posted Mar 13th, 2007 - NSL-TV continues to move on quickly. It was the goal to complete the coverage of the Valentine's Meet 2007 before the start of the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2007, and NSL-TV is right on track so far. Round 7 was uploaded today, and there are three more days for three more rounds.

Processing and editing the footage has become easier and faster after the completion of the first six rounds. Only six of the 13 teams completed all ten rounds, which reduces the NSL-TV time and efforts by more than 50% between rounds seven and ten.

Perris Fury was the winner of Round 7, even though France Maubeuge tied the 19-pointer as the highscore for the round. It was once again encouraging for the underdog from Perris to beat Airspeed Odyssey for the second time in this meet in a clean round for both teams. Odyssey was stopped at the completion of Block 15 on the 3rd page with 18 points, while Perris Fury managed to complete the first Stardian of Block 6 within working time for the official score of 19 points.

France Maubeuge has a 19-pointer on the scoreboard, as well. In fact, the French national 4-way team completed 20 points within 35 seconds and lost one point. However, the official score of 19 points was a real gift by the judges, as the video of the jump shows.

It is very difficult to see the details of the whole first page, and the same video would most likely cause more damage at any international competition. The judges at the Valentine's Meet had probably sympathy with the young and new French team videogapher, Jean Baptiste Cugerone, who had already suffered the loss of five points in Round 2.

His team is in frame throughout the whole first page. However, there is so much distance to the action that the details can hardly be identified at all.

The actual performance of the team was clean and quick, including both the random work and the block techniques. Winning two points over Airspeed Odyssey in a sequence with three blocks is a major achievement.

Texas Havoc was one of the three other teams that continued on the second day of the meet and completed all ten rounds. 4-way veteran Scott Latinis is leading the new team through the 2007 season and provided some information. He was a member of team Thunder in 2005 and 2006 and competed with Joey Jones, Chad Smith, Kelly Fredrickson and Lou Massie at the Malevsky Cup 2006. Rob Herrick filmed the team in Russia.

Scott Latinis is a full team member, not a player coach in the Texas Havoc line-up. His over 20 years of team and competition experience provide him with a wealth of knowledge that he enjoys passing on to the other Havoc members. However, he sees his primary role on the team to do his job as a team member:

"I do whatever I can to help the team achieve its goals. We will train at Skydive Spaceland with some tunnel trips to Florida and Arizona. We will make approx. 200 training jumps, and get in about 3-4 hours of tunnel time. Along with the Skydive Arizona Money Meet, we will compete in some of the Texas Skydiving League meets."

Texas Havoc will compete in the AAA/Advanced Class competition at the USPA Nationals 2007, and the team hopes to qualify for and compete at the NSL Championship 2007, as well.

Diane Chamberlain (Point), Scott Elmer (Tail) and Brett Thomas (Video) remain from last season's Havoc line-up. Scott Latinis in the driver's seat and Joe Harris (Outside Center) joined for the 2007 season. Joe Harris was on the Dallas Thunder 8-way team in 2005 and competed with Dallas Tantrum in 2004. Scott Latinis and Joe Harris were teammates on the Deguello 8-way team that won the 2006 Texas Skydiving League 8-way competition.

Scott Latinis looks forward to a season of training not far from his home in Texas: "My teammates are all terrific people. I have been very fortunate to have been a member of some extraordinary teams with extraordinary people, and Spaceland Havoc continues my good fortune in that area. I look forward to a fun, challenging, and rewarding season."

He added that the Valentine's Meet was a great opportunity for the team to set the baseline for the season: "We had the opportunity to work out details of communication and logistics - both in travel and competition - early in the season. Although we would have preferred to make a better showing, we feel that we are on our plan in terms of our season goals, and were able to find many positives in the weekend, as well as areas to work on."

Texas Havoc ended up with a 10.6 average after ten rounds. The meet videos from Eloy already show that the Texas Skydiving League will have a strong contender for USPA Advanced Class medals this year.