posted Jan 25th, 2008 - Chris Hollis, Formation Skydiving representative for the British Parachute Association (BPA), officially announced the 2008 schedue of the United Kingdom Skydiving League (UKSL). The 4-way meet dates and the according locations have been added to the NSL Schedule of Events and are also posted on the UKSL homepage.

Three 4-way meets will be hosted by the skydiving centers in Langar, Netheravon and Cark in May and June. The UK Nationals 2008 will once again take place in Hibaldstow and are scheduled for August 23 - 25. There are also two 8-way competitions on the UKSL agenda (May 31 at Black Knights, July 5 at Target).

The jump plane at all 4-way events will be a Cessna Caravan, and Chris Hollis had great news for the 4-way community in the United Kingdom. Members of Bodyflight Storm, the British national team in IPC's female category, agreed to offer coaching at each of the three meets, which will be sponsored by the British Parachute Association, as Chris Hollis confirmed:

"BPA organises FREE FS coaching at the UKSL meets to encourage participation and make sure our junior teams get a good grounding - it seems to work really well! Having the reigning UK champions of Bodyflight Storm to coach on their busy year when they aim to keep the female FS world trophy in the UK is a fantastic coup for the UKSL and a great example of guys at the top giving up their time to help out less experienced teams - nice work, Storm!"

Chris Hollis hopes that as many international meets as possible will run on the same UKSL weekends, and he encouraged other league directors of the international NSL/ESL network to synchronize their meet dates with the UKSL: "To maximise the potential behind the idea we need to be able to tell jumpers at the start of the meet that this weekend we are competing against the USA, France, Sweden and Holland... Together - we can make the whole world one big meet!"

The 8-way events have become more promising, as well, since the British national 8-way team Connextion has decided to move up in the international rankings with a comprehensive training plan. The NSL News had introduced the team with the story on 12 October 2007 (Archives > 2007 > News > search for Connextion).

The last 8-way team from the United Kingdom that competed internationally, Sounds Great, ended up on the bottom of the 6-team field at the FAI World Cup 2007 with an 8.9 average. However, Connextion had already posted an 11.3 average at the World Meet 2006 in Germany, placing 6th in a 9-team field.

Connextion changed the line-up in 2007 and has four new players. The new Connextion then posted a 12.1 average at the UK Nationals 2007 to qualify for the World Championship of Formation Skydiving in France 2008.

This result was still only the beginning of the challenge to catch up with Germany and Italy, the other European contenders with similar training plans and goals. The British 8-way team has followed up on the previously announced plans and was already busy at the turn of the year.

Connextion has made two weekend trips to Skydive Lillo in Spain to get used to the Pilatus Porter exit. The dz management at Lillo provided the needed jump plane for the team each day, and Connextion made 60 jumps, including a 20-jump day at the very beginning of the training camp. The 60 exits already increased the team confidence significantly.

Former FS representative for BPA, Andy Scott, also reported that the team receives sponsorship support that might help Connextion to complete as many as 600 team jumps this year:

"Team Connextion have also entered into a great sponsorship deal with Advanced AeroSpace Design's new Vigil 2 product - with team rigs kitted out now ready to get into what we hope will see us complete up to 600+ training jumps from the Pilatus Porter."

Germany and Italy may find serious competition from the United Kingdom if the whole plan materializes as laid out. Coach Dan BC will make sure that the training jumps are being used efficently. Andy Scott said that the remote interaction with the coach has been great:

"He sets goals for the weekend, and we upload each day's jumps for his review. Then he sets the next day's jumps based on the outcome of the previous day. The exit training has paid off well, and Dan has been able to offer exit advice to other teams based on our progress so far. That is great to know - global cooperation and all that."

Connextion will also look more like a team in the future after ordering team jumpsuits. Next step is a windtunnel camp at Bodyflight Bedford. The team does not know exactly by now how to use the 16-foot chamber efficiently for 8-way training. Andy Scott said that it will require some tactical thinking by the team and by Dan BC to get the best out of it.

Two more weekend camps in Spain will follow, plus another weekend in the United Kingdom. Jump plane will be the Pilatus Porter at each location. Over Easter in March, Connextion will travel across the Atlantic Ocean to Perris, California, for the first of three training camps with Dan BC's live coaching.