posted Jan 18th, 2007 - The new year brings new competition and event schedules for the NSL affiliated leagues. The NSL News will publish updates with new information of each league whenever the planning phase has been completed.

The Georgia Skydiving League is one of the oldest leagues in the country and launched its first season in the summer of 1997, together with the Texas Skydiving League. Florida, Georgia and Texas then joined forces and formed the National Skydiving League in 1998.

The NSL website began to publish GSL information in 1998. A total of 12 teams attended at least one of the four GSL meets. Mr. Pink dominated the GSL competition by then and won the GSL Championship 1998 with an 8.3 season average. The Mr. Pink line-up of 1998 consisted of Glen Hauenstein, Robert Anderson, Jonathan Perl, Mark Thompson and Andrea Sourcey.

Mr. Pink represented the Georgia Skydiving League at the first NSL Championship in 1998 and competed with Convergence (Texas) and DeLand Genesis (Florida) for the first sets of NSL medals. All three teams were invited by SkyVenture Orlando and did not have to pay for any expenses, including travel and accommodation.

Mr. Pink members Robert Anderson and Glen Hauenstein helped Glenn Crews to launch the Georgia Skydiving League in 1997, who took care of the administration and management for the first two years. Glenn Crews and Robert Anderson retired at the end of the 1998 season, and the league management was continued by Glen Hauenstein and Danny Page in 1999. Mr. Pink was still the top scorer in Georgia.

Danny Page continued in 2000 and was assisted by Mr. Pink's videographer Randy Cooke. Team Nemesis, with Jamie Johnson, Kim Brandt, Doug Glover and Christopher Golden had taken the top position in the meantime. Randy Cooke took full responsibility of the GSL affairs in 2001 and handed the ball over to Doug Glover in 2002.

Doug Glover's team Nemesis continued to dominate the Georgia Skydiving League competition and also won the Advanced Class competition at the USPA Nationals 2002. Mr. Pink with GSL founder Glen Hauenstein added another season with a total of six meets, including the NSL Championship at SkyQuest 2003, and did not come back for the 2004 season.

Doug Glover and Kim Brandt got married and managed the GSL affairs together throughout the 2006 season. Kim Glover had competed with Synchronicity for the past years, and the Glovers became very busy running their own professional business operation. They began to look out for new GSL leadership.

The GSL participation had gone backwards in the past years, and it was time for fresh air and new energy. Doug Glover found a motivated and experienced competitor of the Georgia Skydiving League in Anthony Stone and began to work together with him in 2006. They also discussed the GSL management of the upcoming 2007 season, and Anthony Stone expressed his interest.

He received feedback and help from one of the 4-way and skydiving veterans in Georgia, Mike Gruwell, who runs the Chuting Star Rigging Loft and trained and competed with Mr. Pink between 2000 and 2003. His sister Jennifer was his Pink teammate by then who is now married with Glen Hauenstein. Anthony Stone will take the official position of the GSL Director and will be assisted by Mike Gruwell in the 4-way area.

Anthony Stone is a Sales Manager at SYSCO Food Services and made his first skydive in April 1979. He has a total number of 1,700 jumps, almost all of them in Formation Skydiving. He has already trained and competed with several GSL teams and competed at the USPA Nationals 2004 in 4-way and 8-way.

The new GSL Director likes to take action. He took his A, B, C, and D license test on the same day when he needed the USPA D-license to compete at the USPA Nationals. He was still classified as a student with over 1,000 jumps and had his own, very special reason for this: "My brother was a DZ Operator for several years, and my way to avoid being recruited as an instructor was not to have a license."

The GSL 2007 meets will include Canopy Piloting and VRW 4-way, as well. Each discipline will be prepared with a specific camp before the competition season begins in May.

Eric Deren and Mark Shimell will assist Anthony Stone in these disciplines and provide their expertise. The GSL management group has recently finalized the plans and the schedule for the 2007 season of the Georgia Skydiving League, which will include three meets at three different locations. The new GSL management has also scheduled three different training and skills camps prior to the competition season, as the complete schedule shows.

The dates of the meets will be added to the Calendar of Events for 2007 and the GSL homepage as soon as the transition of the NSL website into the new year has been completed. Anthony Stone and Mike Gruwell are hoping to bring back a lot of energy into the Georgia Skydiving League. The GSL 2007 plan promises a lot of fun and exciting events.