posted May 6th, 2005 - The second round of the SSL March meet in Perris is now on NSL-TV, and the quality of the video files is on a much higher level compared to the SSL April meet in Eloy. The NSL headquarters received a few messages mentioning the fact that the NSL-TV coverage of the April meet's first round was not very good.

The NSL News story of May 4 explained that the available footage did not allow a better quality and apologized for the poor shape of the files. The NSL News story mentioned the decision to upload the files anyway to give the viewers at least the chance to get an idea of the jumps.

In fact, the NSL headquarters received additional information as of the meet videos. Arizona Divewerkz member Paul Gatling remembered that the VCR used for the dubbing procedure in Perris had "some serious flicker issues". Arizona Divewerkz tried to help the situation and provided the team's VCR for dubbing beginning in round two or three. Then the flickering stopped. This means that there is a good chance that the NSL-TV quality will be much better in the coming rounds of that event.

Back to the Perris meet in March, the footage arrived at the NSL headquarters in DeLand on the original VHS tapes. This allowed the NSL-TV studio to use the same process to upload the files as in several earlier meets. The efforts to improve the NSL-TV quality will continue.

Perris Fury with player coach Dan BC (Inside Center), Christy Frikken (Outside Center), Josh Hall (Point), Uli Steuwe (Tail) and Karen Lewis (Video) won the second round of the AAA Class competition in Perris and tied the scores of Norway Arcteryx, Germany EADS and Germany Remscheid competing in DeLand.

The "Japanese Shooting Star" tied the highscore of the AA Class competition in Perris with Elsinore Alloy, and this round was the meet's highlight for the guest team from Japan. Elsinore Alloy with player coach John Hamilton (Outside Center), Terry Seaworth (Inside Center), Caitie Unkovic (Point), Morgan Dunn (Tail) and Pat Newman (Video) won the A Class competition in Perris and nationwide, as well.

The AAA Class competition included a new judging quiz. Perris Helion challenged the event judge with a situation surrounding Block 17 (Danish T - Murphy) on the first page. According to the NSL stop watch, Helion completed eight points within working time. The official score for Helion's round two is six points.

It is quite obvious that there is a problem with Block 17 on the first page. The event judge apparently did not count both formations of the block as scoring formations since there don't seem to be any other infringements in the jump. The NSL audience is invited to be the judge for this situation.

The main question relates to 4.8.3 of the IPC rule book, or 5-1.9-A.3.b in the USPA rule book:

According to the official score, the Danish T apparently did not count as a scoring formation. The left hand grip of the Compressed Accordeon's center position was not accepted for a complete formation and represents the infringement. The problem with the same grip continues throughout the whole inter.

It looks as if the center position tries to close the missed grip of the Danish T during the inter, while the single flyer continues to do the required move. The center position succeeds to re-take the open grip, and the single flyer ends up on his final grip before the center identifies the situation and drops the grip as the inter actually requires.

The situation could easily be interpreted in favor of Perris Helion. The original infringement with the missed grip in the Danish T carries into the inter and causes the actual infringement of the inter, which does not show the correct 3-way piece before the single flyer takes the new grip. The "intent of the inter requirements for the next formation" is "clearly presented", and there is "no other infringement in the inter". The Murphy is shown and complete. The Murphy could count as a scoring formation, and Helion's score could be seven points, instead of six points.

As usual, this judging situation can be discussed in the NSL Forum.