posted Aug 25th, 2007 - The scores on the current leaderboard of the UK Nationals 2007 speak their own and clear language. Team Storm dominates the AAA Class competition, and it seems quite unlikely that Team Elan will have a chance to threaten the current leader. In fact, Aardvark Zulu in still only three points behind Team Elan and could still make it difficult for the all-female line-up. There might be an option for Aardvark Zulu to possibly become the national team in the Open Class with a 2nd place this weekend if Team Storm decides to defend the British gold medals in the female category. Three more rounds will be completed in Great Britain on Sunday.

The other three competition classes have only eight rounds on their agenda. Wingnutz dominates the AA Class field even more than Team Storm in the AAA Class. Cuidado (2nd) and Bonobo (3rd) both seem to be safe in their positions, as well.

Sonic V has the winning position in the A Class, and Seraphim is safely in 2nd place in the A Class. However, there is a race for the bronze medals between Phobia and Monkey Magic. The all-female line-up of Monkey Magic was already introduced with a team profile earlier. Now it's Phobia's turn before the final word between the two teams will be spoken tomorrow morning.

A Class - Phobia

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

In the back end of 2005, Richard Head (OC) attended a scrambles meet at Hibaldstow. He managed to convince a friend, Graham Wilkins (Point) to attend, amist many protests from him that “I won’t be good enough”. Sure enough, Richard’s team came second and Graham’s team won. After the meet in the bar, Richard asked Graham “How about doing this in a proper team?”, and after a few more pints, they had agreed that they would show the world how great their team is. First problem, where do we get two more members from?

Richard Managed to convince his girlfriend, Laura Battarbee (IC), and the guy that forced Richard skydiving in the first place, Russell Adams, that going skydiving a lot and being trained in the wind tunnel was a useful life skill and “wouldn’t cost too much really”. Phobia was born, and booked themselves their first team tunnel session with Simon Cathrine of Fusion.

Unfortunately, Russell discovered that skydiving “Would cost too much really” and had to quit. Phobia had fallen at the first Hurdle, and looked like it had come to an abrupt end. Luckily, the guy that had pulled Richard’s University degree mark from the pits to something respectable, Tom Grocutt (Tail) (thanks for doing my final year project for me - R), was available and very keen to get a team together.

“How do you fancy doing a team Tom?” “Yeah that sounds cool. What average are we going to aim for?” “I want 8 by the nationals” “Hmm… that’s gonna cost a Bajillion pounds. I'll join anyway, but I don’t think we’ll manage that”.

And Phobia was born!

What are your goals for this year?

After our slightly short sighted goal setting last year, we have now said we want at least a 10 point average in A for 2007. Ideally we would like to equal Wingnutz in 2006, but we’ll see how it goes. A medal would be nice this year, after coming 4th in the Rookies last year.

Where and how often do you train?

We have been training approximately every other weekend this from March at either BodyFlight Bedford or Skydive Weston. Unfortunately the weather has been slightly short of useless, and we had managed less than we wanted. But after a downer of a trip to Weston, we came up with a plan for a long weekend in Spain. We managed 28 jumps in 3 days on the back of some great last minute planning. Thanks everyone at Skydive Spain! In total we have done 6 hours tunnel time, and~80 jumps this season.

How do you think the season is going so far?

It’s been interesting this season. For us, we’ve not done as well as we would have liked at some of the competitions. As a whole, this year seems much tighter than last season. More people are training to roughly the same level and has created some exciting moments in single A. I think the nationals are going to be one of the closest yet in this or any category ever. Look at the results from the Hibaldstow GP!

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

I love the vibe that you get at 4-way competitions, especially the nationals. There aren’t many sports where you can mix with world champions in the bar after a meet and watch them get drunk, and realise that they were once where you are now. It makes you realise that anyone can do it if they try (and spend) hard enough!

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

I think it’s amazing. It’s really nice that we can now compare ourselves not just nationally, but internationally. It’s obviously not a truly fair comparison due to differences in aircraft, but it’s quite a gimmick. I am a bit disappointed at other countries participation in the lower categories, but this appears to be improving.

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

Having only been in the scene for two years, this year appears to have lost a few teams from the GP circuit with most teams focusing on the Nationals, I think this is a shame, but with the amount of teams still competing (especially in comparison to other countries) is still impressive!

The rookie category is also not as fiery as it was last year, but that was just the effect of suddenly having two tunnels in the UK. Hopefully we will see the skills filter upwards through the categories. Who knows, we may even have some more world medal contenders in the next few years!

What do you think the future holds for your team?

A personal long term goal of my own was to compete at AAA, and maybe even get invited to attend a world cup! I would love to keep the team consistent through the categories as team consistency can count for a lot. But we will take each year as it comes and reassess our personal situation at the end of the season.

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

Make sure you all want the same thing, and can afford to all go at the same pace. Otherwise your team will implode pretty quickly.

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

Our coach Chris said we were the first students to pass through the Chris Hollis school of BS!