posted Oct 3rd, 2004 - USPA's Advanced Class uses the same dive pool as the Open Class. However, the class has its own set of medals and rules, which are supposed to make clear which teams and competitors are eligible for the Advanced Class. There are several different opinions in the 4-way community whether former medal winners of the Advanced Class and "player coaches" should be allowed to compete in this class or not.

The USPA definition for the team composition in this class and in the Intermediate Class is as follows: "No team in the Advanced or Intermediate 4-Way Formation Skydiving classes may be composed of more than one quarter of members who have previously won a gold medal in that class or a higher class at a previous U.S. National Skydiving Championships or in the same event at an FAI First Category Event, provided that the videographer will not be considered when applying this rule."

The discussion about the definition of this class will surely continue through this year's USPA Championship, and clarification will hopefully follow soon. USPA's Competition Committee and other members and directors currently collect feedback from teams and competitors for a different definition to come soon.

However, the Advanced Class competition will also begin on Monday, and some of the Open Class teams in the lower rankings will keep their eyes on the scores of the leading teams in the Advanced Class, while the top teams of the Advanced Class will compare their scores with some of the Open Class teams' results. This will be easy since the sequences are exactly the same.

The athletic side of the Advanced Class competition should offer great races for the extra set of medals. Elsinore GT, Elsinore Satori and Elsinore Adrenaline alone might make the Advanced Class competition a separate affair of the teams, which have made the skydiving center around the corner their home. GT has the highest season average of 13.3 after three meets of the Southwest Skydiving League (12.2 - 14.3 - 13.5) going into the race on Monday. Adrenaline (12.3) attended three SSL meets, as well (11.7 - 14.2 - 11.0), and is not far behind. Satori attended four SSL meets (10.3 - 11.5 - 12.7 - 12.1) for a 12.1 season average.

Inviscid of the Georgia Skydiving League comes from a 12.1 season average after five previous meets (11.5 - 10.3 - 10.8 - 13.5 - 11.3) and has the potential to challenge the teams from Elsinore. Down to Earth of the MidAtlantic Skydiving League has attended two meets of the regular NSL season (11.4 - 12.7) for a 12.1 season average. The Perris home team Exceed also has a 12.1 season average in the records after two SSL meets (11.5 - 12.7). Perris Jamba with former PD Blue member and SSL Director Pamela Stevens is ready for a new season-high average after three SSL meets (12.2 - 11.5 - 11.8) and an 11.8 season average.