posted Dec 27th, 2006 - The last meet videos of the NSL Championship at SkyQuest 2006 was uploaded with the NSL News story on December 12. The videos of Round 3 have now been added and can be found at the 4-way page.

The same NSL News story included a link to the story of Optic Nerve's team history and mentioned that the Teiwaz history would be next on the NSL News agenda. Round 3 of the 4-way competition at SkyQuest 2006 is not the perfect situation for a Teiwaz story since a bad exit and an excellent Optic Nerve performance broke the tie to a 5-point advantage for Dr. Joel Shugar's team in just one jump.

However, the story of the Optic Nerve - Teiwaz duel over many years will be saved for a later time. The brief overview of the 7-year Teiwaz history will now be covered.

The team was founded in 1999 by Mary Inhoffer and Pamela Geoffrey, who had previously competed with Sebastian 4NB throughout the first season of the Florida Skydiving League and then won silver medals at USPA's Intermediate Class competition in 1997 with a 10.6 average. DeLand VNE member Kurt Gaebel, former member of German national 4-way and 8-way teams, was coaching the team in 1996 and 1997.

Sebastian 4NB continued in the Open Class competition in 1999, with Mary Inhoffer, Pamela Geoffrey, Kim Griffin and Lilac Hayes in the line-up, and finished in 13th position with an 11.5 average. Former 4NB coach Kurt Gaebel spent the same year with team Z-Spot in the Advanced Class.

Mary Inhoffer and Pamela Geoffrey decided to discontinue with all-female line-ups at the end of the 1999 season and asked Kurt Gaebel to join the new line-up as a player-coach, together with Mary Inhoffer's future husband, Mark Stose. Mary Inhoffer and Pamela Geoffrey gave the new team a new name - Teiwaz.

The weekend team began with the training in May 1999 and attended four meets of the Florida Skydiving League (11.8 - 12.5 - 11.8 - 13.0) before competing with South African competitor Robbie Spencer in Kurt Gaebel's slot as a guest team at the USPA Nationals 1999 (12.6). Kurt Gaebel had to complete his 2-year coaching commitment with Z-Spot in Sebastian 1999.

The same Teiwaz line-up trained and competed in 2000. Mary Inhoffer, Pamela Geoffrey, Mark Stose and Kurt Gaebel attended seven meets of the Florida Skydiving League (12.2 - 11.7 - 11.8 - 12.0 - 12.3 - 12.6 - 12.0) before winning the Advanced Class gold medals at the USPA Nationals 2000 in Perris with a 13.2 average.

Teiwaz continued with the same line-up for another year and attended nine meets (14.5 - 13.3 - 11.7 - 16.4 - 13.8 - 12.8 - 12.7 - 14.4 - 13.1) in 2001, including the NSL Playoffs event at the Atlanta Skydiving Center in Georgia and the first NSL Championship at Fantasy of Flight.

The USPA Advanced Class winners of 2000 were not eligible for the same competition class any longer, and the team members did not feel home in the Open Class. In fact, the Teiwaz training efforts had been reduced in 2001, and the FSL duels with Optic Nerve were more fun and exciting than any additional training jumps.

The training efforts were reduced to next to nothing in 2002. The original Teiwaz line-up was not available any longer. Pamela Geoffrey was already pregnant at the NSL Championship 2001 and got married to a new member of the growing Teiwaz family, Jim Goempel. Jessica Goempel was born in 2002, and Pamela Geoffrey has not re-joined any Teiwaz line-up to date.

However, Teiwaz was never short of alternates and new members for the team. In fact, the very flexible line-up grew every year and currently shows 34 more or less active team members. Teiwaz turned into a fun project when the original line-up discontinued at the end of the 2001 season.

Some of the original Teiwaz members joined line-ups here and there for a few more years, while other competitors from other teams were always welcome to compete for Teiwaz at any of the FSL meets. Many familiar names have been added to the official Teiwaz line-up over the years, and the team has not missed any of the NSL Championship events yet.

The annual Teiwaz agenda currently consists almost exclusively of the monthly 4-way competitions only. The line-ups for each meet are being put together a few weeks before the next event by e-mail and phone calls. The slots may be assigned as late as on the morning of the competition and may even be switched during the meet day.

There seems to be a core line-up for each season, which forms at and after the first meets. The very casual commitment and the relaxed atmosphere at the events have motivated most of the Teiwaz members to come back for another meet day the following month. Other Teiwaz members attend only one meet and then continue with other teams or come back at later events.

The monthly NSL/FSL competitions have offered the opportunity for Teiwaz members to make some great 4-way jumps without committing to serious training efforts. Former active 4-way competitors and others on a break from heavier commitments have used the monthly Teiwaz opportunities to keep in touch with the 4-way community and simply have fun.

The core line-up of the 2006 season included Robert Chromy, Bob Byrne and his wife Kris, who also competed with the US national team of the female category, Elsinore Select, at the World Meet 2006 in Germany.

Kurt Gaebel is the only original Teiwaz member and keeps the team name alive. He still has hopes that all original Teiwaz members will come back one day. In the meantime, the Teiwaz door remains wide open and the line-ups very flexible.