Pre Nationals News and Photos

This page covers all the News and Information for the FS, Artistic and Speed Nationals in the days prior to the Nationals.
 

Photos by Brian Knight.

23rd August 10:00
Gemma Fesemeyer who provided excellent sports massage treatment to the 4-way Nationals has confirmed that she will return.

"Hannah

What a great weekend! Thanks to everyone at Hibaldstow for all their hard work - so good to be at a competition where all 10 rounds are completed!

I spoke to H on Sun evening about coming back for the 8-way and Artistics this weekend as I had been asked by many if I was going to be available. He was also keen that I should. So I shall be coming up on Fri afternoon/eve but I will have to leave on Sun afternoon at around 4pm.

For information, I think I treated 17 people at the 4-Way weekend, the majority of which were injuries and the remainder were sports massages to relieve the extreme tension in the muscles after competition.

Looking forward to this weekend.

Best regards

Gemma"
 

21st August 16:00
This is the first posting after the 4-way Nationals and we have another Voice Box interviews for you.

Vince Lam has only been competing in 4-way for 2 years. His interview was saved for after the Nationals and it is interesting to see what he said in relation to the event as the predicted winner of the A class.

1. Vince, you are arguably one of the main teams in contention for the Gold in the A class this year. Do you feel your team Wingnutz has put enough preparation in and how are the final few weeks being spent?

With all the training that we have done, there is always the desire to do more but due to money, time, and weather, we can only do so much. Having done well in the regional competitions, it’s great to see the result our effort. We have one more training weekend and a couple more tunnel sessions before the Nationals.


2. A lot of coaches use psychological training as a way of getting the best performance. Have you experienced this from your coach or other teams using psychology against you?

This year, I’ve learnt that a lot about mentally preparing yourself for a jump. As a team, we’ve experienced the first jump of the day blues and moving on from a bad jump. We have also received great advice from various coaches and read various articles about mental preparation, and we’re still always learning. It definitely has a big impact on a jump, so getting advice from coaches and senior teams is invaluable. My only advice is don’t have a pass the rock session while drunk. ;)

3. If the wind tunnels were not there, how much impact would this have had on your team?

A big impact! It took about 1-2 hours worth of one-on-one tunnel coaching from Milko before we were even allowed to be in the tunnel together! Also due to availability, we couldn’t meet up regularly at the weekends for team training, so a 30 minute tunnel session every few weeks was a great way of practicing. I think the tunnels have made a big difference to UK skydiving, and you can see that in the results so far.


4. Do you have any plans for next year either personally or with this team?

We haven’t really made any plans at all for the team next year, but I would really love for the team to stay together. I think with have a created a good base on which we can expand and build on and it would be great to see what we can achieve having spent a year together.

5. What do you think of the ESL meets which have been used a way of drawing Europe together. Do you think it has much of an impact with the UK formation skydiving fraternity, or should we be doing our own thing?

This is only my second year competing in any FS competition, so it’s a bit hard to answer. I guess that by entering the ESL meets, we get a better idea of what level UK FS skydiving is at and it’s nice to know how good your team is compared to the rest of the world.

6. Experienced competitors say that you can train for blocks and randoms, but you cannot train for competition experience. Do you agree with this and if you are part of a team with a small budget (therefore you cannot afford all the Grand Prix’s), do you think this has a large bearing on your scores?

I suppose this relates back to the question about psychological training in that we were told to treat the competition jumps as ‘just another jump’. However, there is always that pressure in a competition to go faster, especially when the scores go up during a meet. In the end, the team that puts the training in will always have a good chance on scoring well.

18th August 16:30

Many teams have done their warm-up familiarisation dive with the dropzone and are in high spirits. The weather held long enough for a few lifts, but the cloud level has dropped again.

Team 100% pose before their warm-up dive

A mixed team of males & females. Does this worry anyone?

O4 showing us a Q.
 

18th August 13:20

The weather has broken and manifest has opened. Teams Damsels & Distressed, Damp Patch, Essence and Tumbleweed are all kitting up.
 

18th August 12:00

Lots of teams are arriving at the dropzone. As of writing, some 24 teams have registered on line with lots more turning up hour by hour. The weather as you have probably guess is less than perfect. However this did not stop the dropzone getting quite a few lifts up in between gaps over the last few days. The camping field is filling up nicely and a lot of teams are expected again this year.
 

Hannah Swallow is the dropzone operator. But she is in the unique position of running a DZ and being on a 4-way team competing in the AAA class.

1. How are preparations going for the Nationals?

Well, I think.  The main things to sort out is the café believe it or not.  With that many people on the DZ, you’d be surprised how many people it takes to feed and quench their thirsts all day long.  And of course, we have the bar to stock !!!!  H is on top of all the parachuting side of things, the DZ itself is pretty much ready.  So just the mad chaos of the last week leading up to it… 

2. Competitors are worried that there will not be 3 turbines at the DZ for the event. Should they be worried?

We have just completed the flight test on the third Dornier, so she will be flying at the Nationals.  So, should there be a high number of teams again (I’m pretty sure there will be) we will have 3 Dorniers flying, like clock-work last year. 

