Nancy has been on the US National Speed Style and Accuracy Team numerous times - hence we interviewed her recently to find out more about style as a discipline. 

Not that style is all Nancy does - far from it. She enjoys the full diversity of skydiving such as AFF, tandem, CF and Formation Skydiving including nine World Records. 

When did you start jumping Nancy, how many jumps do you have and what discipline do you most enjoy?
Twenty years ago in Orange, Massachusetts, this was the first commercial drop zone in the USA by the way, which is about to reopen. I did nothing but RW (as it was then called) for the first twelve years and achieved a high level in regional competitions. I could have developed these skills further but became interested in style. I am about to hit jump number 4,000, with only about 1,000 doing style and accuracy.

What have you achieved in this area?
I first made the US Team in 1988 - ten weeks after giving birth to my son, Johnny (who has 100 jumps and an hour of freefall time 'in utero'!). I went to the World Championships in China on the 1994 team and will go to Hungary this year. My times are just starting to dip into the high 6's from low 7's and the challenge before me is to become a 6.0 clean stylist.

Why style?
Because it is the most athletically demanding discipline and the most personally challenging. There are fewer team personality clashes to worry about - although I wouldn't say there are none! I can schedule an individual training camp at any time I wish, although we do often train as a team. You can train at your own pace, with only yourself to depend upon and only yourself to let yourself down.

Isn't that a bit lonely? There is actually a huge social aspect to the discipline. Stylies are fascinating human beings, most of them phenomenal athletes with a healthy lifestyle and a consuming passion for their chosen discipline. They are fun, mischievous people, but intense about their sport. It is most enjoyable to train alongside other stylists, giving a community feeling and exchange of ideas. On bad weather days, we will lift weights and run together, sharing a common interest in fitness, because you need to be both fit and flexible to succeed at style. Those at the top of the sport will freely share their technology and training methods; I believe that Speed Style is more open in this respect than FS. For example, the US Style & Accuracy training camps are open to anyone who wants to come and learn alongside the US National Team.

Tell me about the history of style, Nancy
Style (& Accuracy) were the first disciplines to evolve. Early freefallers (more than 40 years ago) were happy if they could maintain a heading. When parachutists became proficient at that, the challenge of 360 degree turns was added. At one time the jumper had to 'read' an arrow on the ground whilst in freefall instructing him which way to turn! Eventually, a disorienting manoeuvre; a backloop; was added to further test competence. We have always been competitive beings, so a stopwatch was added to the series of manoeuvres to grade participants; the result was Speed Style. It is the '100 yard dash of skydiving', the simple aim is to perform the series as quickly and cleanly as possible. By clean, I mean without coming up short on your heading (called shorts), without rolling onto your side going into the loops (called deviations) or beginning turns before completing the 360 degree loop (called arrowing). These days, in order to succeed at world level you must render precise speed, balance and use a finely honed internal gyro to stop and loop on heading. You 'crunch' into a tiny box position for faster turns and must keep your upper body rigid, yet flexible and somewhat relaxed so that you can react quickly.

What does the modern event consist of?
There are four distinct sets or 'blocks' as you could call them, by way of comparison with FS:

• Left Set...................... 360 Left turn, 360 Right turn, Backloop; and repeat;
• Right Set.................... R, L, Backloop; R, L, Backloop;
• Cross......................... L, R, Backloop; R, L, Backloop;
• Reverse Cross............ R, L, Backloop; L, R, Backloop.

The competition itself will consist of five rounds; one of each set and a fifth, chosen set. If you train properly, you should not have a favourite set as you should aim to hone each set to the same level. The event is judged by ground-to-air video, which is now of incredibly high magnitude and of a quality where you can see details such as rig, helmet and jumpsuit colours. The 1996 US Nationals will include air-to-air video, but this is really for the entertainment and education of the crowd, not for judging purposes, as the turns must be judged in relation to a ground heading.

The USPA style community now calls our event Speed Style

• to distinguish from other events such as freestyle
• to give a clearer indication of what the discipline is all about
• to give it the respect and recognition the area deserves.

What is the main area of improvement to speed up times?
Transitions between the turns and backloops. The turns and loops themselves take a great deal of practice to reduce to around 0.5 second, but a transition between the manoeuvres can take about the same amount of time. When you are turning at an incredible rate of speed, putting the brakes on quickly and efficiently and reversing direction is probably the most demanding component, which has the greatest potential to pare down your times.

Men and women's events are separate, unlike FS where there is no differentiation between the sexes. Do you think this is a good or a bad thing? Is there any physiological reason why men should be better than women?
Accuracy is a mental game so success should be equally attainable by either sex. Strength is a major factor in Style, so here men have the advantage, but it also helps to be flexible. Currently I believe the men are achieving faster times than the women, but it should be noted that the top women have on many occasions been faster than the men's scores. Denise Barr, Terry Vares and Cheryl Stearns have all beaten the men at their own game at some point. I say 'at their own game' because style is traditionally dominated by military teams, who were historically all male, eg the Golden Knights. There are far more men turning style so they are likely to win a greater percentage of the medals.

