posted Feb 25th, 2008 - The next meet videos of the Valentine's Meet 2008 arrived at the NSL office when the Canadian national 4-way team Evolution came back from the west coast and resumed the team training in DeLand.

The LeMay family visited the NSL News in the morning before a training day to talk about the team's experiences in Eloy. It was the first high-profile competition for Evolution's Point, 17-year old Benoit LeMay. He had only competed at the Canadian Nationals 2007 before and said that it helped him to have Airspeed Odyssey in the same Pilatus Porter load.

Coach Shannon Pilcher and team videographer Daniel Paquette joined the live NSL-TV interview, which can be viewed by clicking here. Topics were the team performance at the Valentine's Meet and the judging at the first outdoor competition of the 2008 season.

Evolution lost a total of 22 points by video situations that could not be judged and other infringements. Videographer Daniel Paquette, who won gold medals with the Canadian national 4-way and 8-way teams at the World Cups in 1983 and 1984, explained how the deduction of 13 points felt to him and the team.

The Evolution members understood the loss of the other nine points as a learning lesson and agreed with coach Shannon Pilcher that the judging was hard and sharp but fair and balanced at the same time. Judging at the top Formation Skydiving competitions this year is under careful observation of the IPC officials after the intense discussion of half-speed judging at the IPC meeting in January in Paris, France.

Advice for teams by Judy Celaya

FAI veteran judge Judy Celaya was judging at the Valentine's Meet and provided the NSL News with her own feedback after the meet in Eloy. She had advice for the teams, as well:

"As always, the most common bust is not showing clear separation. Teams need to practice flashing the grip releases more. We also had a number of issues with the video angle. Most of them occurred on the exit, but we were surprised to see some in the middle of the dives, as well. If the judges can't see the grips, they can't score the point. Teams really need to work with their videographers to show all the grips all the time.

Finally, those teams who are flying roughly need to smooth out. When there is a judgment call, a team who flies smoothly has a better chance of the call going in their favor than does a team who flies sloppy. The same applies to busy, multi-colored jumpsuits and rigs. A team who dresses in dark jumpsuits, simple patterned rigs and white gloves dresses for success."

Not all teams were as much in agreement with the judging in Eloy as the Canadian team and coach Shannon Pilcher. Perris Fury had also worked with Shannon Pilcher this year, as the NSL News story on 23 February 2008 reported. The Perris team is one of the best teams in the world and well trained.

The Fury members presented their videos of the Valentine's Meet to veteran coach Dan BC after returning to Perris and asked him for an evaluation. Dan BC was surprised by some of the calls and even had a hard time to find the potential spots where the infringements were marked by the judges on the scoresheets.

Perris Fury's Center Inside, Chris Farina, provided the NSL News with more detailed information of the infringements. Three meet videos of Perris Fury are already available on NSL-TV, and the NSL News audience now has the opportunity to take a closer look at the critical situations.

Perris Fury had a 1-point deduction for a missing grip of the exit formation (N: Crank) in Round 3, which was followed by another video bust for the exit in Round 4 (Block 3: Side Flake Opal - Turf).

The infringement in Fury's Round 6 occurs at the 20th scoring formation.

The reason for the penalty in Round 6 is probably the fact that the key for breaking the complete Side Flaked Donut of Block 2 comes from an unexpected position and looks out of synch for the observer. The finish of Block 2 is usually an affair between Center Outside and Point in the Compressed Accordion who know best when the block has been completed.

The problem in the Fury case occured since teams and judges are prepared to expect the break from these two positions at the end of Block 2. However, Fury breaks the second formation of the block from a different slot and seems to be punished for an unexpected and unsynchronized break since the actual Side Flaked Donut is complete when the first grip is being released.

There is no rule that requires the break of any formation from a certain position. The teams have the freedom to create their own key system - whether it makes sense or not. There is also no rule that requires the synchronization of any break. The team members can release their grips whenever they please - as long as they show a total separation in the following inter. Teams receive their scoring point when a formation is complete. The action that follows the completion of a formation or a block has no impact on the previous scoring formation.

In fact, the same Side Flaked Donut of Perris Fury would have most likely passed the evaluation of the judges if it happened at 35.0 seconds and freeze frame time. Perris Fury's Side Flake Donut has a few frames as a complete formation before the Center Inside breaks the formation. The unexpected and unsynchronized break would not be visible to the judges any more.

However, the Fury members surely know that it was a flaw to break the formation from this position, and they will probably work on the issue. It is too obvious that the judges favor a team that delivers as it is expected, and Judy Celaya confirmed this in her feedback.

The Canadian LeMay family commented and discussed the judging with coach Shannon Pilcher and with the NSL News, and the team members will give it even more thoughts. They concluded that it is quite important to understand what the judges are looking for and to be prepared for their expectations.

Perris Fury's penalty situations at the Valentine's Meet provide already the first interesting material for the IPC officials who observe the meet action in 2008. Half-speed judging might have made it easier for the judges to get a clearer picture of Fury's Side Flake Opal exit in Round 4 and of the Side Flaked Donut in Round 6. The NSL News will continue to collect more videos and more feedback.