3. This is your first Nationals where you are competing, and its in Senior class. Why did you decide to enter such a high level and what have you learned this year so far?

‘Havoc’ was put together back in December, but I did not jump with my team mates until January. I can tell you, the phone calls throughout December were very nerve wracking, I don’t think you could wipe the smile off my face for a week when Pete rang to confirm I was on the team. It has been very hard work though. The first camp we completed just under 50 jumps and my brain was fried. Before January I didn’t know the randoms, let alone the blocks and my previous competition experience was a scratch Junior team 3 years ago. It has been great to have such good coaches (John McIver and Steve Hamilton), they knew what a big step it was to take me onto the team, but seemed to have faith that with a lot of dedication I could do it.

The tunnel time was fantastic to get the basics sorted for the team and to deal with any fix-its, the Bedford Tunnel has been great with us. My team mates are fantastic. I did already know Pete, Susan, Derrick and Andrew from Hib, but you learn a lot more about people when you’re in a team. They have given me unwavering support right from the first jump together which was needed especially when I felt I wasn’t getting the hang of some blocks and manoeuvres. I know Susan has kept a list of all the stupid things I have said since Havoc began training, but she is sworn to secrecy !!!

With nearly 250 jumps and about 18hours in the tunnel, I feel we are as ready as we can be and I am really looking forward to the Nationals. I guess we’ll have to just wait and see what happens….
 

Andy Ibbetson is well known to many in the UK skydiving community. He has been on teams such SAC, Angels of the North and is now in Germany for the World Cup  in the 8-way event.

1. Most of your experience has been with 4-way. Now that you are competing with the 8-way, what are the major differences from a technical and social point of view?

The skills required can be totally different in 8-way than 4-way in some cases. For example, basic skills like cross referencing play a more fundamental part. And knowing the pictures with eight not four people. Socially, if your last one to get a round of drinks in most people will have had seven pints and wouldn’t want another one! 

2. Do you think the 8-way scene is healthy in the UK and if where do you see it going in the future?

Its certainly getting healthier in the UK and I think this will continue, as long as you can get nine people to turn up at the same time. I think that when 4-way is about maxed out, people will probably turn to eight way.

 

3. There is a huge gap between the US teams (18-20 avg) and the European teams (which at best was a 15 avg). Why is this separation so big and can we realistically close this gap?

Experience will help close the gap.
 

4. Lastly, it is well known that you have 2 young children and your own business. How do you find the work / life balance to cope with this all, yet still keep your team commitments?

Make a plan.
All of my commitment to my team is balanced off carefully with family and business commitments, although I have not had as much time at work as I should have, but at the end of the day everything I do is for my children whether competing or business.
 

Andy Scott is the FS representative for the BPA. His job is to encourage the growth of formation skydiving at National and World Level. He is passionate about the sport and competes to a high level. You will always get an honest answer from him regardless of politics.

1. Andy, last year caused some stress because the 4-way went onto a 2nd weekend. This was the first time this had happened since 4-way moved from a week-long event to a long week-end. Do you think this
 

Simon Brentford has competed at National level for a number of years now. He coaches at Target Skysports and completed the first interview of the season here at Voice Box.

1. How do you think this years event will differ from 2005?

I think 2006 will be even better than 2005, particularly in the FS events. People have been training hard in wind tunnels and the standard has already shown a sharp leap upwards. (see write up for Grand Prix 2006 at Hibaldstow). Every year more and more teams attend the event. I hope that there will be more again this year.

2. How do you see the Artistics performing?

Artistics has always suffered from a relatively low turn-out. This is not because there are few people doing it, but because they do not feel the need to compete. I would like to see more junior and scratch teams competing because its fun. But I am worried that if we do not have more Skysurfing teams enter this year that we are in danger of loosing that discipline as an event.

3. Some people are thinking now, that it is all about how much money you spend which will determine if you win a medal. Not your talent. Do you agree with this?

To a large extent, I do unfortunately. However, we have seen a few teams 'pull the cat out of the bag'. One example is Phobia in the Rookie class. They took a bronze medal in the recent Grand Prix at Hib, yet one of their team members Laura Battersbee only did her 100th jump that weekend. Talent definitely has a lot to do with it, but so has the size of your wallet.

4. What are you up to this year in your skydiving?

Well, not much 4-way to be honest. I am doing some video and coaching for a team called Qi. They are coming on great. I also do a lot of weekend organising. I wouldn't say that I am written off yet in the competition scene, but I have different priorities at the moment.