posted Jul 24th, 2006 - The scoring updates of the NSL News have to go back in time by one week to cover last weekend's competition of the Deutsche Sky Liga (DSL) in Germany. Two DSL competitions were held simultaneously, and additional teams participated at the events in Kassel and Leutkirch.

The competitions were actually part of the meet weekend on July 22 - 23. However, the scores are posted on the leaderboard for the July 15 - 16 weekend. The reason for the step back in time is the fact that the teams in Germany used the competition draw of the July 15 - 16 event by accident.

The flaw did not catch anybody's attention until the scores were posted, the German teams took the draw as any other draw, and no harm was done. The scores of the German teams are now on the same leaderboard with the scores from France, Brazil, Florida, Northwest, MidAtlantic, Midwest and Mideast.

The two German top teams, national team EADS and FSC Remscheid, replaced the French national team in the female category on the very top of the AAA/Open Class leaderboard after an exciting 10-round competition in Kassel. The results of this horse race were a surprise for the German competition community.

EADS with Olaf Biedermann (Center Inside), Jens Goennemann (Center Outside), Goran Meyer (Tail), Thomas Spielvogel (Point) and Marc Ewert (Camera) has been dominating the German 4-way competition for many years. The team did not only maintain the top position, it also showed a consistent progression year after year, which made it very difficult for other teams to catch up.

The young challengers from FSC Remscheid, with Markus Bastuck, Dieter Schwarz, Dr. Jörn Thiele, Max Thiele and Alexander Hau (Camera), still did not accept this situation and did not get discouraged. They decided to take on the difficult task and made a plan how to go after the EADS veterans.

EADS was formed in 2000, won the German championship and qualified for the team's first World Meet in Spain 2001. The 14.7 average placed the team in 7th position in Spain. EADS competed at the World Cup in 2002 a year later and went up to a 17.1 average at the same location. The 17.2 average at the World Meet in France 2003 won the 8th place for Germany.

The next big step for EADS came at the World Meet 2004 in Croatia. The 18.3 average was the highest result for a German 4-way team in history, and it tied the best placement at a world meet ever since the introduction of the modernized dive pool. The 5th position placed EADS right behind the four top contenders for medals, USA, France, Russia and Italy.

EADS confirmed the same performance and scoring level a year later at the German Nationals 2005 and qualified once again for the World Meet 2006 on home turf with an 18.2 meet average after ten rounds. However, the situation in Germany had already changed by then. EADS had to work very hard in 2005 to defend the title. Where did this challenge come from?

Markus Bastuck, Dieter Schwarz, Dr. Jörn Thiele and Max Thiele had formed the FSC Remscheid line-up in 2002, two years later than EADS. The new team already won the silver medals at the German Nationals in 2003. However, the Remscheid scores were still far behind EADS' 17.2 average at the Mondial 2003.

It was not much different one year later. EADS peaked with 18.3 in Croatia 2004, while FSC Remscheid won the German DFV Cup 2004 with a 15.4 meet average. FSC Remscheid's 4-way team seemed to be too far behind to become a serious threat for the EADS veterans any time soon.

The young and ambitious Remscheid competitors did not give up and made big plans with coach Solly Williams for the 2005 season. The winter camp in DeLand was concluded with the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2005 where Remscheid surprisingly defeated EADS with a 16.2 average after ten rounds.

However, even the Remscheid members did not really count this success as a serious victory. EADS was tired after a late night arrival with hardly any sleep before taking on the ten rounds of the meet, all on one day. Remscheid's 16.2 average and a sharp performance were still a very encouraging start into the 2005 season.

It was no surprise that EADS climbed back up to the performance and scoring level of 2004 until the German Nationals in 2005. The surprise in the summer of 2005 was the fact that FSC Remscheid had lifted the scoring level from 16.2 in March to 18.0 in August. EADS still won the German Nationals 2005 by two points, but the convenient position of the unchallenged champion was history.

FSC Remscheid traveled to Arizona later the same year and proved at the World Cup 2005 in Eloy that the 18.0 average was not only a one-time shot. The first international competition for the young team was successful, as well, and FSC Remscheid finished with an 18.1 average in 7th position.

EADS knew that a serious German challenger had finally grown up and was ready to threaten the defending champions from here on at any time. Both teams made new plans for the 2006 season. EADS had to prepare for the World Meet 2006 on home turf, while FSC Remscheid just aimed at new and higher scoring levels.

Last weekend's DSL competition featured the first confrontation of the two German top contenders this year, and both teams benefitted from the new challenging situation by posting new record scores. New is also the fact that the rankings have changed for now. FSC Remscheid won last weekend's competition by two points (19.5 - 19.3) and has finally caught up with the defending champion.

The EADS veterans are experienced enough to deal with this challenge in a positive way. It will only encourage the team to work even harder. The new EADS record average of 19.5 shows the positive results of the new performance pressure at home and will help the team to remain competitive on the international level.

In fact, EADS and FSC Remscheid work even closer together and have made plans to compete together in 8-way this year. The 8-way line-up has recently made several training jumps. This will put pressure on Remscheid's 8-way line-up, the current national team. The result might be the same: a higher performance level for the German 8-way team, which has to defend the 4th place of 2004 against Italy very soon.