posted Jun 2nd, 2007 - This weekend's first scores have already been posted. The teams in Germany and Great Britain are already in the middle of their competitions, and the NSL News will continue to update the leaderboard regularly.

In the meantime, the NSL News goes back to the May meet of the Florida Skydiving League. The videos of the second round have been uploaded and feature the next part of the race between the two AA Class teams, Z-Team and Tunnel Chaos.

Both teams ended up on the top of the AA Class leaderboard on the May 19 weekend. They had tied the meet opener with 9-pointers each and both completed eight points within working time in Round 2. Tunnel Chaos lost a point due to an incomplete exit formation (N - Crank), and the Z-Team had a 1-point lead.

The Z-Team competed with Paul Barthus (Tail), Laura Song (Point), Alicia Wolfe (Center Outside) and Thiago Muradas (Center Inside), who filled the slot for Christine Freiherr.

Thiago Muradas had already competed with Teiwaz last year and is at an interesting point of his colorful skydiving career. He was born in Brazil and began his team career as soon as he was past the student status. It took the talented skydiver only a few years until he was recruited for the Brazilian national 4-way team.

The World Meet 2001 in Spain was his first international competition. He had the unique and exciting opportunity to witness the dramatic races for gold medals between Airspeed and France in 4-way and between Airspeed and Russia in 8-way. He knew already by then that this was the kind of competition he was looking for.

His own Brazilian 4-way team finished in 17th place of 34 nations with a 10.3 average. Thiago Muradas did not see enough potential in his home country to get much farther and close enough to the world's top level in 4-way competition. He thought that he had reached everything there was for him by attending a World Meet and experiencing the atmosphere of top competition.

The missing 4-way opportunities in Brazil caused him to re-direct his focus on the professional skydiving career that he was pursuing. He accepted a job offer with Parachutes de France and moved to South Africa in 2002.

Thiago Muradas continued to skydive and connected with the 4-way community in South Africa. Eventually, he found a team that seemed to have the potential for a higher performance and scoring level compared to his previous competition career in Brazil, and he committed to training and competing in South Africa.

He had already observed other international competitors by then and knew that it was possible to compete for a different nation, according to the FAI/IPC rules. His South African team, sponsored by his new employer Aerodyne, won the national championship and traveled to compete at Thiago's second international meet, the World Meet 2004 in Croatia.

This time, he witnessed how the former South African Equanimity bronze medalists of 1999, Solly Williams, Gary Smith and Graham Harding, won the gold medals for the USA with DeLand Majik. His own South African team performed on a significantly higher level compared to Brazil in 2001, and he ended up in 11th place with a 14.5 average.

He was inspired when he saw that the former South African competitors had made it to the very top of the 4-way world by moving to the USA. He decided to follow their footprints and found the perfect opportunity when Aerodyne offered him an open position in Tampa, Florida.

Thiago Muradas is now looking for the next opportunity to move forward with his competition career in the USA. His quiet and calm personality does not show easily how much driving energy is hiding inside. However, he has used the time in Florida to improve his individual skills all the time with consistent tunnel training.

He also fills slots for teams whenever there is an opportunity. That's how he ended up in the Teiwaz line-up in 2006 and helped out for the Z-Team at the FSL May meet. However, his actual vision goes much farther. He wants to commit once again to serious training and competition, and he is looking for the next chance to follow his dream and get closer to the ultimate goal: competing at the very top level of 4-way competition.