Skyleague

Did You Know...

... that there were some issues at the USPA Nationals 2006?

*Billy Andrews with his first team Shaft*

posted Nov 6th, 2006 - The NSL News covered the athletic part of the Formation Skydiving competition events at the USPA Nationals 2006 with several articles and updates. Correspondents at the competition site provided pieces of information, while the NSL News put these pieces together for the stories, as far as it was possible without being live on site.

The largest portion of the provided information was related to the actual competition. However, there was also feedback that explained and commented other areas of the event at Skydive Arizona in Eloy. This feedback was not all on the positive side, and a current discussion at the Dropzone.com forum offers insights provided by participants of this year's event.

There were several complaints, and one of the US top competitors even wrote a message to USPA explaining his negative experience: "Everyone who attended this year's Nationals is aware of how poorly it was run. Not too surprisingly, the USPA prefers not to present discussion of this in a public forum. I submitted the following for the Letters section, and the USPA politely declined to publish it."

Billy Andrews is a former member of Team Fastrax. He left the team after the 2005 season and trained and competed this year on a casual agenda with FiaZco from Skydive City in Zephyrhills. His team finished in Eloy in 7th place of the AAA/Open Class competition with a 17.6 average. He was also the alternate for the Golden Nuggets in 8-way, won a 10-way gold medal with Perris 10 and a bronze medal in 16-way with Perris Four Squared.

The copy of his letter to USPA explains the issues that teams and competitors had with the way the USPA Nationals 2006 were run in Eloy. Billy Andrews posted his letter at the discussion forum when USPA declined to publish it. His letter initiated a productive discussion at the Dropzone.com forum.

My first USPA Nationals as an intermediate jumper years ago was a life-changing experience, and one of the top few highlights was standing on the podium with my team before hundreds of peers to receive our medals for all the hard work we'd done over the year and at the meet. At that moment, I knew I'd always come back.

This year's competitors had no such moment to take home with them. This year's meet management decided that award ceremonies after 4-way and 8-way were un important, and that anyone who wanted to receive the medals they'd earned had to spend an entire week's vacation waiting around for the closing ceremonies. This is an outrageous travesty, and the worst, though only one, of many unnecessary, poor decisions made by this year's organizers.

Next on the list was thedecision to put out four 4-way teams per pass instead of two. The meet director told us this was necessary in order to complete the meet on time. I fail to understand how this can be, since every Nationals since the hurricane-plagued 1999 meet has completed 4-way on time, including the last meet in Arizona, with the same number of planes, doing two teams per pass. This is especially curious given that this year's meet had by far the fewest 4-way teams in recent history. Due to this decision, the first and fourth teams of each load had poor spots for almost every round, saddling them with an unfair distraction that created an uneven playing field. Furthermore, it was a serious safety issue.

Next came the question of money, and what the competitors got for what they paid. We don't need the spectacular opening ceremonies that Perris put on, or the frequent, sumptuous banquets provided at Perris and Lake Wales, but how do you justify charging a full hundred dollars more per person than at the prior meets, without providing any benefits other than a beer truck and a closing banquet which the meet management knew full well would be missing many of the 4-way jumpers?

On the up side, the speed with which the judges posted scores during 4-way was truly impressive. Hats off to the judges' accomplishment, and thanks as always, guys, for your under-appreciated, long, hard hours at the buttons.

In the end, though, Nationals is about recognizing the hard work and performance of the people who pay for it all. I understand a drop zone is a business, and if the business has to charge more and deliver less to make the event feasible, that's their call in the end (and will hopefully be remembered next time they bid). But holding awards ceremonies would have cost the drop zone nothing, and the meet management's refusal to do so is inexcusable.

Billy Andrews
A-29342

*Larry Hill and USPA officials at a meeting with Alan Metni and NSL in Eloy 2001*

USPA did not publish Billy Andrews' letter. However, there was a response from Larry Hill with a quote posted by Betsy Barnhouse who works at Skydive Arizona. Larry Hill is the owner of Skydive Arizona, he is also a National Director for USPA, and he recently bought all missing Omniskore shares from Ted and Tim Wagner. He took full responsibility for the schedule and did not admit the problems Billy Andrews pointed out:

"I set the schedule and I am willing to take the heat for it. It is the way that I wanted the meet to run. There's two side to every position and I have received as many for the way the medals were presented as the other side. I have run Nationals both ways and I prefer the way I did it at this one."

The discussion is still in full swing, and it sounds as if some USPA members might take action on the issues to avoid similar disappointments at next year's USPA Nationals at Skydive Chicago. USPA is a membership organization, and the Regional and National Directors have to represent their constituents at the board meetings, while the comittees execute the decisions made by the Board of Directors.

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Did You Know... ... that there were some issues at the USPA Nationals 2006?

Did You Know...

... that there were some issues at the USPA Nationals 2006?