posted Feb 15th, 2007 - The first 4-way competition of the 2007 season will put the NSL News services to the first serious test this year. The Valentine's Meet 2007 kicks off the new season this weekend, and feedback from Arizona indicates that it will be an exciting competition at Skydive Arizona in Eloy.

The three local teams, Airspeed Odyssey, AZ Directe and AZ Divewerkz, have been working on their team and coaching projects and expect new line-ups to join the 4-way community this year. The Valentine's Meet is also the season opener for the new Arizona Skydiving League, which will hopefully attract the old and new line-ups to all 2007 meets.

The NSL News records in the archives go back to the Valentine's Meet in 2004 where a total of 11 teams opened the new season on February 14. Airspeed, AZ Directe and AZ Divewerkz put their scores on the Eloy board three years ago. Airspeed, with John Eagle, Craig Girard, Andy Honigbaum, Neal Houston and Mike Inabinet in the line-up, won the 4-way competition with a 17.8 average and focused on 8-way and the World Meet 2004 in Croatia for the rest of the season.

AZ Directe (Gary Beyer, Becky Brocato, Kirk Campbell and Courtney Frasch) finished with a 13.7 average, tied with Arizona Blade. It was the first AAA Class competition for Natasha Montgomery who ended up winning the USPA Nationals 2005 and the 4-way gold medals with DeLand Fire at the World Meet in 2006. Arizona Blade attended six meets in 2004, beginning with the 13.7 average at the Valentine's Meet in February and finishing with a 19.9 average at the NSL Championship in November.

The Valentine's Meet 2004 was also the first 4-way competition for Arizona Divewerkz. Murel Addison (Outside Center), Blane Boynton (Point), Paul Gatling (Tail) and Annaliese Peterson (Inside Center) competed in the AA Class by then and finished the 6-round meet with a 3.3 average.

Murel Addison, Blane Boynton and Annaliese Peterson were still members of the original line-up when Arizona Divewerkz won the AAA/Advanced Class competition at the USPA Nationals 2006 with a 14.6 average after ten rounds. Cindy Nieves has been in the Tail slot since the beginning of the 2006 season, and AZDW 2007 continues with the same line-up as in 2006.

The fairy tale progression of the three original team members from the 3.3 average in February 2004 to the USPA gold medals with a 14.6 average in 2006 has created a solid foundation of 4-way experiences for the team. AZDW is now running a team project with a "Mentorship Program" that offers these experiences to interested skydivers who may want to follow a similar path.

The Golden Knights competed at the Valentine's Meet in 2004, as well, and took the second place behind Airspeed with a 15.5 average at the beginning of the season. John Hoover, Matt Davidson, Brooks Weiner, Brian Krause and Larry Miller ended up in second place at the USPA Nationals 2004, as well, with a 19.9 average. It was the beginning of a 2-year plan for this line-up. This year's Army team will kick off the 2007 season at the FSL Shamrock Showdown on March 17 in DeLand.

The Valentine's Meet 2005 saw the 2004 line-up of the Golden Kights already at the top position with a 20.2 average after the 6-round meet. The new Airspeed Odyssey line-up (Andy Delk, Craig Girard, Brian Johnson and Eliana Rodriguez) finished with a 19.5 average in second place.

The ranking order between these two teams was the same at the end of the season. The Golden Knights beat Airspeed Odyssey by seven points at the USPA Nationals 2005. DeLand Fire stopped the Golden Knights in a jump-off round in Perris and qualified as the US national team for the 2006 season.

Arizona Divewerkz still competed in the AA Class at the Valentine's Meet 2005 and posted a 9.5 meet average. The same line-up as in 2004 ended up with a set of bronze medals at the USPA Nationals 2005 and a 12.6 average in the AA/Intermediate Class competition.

Air Force Prodigy finished with an 8.8 average right behind AZDW in the AA Class competition of the Valentine's Meet 2005 and ended up with gold medals at the NSL Championship 2005 in November.

The 4-way competition at the Valentine's Meet 2006 launched the new season on the highest scoring level in the history of the event. Airspeed Odyssey (21.5), Airspeed Velocity (21.0) and Fastrax (20.2) posted meet averages above the 20.0 benchmark. Perris Fury and Arizona Divewerkz both began their 2006 trips to impressive performances at the USPA Nationals in February in Eloy.

Air Force CAD posted the team's first 2006 scores in the AA Class (9.5) in February and finished with silver medals at the USPA Nationals 2006 (13.1) and gold medals (13.0) at the NSL Championship 2006.

The Valentine's Meet has obviously been a good starting point for many teams in the past. However, not many international teams have used the opportunity of the Valentine's Meet while attending training camps in Eloy. In fact, there was no international participation since the Swiss national team Endeavour competed at the Valentine's Meet 2003.

This might be different on the upcoming weekend. AZSL Director Annie Peterson reported that guest teams from Russia, France and Italy indicated their interest in attending this year's first 4-way competition. The NSL News will follow up with more information of the international teams as soon as possible.