posted May 13th, 2005 - DeLand Majik's infringement situation in round seven was not very difficult to find. It was quite obvious that the Icepick of Block 19 (Ritz - Icepick) on the fourth page was not complete when grips on the outside were dropped.

It did not take much time for Majik's Center Inside, Doug Park, to realize the damage, shake it off and move on. In fact, there was no Majik hesitation at all. Park tried for a moment to get to the missing grip and instantly continued to the first Bipole of Block 14 when he saw the other three Majik member move forward. It shows the great experience of the world champion center inside.

One of the many interesting aspects of the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2005 was an internal competition of the two German 4-way teams in DeLand, the German national 4-way team EADS and the challenger FSC Remscheid.

The young team from Remscheid finished its second 2-week training camp in DeLand with the 10-round competition, while the multiple German champion EADS had arrived the night before the meet to begin a 10-day camp.

Remscheid was eager to show the results of the previous training camp and to put some pressure on the defending German champion. The young team consists of the brothers Joern (Center Inside) and Max Thiele (Point), Markus Bastuck (Tail) who is the son of a long-time official of the German skydiving association, Dieter Schwarz (Center Outside) and Alexander Han on Video.

The same team with slightly different line-ups has been pursuing the goal to push the veteran competitors of EADS off the German 4-way throne for a few years without success. The 2005 season might bring Remscheid closer to this goal than ever before. The youngsters managed to finish the Shamrock Showdown six points ahead of EADS with an impressive 16.2 team record average.

EADS with Olaf Biedermann (Center Inside), Jens Goennemann (Center Outside), Goeran Meyer (Tail), Thomas Spielvogel (Point) and Euro on Video was not much impressed though. The German national team for many years includes one of the most experienced 4-way competitors in the history of the event, Thomas "Spieli" Spielvogel, along with three other German 4-way veterans. Each EADS member knows the 4-way business in and out to understand how all the pieces make a puzzle.

EADS knew that the meet performance would be on the lowest possible level after the long travel and a short night. It was also the first training camp for the team after a long winter break. In addition, EADS had to make all ten meet jumps on one day to catch up with the other teams attending the meet. However, the EADS members obviously love 4-way competition and did not want to miss out on the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2005. The 10-round competition would also allow the team to go through the whole dive pool at the beginning of the training camp.

EADS surely kept the eyes on the Remscheid scores, which were better than ever before. However, the reigning German 4-way champions are much aware of their own capabilities under better circumstances and when being well trained and prepared. EADS was actually one of the most recognized teams at the last World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2004 in Croatia when the team made it to the finals and finished the 10-round meet with a most impressive 18.3 average.

The success in Croatia brought EADS the inofficial title of the "amateur world champion", and the team left Belgium's Spa Hayabusa, Switzerland Endeavour, Norway Arcteryx and the Danez behind on its way to the 5th position of the world meet. The 18.3 average in Croatia will be the more realistic benchmark for the challengers from Remscheid, not the 15.6 EADS average in DeLand in March.

However, Remscheid is highly motivated after the team's record average, EADS went into the training camp knowing that this year's national championship will not be a walk in the park as in the previous years. EADS members mentioned at the end of the March camp that the team was already back to last year's performance level.

Both teams plan to travel to Russia in July for the last test before this year's German Championship, which will determine the national team for the world meet in 2006 hosted by Germany. The NSL News will be at the Malevsky World Cup 2005 as last year and will follow the race between the two German teams, as well.