The disciplines have remained segregated because of tradition - if they were integrated now it might discourage new female competitors. It's interesting to note that the newer disciplines of freestyle and skysurfing have opted for separate male and female categories. On the whole, I feel that it is good to have separate men's and women's events to encourage greater participation by both sexes.... Perhaps if Formation Skydiving was segregated in the same way, maybe more women would train and achieve their personal highest level. Again, there is a strength advantage for men at a world class level of FS, so it is a logical division.

Who are your idols?
I have mentors. There are several but to mention just three; US Speed Style Champions Bill Jackson, Jimmy Hayhurst, Cheryl Stearns. Cheryl has been competing at international level for over 18 years and has won so many times, she carries a special bag with her to competitions, to take the trophies home without scratching them. It is rare for her to compete without needing this trophy bag and it is great to see her better the men's scores as she does from time to time.

Is the Classics discipline still improving or have people now become as good as they can get?
Accuracy is progressing at a phenomenal rate. In 1977 the raised 10cm disc was replaced with the flush 10cm disc. That 10cm disc was 'dead centred out' at the 1980 World Meet and so IPC cleared the way for the 5cm disc at the '82 World Meet. At the 1996 World Meet we will use a 3cm disc. Gone is the pea gravel and instead, the electronic score pad is placed on a 'tuffet', an air inflated or foam filled cushion. Precision canopy flying has become so exact, it is a foot placement game to win at accuracy. In terms of results at style, the lowest times are similar in magnitude (high 5's) to fifteen years ago, but more people are turning the low scores than ever before.

Is there a limit to how fast the human body can turn and, if so, have we reached it?
Never say never! Never put a limit on anything. Human beings are always pushing the accepted limit in any area. Set a limit and someone, somewhere will find a way to overcome it. To me, it is a wonderful part of human existence. Some incredible individual will always come along and perform what was thought to be impossible.

What is your ambition in the style area?
I aim to turn clean mid 6's in style and then I will probably be happy to have achieved that level. That would be good enough for second or third at world level - on a day when everyone else was turning about the same. I would not be devastated if I were never the absolute champion of the world - I just want to be one of the best! The individuals who are the absolute champions of the world often have little else in their lives, other than competition, training and work. Whilst I admire such people tremendously, I have chosen to have other things in my life; I have a wonderful husband, a beautiful, charming, intelligent little boy, a career that was tailor-made for me and a lovely home. I snow-ski, water-ski, scuba dive, fly aeroplanes and enjoy working out. I would not have time for these other important endeavours (especially family) if I devoted my entire life's energy to style and accuracy. I'm greedy, I want to have it all! There are a lot of things you can work for in your life and it's all about establishing priorities for yourself. What do you want out of life? You are the only person who can decide - and that is the first step to achieving it.

Does style help other areas of the sport?
Oh absolutely! I highly recommend cross-training in skydiving. Competitive style makes you think faster, increasing your mental agility and speed of reactions. This can only improve your performance at other disciplines such as FS. Many of the top Russian and French relative work team members began their skydiving careers as stylists; Jerome Bunker was a very successful stylist before he became a World Champion in Formation Skydiving. When I first started turning style in '87, Jerome was in DeLand doing 4-way and he showed me some of the techniques the French were using then.

What sort of person would be good at style?
Someone who is highly disciplined, quick, maybe a little hyperactive. They must be independent and self-motivated, with a strong desire to succeed. The ideal body shape is small and wiry with a great deal of upper body strength and strong thighs and abdominal muscles.

What advice would you give someone who wanted to take up the discipline?
First of all, 'Do it!!' Find yourself a mentor and go somewhere where others are practising it. Don't be discouraged at the effort it takes, you will need hundreds of training jumps to build up the muscle memory and split second timing. Because style goes hand in hand with accuracy, you are likely to need to invest in two rigs; one containing an accuracy canopy and the other, smaller rig, to wear for style, FS and everything else. Be realistic about the level of commitment required at the start and be aware of the danger of disappointment. Set personal goals and work hard for their realisation; the difficulty is all part of the challenge.

What other areas of skydiving do you enjoy?
I pretty much do it all. I am an AFF instructor, tandem instructor/examiner for more than ten years, I jump camera, do CF, demos, World Records, chute assis, you name it and I've probably tried it. I want to play with all the toys that are available, I don't want to be typecast! One of the nicest compliments I have ever had was from one of my team-mates / mentors whom I try to emulate, Jimmy Hayhurst; Jimmy is a multiple US Speed Style Champion and potential World Champion. He said 'You're really a better skydiver than I am, because you're a more rounded and multi-dimensional skydiver'. I thought that was a wonderful thing for him to say, although I usually describe myself as a 'jack of all trades, master of none!'.

How did you become involved with Jump Shack and what do you do for the company?
I met John Sherman, founder of the company in 1986 at an AFF certification course where he was a guest speaker. I married him in 1987. I became involved in various aspects of the company and now deal primarily with sales, advertising, tandem and special projects such as the production of video for our new, multimedia CD-ROM catalogue. The company has gone very high tech using CAD for all canopy and container design work, computerised accounting and order taking and even video animation to enhance training techniques for competitors and judges!

I also have input into other facets of Jump Shack which keeps my work so interesting. My previous experience as a Vector tandem instructor and the knowledge I acquired from my brother, Keith La Riviere, who is a tandem examiner for Strong Enterprises as well as for Jump Shack has helped me make important contributions to the design and management of our Elite Tandem Programme.

Nancy La Riviere was talking to Lesley Gale

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