posted Dec 23rd, 2008 - The NSL News looked up the oldest story in the NSL News archives on Christmas Eve. It was posted on December 24 of 2000 and cannot be found any longer anywhere since the current archives of the database don't reach that far back. However, the stories are still available as they were posted and just require manual recovery.

The Christmas story of 2000 covered Arizona Airspeed's situation after winning the USPA Nationals 2000 in 4-way and 8-way. Airspeed had just made a decision how to deal with representing the USA in both events at the World Meet 2001 in Spain. It was a very interesting situation after the Golden Knights had decided not to help out in 8-way.

It turned out that Airspeed Vertical won the 4-way gold medals at the world meet, which was the primary goal for the new lineup with Craig Girard. However, it was also the first time in history that the USA did not win the 8-way gold medals. The story provided more details and thoughts. Merry Christmas for 2008 from the NSL headquarters.

Eight world champions are going to the world championship

It took a while until the final decision was made. It is definite now: the same Airspeed 8 team squad that won the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 1999 will represent the United States next year in Spain. As they did for the USPA Nationals 2000, Dan BC, Jack Jefferies and Gary Beyer will return to competition from their retirement homes. Mark Kirkby, Kirk Verner, John Eagle, Alan Metni and Craig Girard will complete the Airspeed 8 team for the World Championship 2001 in Spain.

As difficult as it was to come to this decision, it will not become much easier from here on for the defending 8-way world champions. Pressure and responsibility will be huge. After the experiences at the last world meet in Australia, Airspeed did not feel like taking on the challenge of winning both events once again. The double challenge in Australia was successful in 8-way, but the 4-way Excalibur went back to France.

Airspeed Vertical, the new Airspeed 4-way team and US Champion 2000, with Craig Girard, Mark Kirkby, John Eagle and Neal Houston, made it very clear that their priority will be to bring the 4-way gold medals to Arizona in 2001. Vertical had originally no desire to do 8-way at the same time, and Dan BC, Jack Jefferies and Gary Beyer had already retired from competition right after the world meet in 1999.

The "trouble" began when they agreed to come back for the USPA Nationals 2000. Airspeed saw a chance to win the 8-way event without any training when the Golden Knights did not seem to be happy with their progression prior to the national championship. After beating the Knights in Perris, Airspeed did not expect the Army team to completely withdraw from the 8-way event. They thought that the Knights may represent the U.S.A. in Spain - even after losing the USPA Nationals.

Surprisingly, it did not turn out like that. The Golden Knights lost the USPA Nationals 2000 with honor and with all consequences. The new leadership of the Golden Knights did not like the idea of being the second best team and still represent the U.S.A. at the world meet. They would rather withdraw.

The basic comment from the Golden Knights' headquarters was that Airspeed should have known better. If Airspeed decided to compete at the USPA Nationals, they knew that they would have the responsibility to send their team to the world meet.

Airspeed had to look for other options when the Golden Knights made their decision very clear by eventually forming two 4-way teams for the next years. Airspeed's idea was for a while to have Airspeed Vertical focus on 4-way and Airspeed Zulu be the base for a newly formed 8-way team.

Recruiting the other four people for the 8-way lineup proved to be difficult. DeLand PD Blue was the number one choice. The world class 4-way team may have been a great fit to begin with the 8-way training on a very high level. However, PD Blue decided against this opportunity in 8-way.

Still without a solution, time pressure began to rise for Airspeed. The World Meet 2001 is scheduled for June. A completely new Airspeed 8-way team would have only six months left to get ready for a huge challenge in Spain. Not only that this team would have the responsibility to defend the 8-way title that has never been won by any other country in the history of Formation Skydiving - the new team would have to face the Russian challenge once again.

Even though Russia did not look like they were a serious threat for Airspeed at the World Cup 2000 in Eloy, there is a great chance that this will be different in June 2001. The Airspeed 8-way lineup will be very limited with their training resources since Airspeed Vertical will still focus on 4-way. And the Russian 8-way team will keep on training hard in the meantime. At the last world meet in Australia, Russia finished with a 20.9 average and only two single points behind Airspeed. The potential for a similar performance will be there again, even though Russia scored only 16.0 average at this year's World Cup.

Looking at the situation from all different angles for a while, Airspeed finally decided to put the money on the veteran crew. Airspeed's 8-way lineup with the most experienced group of competitors in the history of skydiving will probably have the best chances to gain from their incredible resources of experience and skills.

Psychological factors may have been involved in the decision, as well. A completely new 8-way lineup might have even encouraged and motivated the Russian team, even if a new lineup would be the greatest talent pool in the world and train hard. Now the Airspeed veterans beat the Russians already in 1999. There will probably be more respect on the Russian side.

Either way, the 8-way Excalibur in US possession will be challenged and threatened more than ever before in history. There is a good chance that things may be reversed in Spain 2001 compared to Australia 1999. Airspeed Vertical may win the gold medal in 4-way, and the Airspeed 8-way lineup may lose the 8-way event for the first time. However, there is just the same potential and possibility that Airspeed will win both events for the first time in the history of Formation Skydiving.