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Freestyle
Nationals Notes
by Chris Rimple
Freestylist, Team Nitro
1999 USA National Champion and 1999 World Silver Medalist
Written during the USA National Skydiving Championships
Perris Valley, California, October 2000
Another year, another Freestyle Nationals, and I'd
rather be at home. Do I sound unexcited? As the defending
champion, jumping with a new teammate, I should be full of
energy and anticipation. So how can I feel ho-hum about an
event this important, when it hasn't even started yet?
There are many reasons, but the primary one is frustration
with the USPA.
Freestyle has been a "second-class citizen"
in the eyes of the USPA for years, and that attitude
doesn't appear to be changing. While the DZ's that host
the Nationals do what they can to make Freestyle
competitors welcome, the USPA ignores our needs. I don't
believe it's a pattern of intentional neglect, but just a
simple disrespect for those of us who aren't competing in
Formation Skydiving.
Years ago, the USPA allowed Freestyle to be split from
the Formation Nationals, leaving Freestyle with far less
media attention and making it difficult for skydivers to
compete in both events if desired. That continued until
last year, when Sebastian Skydiving hosted both. I think
everyone would agree that a combined Nationals is better
for skydiving, but the USPA continues to dilute the
potential gain by scheduling all Formation Skydiving
events prior to Freestyle, Skysurfing, and Freeflying.
Try to imagine a Nationals where Freestyle, Skysurfing,
and Freeflying were held first. For most of a week, all
eyes would be focused on those events. Media attention
always starts strong at the Nationals, but in that
environment it would never falter, continuing straight
through to Formation Skydiving. Formation Skydiving teams
would be making training jumps while Freestylists,
Skysurfers, and Freeflyers were battling for positions on
the podium, exposing more skydivers to these events. Add
Canopy Formation, Style, and Accuracy in the middle and
what do you have? A recipe for success and a showcase for
greater media attention.
The 2000 Nationals started with fanfare, including an
outdoor competitor briefing during which the national
anthem was sung, flags were flown, and the mood was
festive. This year saw the return of Canopy Formation to
the same location, and that briefing also included flags
and the national anthem. By the time the competitor
briefing was held for Freestyle and Skysurfing, the flags
were down, the singer was gone, and the meeting was held
in the DZ bar, where yelling was required just to be
heard. Was this intended to encourage more people to
compete in these events?
The meeting itself was surprisingly disorganized. The
Freestyle Nationals have been held every year since 1996,
and I would assume that the competitor briefing should be
almost automatic. But it was only through questions from
competitors that we learned where the video dubbing
station was located, the procedures for slate usage, and
so on. The meet director had completely neglected these
topics and others during the briefing. Can you imagine how
this made the teams feel that were attending their first
Nationals?
The USPA Competition Committee and Board of Directors
made far worse mistakes. The 2000 IPC rules for Freestyle
were not adopted earlier this year, when they should have
been approved during the annual USPA Board meeting. Teams
attending the Nationals are competing with the 1999 rules,
which use a different scoring system and different
compulsories. The Nationals rules do NOT match the rules
that will be used at the 2000 World Cup in November or at
the 2001 World Meet next year. Because OmniSkore's Pegasus
scoring system for Freestyle, Skysurf, and Freeflying
has already been updated to the IPC rules, the Nationals
are having to be hand-scored by the judges. Meet
Director John DeSantis has said many times that
"these Nationals are for selecting the teams that
will represent the USA at the World Meet". If that's
true, why are we competing under the wrong rules?
But that's not all. The USPA Board approved the
Nationals bid by Perris Valley Skydiving, which included
the use of a Skyvan for Freestyle. In all prior Nationals
and IPC events, Freestyle competition has been performed
from a side-exit aircraft, as will the World Cup in
November. When competitors complained about this change
earlier in the year, the DZ was open to using Otters, and
the Meet Director said that a decision would be made at
the competitor briefing. But the decision was made before
the briefing without any opportunity for the competitors
to discuss it. Exactly who is the competition intended to
serve?
Freestyle has always suffered from a shortage of
competitors, and it's problems like these that could kill
it forever. Between the IPC's short-sighted rule changes
and the USPA's lack of support for competition, I'm not
surprised that teams never last more than a couple years.
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