward the most improved teams, the NSL handicap system guarantees this purpose of the game. It is based on teams' previous scoring averages at NSL meets and rewards each most significant scoring progression. The meet averages of all teams are posted and updated at the NSL Rankings and used to process the NSL SkyVenture Competition results after each meet weekend. 99 SkyVenture certificates were given to 86 different teams throughout the 2003 season.The beginning of a new season makes it more difficult to determine the first winners. The teams do not have previous scores. Several different ways have been discussed and considered how to apply the handicap system at the first meets and how to make it fair enough. The NSL SkyVenture Competition uses the scores of the first three rounds of the meet to determine the average and then applies the handicap retroactively for the whole first meet. This system has worked well enough and is the same for all participating teams at the beginning of each season. A quick look at at the overview below shows that the winners come already from both ends of the field.Teams from other and new leagues in other countries were also included in the NSL Skyenture Competition for the first time last year. The European Skydiving League has shown enough consistency to convince SkyVenture of the need to include the international teams. SkyVenture agreed to provide the NSL with additional tunnel time prizes if a team from another country won the NSL SkyVenure Competition on a synchronized meet weekend. The NSL winner would still receive the certificate, while the international winner had the chance to use the additional free SkyVenture tunnel time, as well.The new agreement for the NSL SkyVenture Competition, including SkyVenture Orlando and Perris SkyVenture is now in place. It is time for the NSL headquarters to catch up with the results of the 2004 meets that have already been completed. The NSL is already looking back at five meet weekends this year. Below is a list of the winning teams of the first four meet weekends. The results of last weekend's competition are not complete yet and will be posted soon. The certificates will be mailed to teams and league directors as soon as they are available. Thanks to SkyVenture Orlando and Perris SkyVenture to continue the NSL SkyVenture Competition.