posted Jul 13th, 2006 - The 2006 season of the Dutch national soccer team was already over after the loss against Portugal on June 25. The 2006 season of the Dutch national skydiving teams is far from over yet.

The second 4-way competition of the Dutch 4-way league was scheduled for last weekend, and the two national 4-way teams, Punky Fish and Infinity, will travel to Germany soon and represent the Netherlands at the FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving.

Irma van der Burg, Infinity member, put together a summary of last weekend's national championship and provided the content for the NSL News story. The results of the Dutch Nationals 2006 mirrored the Tomscat Trophy scores on June 17. The same three teams took the first three places in the AAA/Open Class at both events in the same order, and the same two teams copied this outcome in the A Class competition.

Punky Fish (17.0) and Pulse (11.4) went even a step further and scored exactly the same meet average after ten rounds at both events. Infinity was close to copy the same result (11.9 - 12.2) as well, however, the national team in the female category managed to score three points higher compared to the June meet. This average counts as the highest meet average for Infinity in the team's history and serves as a great motivation for the upcoming world meet.

The participation was lower compared to the Tomscat Trophy, and Irma van der Burg was not surprised: "When you compare this with the Tomscat Trophy three weeks ago, it is probably due to the fact that the meet was from Wednesday until Saturday, while the Tomscat Trophy requires only taking the Friday off from work."

Punky Fish has dominated the AAA Class competition in the Netherlands for several years. However, the team has never made as many jumps as in the last two years. The results of the team efforts were first seen at the Malevsky Cup 2005 where Punky Fish scored an internationally well respected 16.4 meet average.

Especially round nine last year in Russia caught the attention of the international audience. Punky Fish posted a 19-pointer for 1-H-N-16, and this score was only beaten by Fastrax (21) and DeLand Fire (22). This year, Punky Fish moved up to the 17.0 average level at the Tomscat Trophy and the Dutch Nationals last weekend, and team member Bert Hajee commented the recent performances:

"We knew the first part of the competition would be below average. Rounds 5,6 and 7 would be the rounds we would have to score higher - and we did. We lost some points in rounds 4 and 9 due to some block problems. Next week is the last week of our training before the World Meet. We are confident we can solve the small problems and perform at our peak levek in Germany."

Punky Fish has uploaded all of the team's meet jumps of last weekend's national championship to the internet, and the team's website provides access to these meet videos. Bert Hajee's comments can be followed by going through the whole competition jump by jump.

Irma van der Burg took a closer look at the slow draw of the AAA/Open class draw at the Dutch Nationals 2006 and missed any fast random sequence: "Instead there was an awful lot of slot switchers. Including the official training jump, there were six jumps with slots witchers. However, the teams coached by Gary Smith nowadays use more and more slot switchers for both pieces." Punky Fish and Infinity both train under his guidance at Blue Side Up on Texel and handled the slot switchers fine.

Infinity member Judith Muit provided additional comment: "We finally broke the border to the 12-average level even with a rather difficult draw and again some problems with an exit. We really enjoyed the competition with all the teams and with each other getting along so well. Even after a rather bad jump we can get ourselves together. Also due to good weather, it was a very nice meet and a good preparation for the world meet."

The A Class competition had a similar outcome as at the Tomscat Trophy. Mind Your Step won the national gold medals. The home dropzone of this newly formed team is Skydive Rotterdam. The team began the season with a training week in Empuriabrava in Spain and then went on to trainat the Paracentrum Texel. Team member Raymon Barbier commented for Mind Your Step:

"It was the first national competition for this team, and after the big surprise of winning the Tomscat Trophy, we were even more surprised to end up again as the number one team. We also posted the highest score in a single round with 19 points in round nine, and we had the highest average score in the A Class. Now we are going to join the finals of the European Skydiving League championship in September, and we are very much looking forward to this meet. We hope to jump as good as we did last weekend."

Team Whooops won the Rookie Class competition after attending both meets in the Netherlands this year. There were only two teams competing in this class, and the Dutch rules do not offer medals for such a situation. However, this did not bother the winning team. The Whooops members were happy with the improved 7.2 average and the 11-pointers in rounds 4 and 10.

A Dutch TV station brought the competition to public attention. Team Pulse's team videographer, Fonsz Kriegsman, provided some special footage for the production. His team member Raymon Barbier was looking out of the jump plane with greetings to his parents. The picture made fun of a Dutch TV commercial with someone looking out of a helicopter greeting his parents, as well.