posted Aug 24th, 2007 - The NSL News continues with the profiles of British teams that have competed this year at UK's Grand Prix events. This time, the Team Elan members provide insights of the team and its dynamics.

The Elan profile comes at a critical time for the team. Three rounds have been completed at the UK Nationals 2007. The draw for the remaining seven rounds will be done and posted tonight. The NSL News story on August 21 had explained the specific rules of the competition draw for the national championship.

Team Elan is three points behind Team Storm after the first three rounds (57 - 54). The winning team of the UK Nationals 2007 will represent Great Britain at the World Meet 2008 in France. The British delegation will also have a slot for a national team in IPC's female 4-way category where Great Britain is the reigning world champion.

AAA Class - Team Elan

How did the team come about? Tell us a bit about your history.

Amanda Kemp: Team Elan has three members from Team Airkix: Emma, Jules and myself. After Airkix won the World Championships and British Nationals we decided to have some time off. In this time two of us decided that they probably couldn't continue for a further two years at the level of commitment that Airkix had; it really depended on what sponsorship we could achieve. At this point it was a casual decision that we may do something in 2007. Sparky (Airkix member Claire Scott) was offered an opportunity on a fully-sponsored team in the meantime; she was keen to take it as Airkix did not have any firm plans at that stage. However, the competitive spirit was still there in all of us, and gradually we started talking more about funding further training and finding a 4th member. We asked Tarn Hollis from Bodyflight Rage to join us and were very pleased when she accepted. Getting Rob Stevenson (ex Sebastian XL) on camera was an added bonus.

What are your goals for this year?

Emma Beyer: On Airkix and now on Elan our focus has always been on doing our team best and our individual best, whilst also having a good time together. We hope that as a result of that we achieve selection at Nationals to represent the UK at the next World Meet in 2008. Outside of that, we want to spend some time this season coaching up-and-coming teams, and achieving positive exposure for the sport in the media.

Where and how often do you train?

Julia Foxwell: This year we chose Skydive Spain and Hibaldstow as our dropzones and Bodyflight for our tunnel training. We love that we can keep all our UK training so close to home, with such great jumping and tunnel facilities - they are world class. We've done two 2-week camps in Spain with a few long weekends at Hib, and as much tunnel time around that as we could manage with one team member living in Arizona. We also visualise and watch video daily in between camps to stay current.

How do you think the season is going so far?

Rob Stevenson: We kicked off our training season at Skydive Spain, the training was intense, and the team made 160 skydives in just 10 days. One day the team made 20 jumps, and the day after it was topped with 21 jumps, a record for all team members. The next training camp started at Target Skysports, even thought the weather was not working with us we still managed to make 40 jumps in 3 days, then Spain again where we saw our overall performance increase. With the team training prior to the Nationals, I would say our season so far is right on schedule.

What is it about 4-way that makes you compete?

Tarnya Hollis: I love 4-way because it's all about speed, doing your sport as hard and fast as you can. It's very ordered, which appeals to my O.C.D! ;-) I also love the people you meet. I don't know any other sport where they all look out for each other the way we do in this sport. Skydiving seems to attract a certain type of person, fun-loving, party animals!

What do you think of the NSL concept of teams all doing the same global draw?

Amanda Kemp: I think it is fantastic for all levels of teams. For the AAA Class, focusing on their country's Nationals is a great way of making mock meets during training more real when there is a score board up with other teams on it, or during a meet when maybe only a handful of teams attend. For the more junior teams: how cool is it to say they have beaten a team from another country and to encourage them to continue training in the world of competitive 4-way?

As a team, how do you find the 4-way scene in the UK? Is FS still as popular as it has been recently?

Emma Beyer: I think the UK FS scene is stronger than it's ever been. There are some fantastic teams coming through the system in all classes, and I think with wind tunnels the performance levels have been pushed up dramatically in the last two years. Once the current Rookies, As and AAs start getting up into AAA I think we'll start to see even more world class teams emerging here like they have in the States.

What do you think the future holds for your team?

Julia Foxwell: We are currently training hard for this year's British Nationals with the aim to get selection for next year's World Championships. We plan to review our training plan after the Nationals for 2008 - so we will soon see!

Any words of advice for 4-way teams starting out or junior to yourselves?

Tarnya Hollis: Get coaching from an early stage....and keep getting it.

Finally, tell us something not many people know about your team!

Rob: They know all the words to the movie Tombstone.