posted Dec 8th, 2004 - Last not least, it is time to cover the AAA Class competition of the NSL Championship 2004. It is no breaking news that Arizona Blade is the new NSL Champion 2004 and continues the tradition of world class teams winning the annual NSL Championship (Genesis, PD Blue, Golden Knights, DeLand Majik). Blade missed the 20.0 mark by one single point, which was lost either by the 1-point video penalty in round three or the 2-point deduction for an infringement in round ten.

However, it was the new record average for the Southwest Skydiving League champion 2004 anyway, and it topped the team's incredible progression throughout the 2004 season (13.7 - 15.3 - 16.8 - 17.7 - 17.9 - 19.9) once again. With this record, Blade is one of the few teams that improved its meet average at every single meet of the 2004 season. Only four teams competed at six different meets, the 2004 meet record number. Two of these four teams, Arizona Blade and Carolina Ice, won gold medals at the NSL Championship 2004. Elsinore Equinox took the silver medal as the third team with six meets in the team books.

The Arizona Blade members are fully aware of the great value these meets had for the team's competition experience. Natasha Montgomery and Thomas Hughes explained this and more at an interview with the NSL News shortly after the November competition at Fantasy of Flight. This interview will be posted very soon.

Blade's scoring progression is all the more impressive since it becomes more difficult to increase the number of scoring points if the team is already on a high scoring level. Especially Blade's progression between the NSL Playoffs 2004 (17.9) in September and the NSL Championship 2004 in November (19.9) is more than remarkable. Blade also competed at the USPA Championship in October and added an 18.5 average to the team records, which still fits right into the team's progression chart.

Of course, there is a well defined plan behind the team's success, and the line-up includes a former 4-way world champion with Airspeed, Mark Kirkby (Center Inside), a former XL member, Thomas Hughes (Center Outside), and 4-way veteran Robert "Robob" Healy (Tail). However, the team's success still depended on Natasha Montgomery's ability to learn Blade's Point position quickly and keep up with her team mates. Montgomery had made her first skydive in November 2002 and had competed only once before she put Arizona Blade together for the 2004 season. Her 4-way experience was based on the 8.9 average at the USPA Championship 2003 with team "Taco Party". She had collected a total of 1,100 jumps when she won the NSL Championship 2004 two years after her first skydive.

At the NSL Championship 2004, Arizone Blade was fortunate enough that neither DeLand Majik nor the Golden Knights had signed up for this year's 4-way competition at Fantasy of Flight. There is no doubt that both teams could have taken the NSL Shugar Cup away from Blade. The two US top teams posted 21.1 and 19.9 to take the gold and silver medals at the USPA Championship 2004. Majik was eligible for NSL 2004 medals but tired and burned out after a most successful 2004 season, which included the gold medals at the World Championship 2004.

The Golden Knights had not attended any meets of the regular 2004 season at all and were not eligible for NSL 2004 medals. The second place at the USPA Championship 2004 was the first public appearance for the Army team. The 19.9 average was identical with Blade's 19.9 average at the NSL Championship. The new NSL Champion 2004 might have been able to give the Army team a better competition at SkyQuest after the October competition in Perris.

However, fact is that Arizona Blade won the NSL Championship 2004 and will proudly add the team name to the other world class teams on the NSL Shugar Cup. The NSL Nerws will follow up next with the interview and more meet stories of the AAA Class competition. The first round of the AAA Class can already be viewed on NSL-TV. Enjoy the show.