posted Sep 27th, 2007 - The directors and managers of the NSL affiliated leagues are mostly very active skydivers and competitors. Several of them traveled to Illinois and competed at the USPA Nationals 2007. The passion for Formation Skydiving competition and their close proximity to the action makes them the greatest ambassadors for the sport and their leagues.

Annie Peterson has been managing the first season of the new Arizona Skydiving League. She trains and competes as the Center Inside for Arizona Divewerkz. Her team won the AAA/Advanced Class gold medals at the USPA Nationals 2006 and competed in the AAA/Open Class this year. AZDW finished with an impressive 15.8 average in Ottawa, a new team record.

The Arizona Divewerkz members make their efforts to create momentum in Arizona and assist new skydivers on their way into the 4-way community with a coaching project, the AZDW Mentorship Program. Details can be found at the team's website.

The Southern California Skydiving League, the other part of the former Southwest Skydiving League, is managed by Perris Fury member Christy Frikken in Perris. The steep progression of her own team and the exciting meets in California have been covered with several stories by the NSL News.

The Perris Fury project has generated many new Formation Skydiving competitors who competed at the USPA Nationals 2007 and will also travel to the NSL Championship 2007 in October. Veteran coach and manager in Perris, Dan BC, is doing his part to help Perris Fury and the California league.

John Hamilton supports the SCSL activities at Skydive Elsinore. He is also very active as a competitor and attended the 8-way Airspeed re-union this year with the ACE 8 line-up. The team's 15.2 average won the USPA bronze medals behind Airspeed and Knight Trax.

The CanAm Skydiving League experienced a great progression this year. Donald Poulin initiated the new momentum, and he received full support by the Canadian national team Evolution at Nouvel Air. Neither Poulin's team Synergie nor Evolution competed at the USPA Nationals 2007 so shortly after the Canadian Nationals. However, the whole CanAm management is obviously very actively involved in 4-way training and competition.

Carolina Skydiving League Director Randy Garman has managed the CASL affairs for three years now, and the Carolina league is going stronger than ever. Garman was on site at Skydive Chicago and competed with 8-way team Cross Keys T.F.R. in the Intermedaite Class. His team missed the bronze medals after a jump-off with Perris Activ8.

Randy Garman had joined forces in 8-way with the league-director couple of the MidAtlantic Skydiving League, Cherie and Karl Schuch. However, the MASL Schuchs already had their USPA gold medals in the pocket when they competed in 8-way. They were both members of Cross Keys Air Pollution and won the AA/Intermediate Class competition after a jump-off round with Air Force Ascent.

The NSL News had covered the exciting finish of the AA/Intermediate Class race with the story on September 10, including a video of the winning jump and live video coverage of the final moments of the judging. Cherie and Karl Schuch have focused mainly on bringing new and young skydivers to the Rookie Class teams in the MidAtlantic Skydiving League area. They are both great examples of active competitors.

Colorado Skydiving League Director Travis Roth is filming a young college team in Colorado, Revolution, while he is bringing new energy and momentum to the league in the mountains. His own team did not travel to the USPA Nationals 2007.

However, the Air Force line-ups placed 2nd and 4th in the AA/Intermediate Class competition and brought some medals back to Colorado.

The best Rookie Class team in the country, Mile Hi Mayhem, will compete at the NSL Championship 2007 and is the top contender in this competition class.

The teams of the Midwest Skydiving League competed on home turf at this year's USPA Nationals, and several of them attended the competition in the AAA/Advanced and AA/Intermediate Class.

MWSL Director Alan Butt is one of the longest-standing and most passionate ambassadors of 4-way competition.

He has been busy enough managing the successful league activities in the passed years and took a break from training and competing much for himself. He came back this year and competed with CSC False Religion in the AA/Intermediate Class after a short preparation time.

The New England Skydiving League was represented by Mass Defiance. All team members have been involved in bringing momentum to the league this year. Ben Liston and Brian Stephens were leading the team efforts for the NESL.

Mass Defiance is a real amateur team and had won USPA's AAA/Advanced Class competition in 2005 with a 15.4 average. The team continued in the AAA/Open Class in 2006 and finished with a 16.7 average in Eloy. This year's 19.3 average shows the very impressive progression of the NESL team. The Mass Defiance members have become real role models for the 4-way community in New England, and the team's success will hopefully materialize in even more momentum for the league.

The very popular director of the Northern Plains Skydiving League, Sandy Grillet, did not make it to the USPA Nationals this year. However, his son, Nick Grillet, who competes together with his dad for NPSL team Microburst, represented his league in Ottawa. Nick Grillet has taken the position of a marketing manager for Performance Designs and is preparing his move to Florida. NPSL Director Sandy Grillet observed and commented his son's activities in Ottawa from the distance:

"For those who are interested: Somehow Nick was able to finagle his way into getting an invite from the Golden Knights to join their team for the 16-way competition. And somehow he was able to keep from hosing any of the exits as the rear, rear, rear anchor on the exits. And somehow he was able to keep from busting them on any of the rounds. And somehow he was able to keep up on all the points without slowing them down including the 19-point round three. And somehow he was able to ride this out to a silver medal (his first ever medal at the nationals). Could someone order him a larger hat. There'll be no livin' with him now... Thank God he's moving to Florida."

Roger Cunha took over the managament of the Ranch Skydiving League this year. The NSL News expected his team, Ranch Pulse, to be one of the top contenders in USPA's AAA/Advanced Class competition. It was a tough battle on a high scoring level, and Ranch Pulse did not continue with the team's progression of the regular season.

The 12.8 average settled the RSL team tied in 5th place. Hopefully, the RSL management did not keep Roger Cunha from training and competing enough. However, the Ranch Skydiving League was on an upswing this year, and Pulse's Tail can take the credit for a great 2007 season at the Blue Sky Ranch.

Chris Halsan was leading the Virginia Parachute Council in 2006 and moved to North Carolina in 2007. He attended the NSL Championship 2006 with his VPC team DC3. He handed over the VPC affairs to John and Christi Meyer after moving to North Carolina.

Halsan did not compete at the USPA Nationals this year. However, his team has already been re-organized and competed with a new name (Flicking the Bean) in North Carolina. He also came back for a visit in Virginia at the September meet and filled a slot for Bros over Hos.

Florida Skydiving League Director Kurt Gaebel competes regularly with Teiwaz and was at the USPA Nationals 2007 as the reporter for the NSL News.

Thanks to all league directors, event managers, judges, coaches and staff for the great efforts to keep the NSL Network alive and growing. It was a great 2007 season, and the NSL welcomes everybody to the final two events, the NSL Championship 2007 and SkyQuest 2007.