posted Oct 9th, 2007 - Yesterday's update of Italy's 8-way team Ex3mo and its training plans for the 2008 season brought the NSL News back to Dan BC and his coaching commitments for next year. The NSL News story on September 19 already confirmed that he will continue to work with Bodyflight Storm, the British 4-way champion of 2007. Bodyflight Storm has not announced yet whether it will compete in the Open Class at the World Meet 2008 in France or in IPC's female category.

Another NSL News story on September 26 covered the 2008 plans of Fastrax Blue and included the video of a live interview with the team's coach, Thomas Hughes. There is obviously a very good possibility that Dan BC and Thomas Hughes will compete against each other in their coaching positions.

The competition in IPC's female category has become stronger every year, and the scores have been going up ever since the controversially discussed invention of the female category as a test event in 1999. The participation at the international events has slowly increased, and the competitions of the all-female line-ups have offered drama and exciting races.

The highest participation, with 12 teams at the World Meet 2006 in Germany, came along with the highest scoring average of an all-female line-up in the history of Formation Skydiving competition. The British team Airkix (Emma Beyer, Julia Foxwell, Amanda Kemp, Claire Scott, Andrew Wright on camera) won the gold medals with a 19.0 average after five rounds.

Airkix disbanded, and Claire Scott with her new Team Storm (Hannah Betts, Sarah Smith, Kate Stephens, Gary Wainwright on camera) won this year's UK Nationals with an 18.1 average. Coach Dan BC guided Airkix to the gold medals in 2006 and Bodyflight Storm to the British championship title this year.

Thomas Hughes began to work with Fastrax Blue after the team was formed at the beginning of the 2007 season. Becky Broccato (Tail), Kelley Fredrickson (Point), Erin Murphy (Outside Center) and Brianne Thompson (Inside Center) opened the 2007 season with a 15.2 average at the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2007 and posted a 17.4 average at the USPA Nationals 2007.

The 17.4 average of Fastrax Blue in September is not too far away from Bodyflight Storm's 18.1 average in August, and it is already higher than Team Elan's 16.5 average in second place at the British Nationals 2007. Fastrax Blue with Thomas Hughes and Team Storm with Dan BC have probably both a very exciting 2008 season ahead of them.

Neither the US team nor the British team in IPC's female category attended the FAI World Cup 2007 where the number of participating teams and the scoring level dropped below the previous numbers.

The new 2007 line-up of the French national 4-way team in the female category won the FAI gold medals in Russia with a 17.1 average at the beginning of August and was exactly one average-point behind Team Storm a few weeks before the UK Nationals 2007. The French meet average at the FAI World Cup 2007 was also higher than Team Elan's 16.5 average in 2nd place.

Bodyflight Storm is on the top of the international female competition at the end of the 2007 season. However, it is quite obvious that the USA and France both have line-ups that can challenge this top position next year. Great Britain is the defending champion in this IPC category, and it will be interesting to see which British team will be sent into the 2008 race with USA and France.

Great Britain (18.1 average), USA (17.4 average) and France (17.1 average) plan to continue with the same line-ups in 2008. It will be difficult for any other national team to catch up with these three top contenders and possibly challenge their medal positions for the World Meet 2008 in France.

The coaching competition between Dan BC (Bodyflight Storm) and Thomas Hughes (Fastrax Blue) will be just as challenging. Dan BC has a very busy coaching agenda and is in charge for the training programs in Perris. Thomas Hughes will train and compete with the US 8-way team Knight Trax while preparing Fastrax Blue for the World Meet. The NSL News will follow the teams and their coaches on the way to France in 2008.