posted Jan 7th, 2014 - The Paraclete XP Outdoor Championship 2014 is one of the earlier competitions this year and the smaller world meet version of the World Championship of Formation Skydiving that will follow in the summer of 2014 in the Czech Republic. The NSL-TV archives offer a closer look into the history of the event.

The outdoor part of the current Paraclete XP meet package was launched as the Shamrock Showdown in 2002. Many teams from overseas have visited DeLand in the spring for training camps before the skydiving season would begin in Europe and other parts of the western hemisphere, and the idea of a bigger training competition was well received by the visiting teams.

It was also the time shortly after DeLand Majik was formed, and Arizona Airspeed came back from Spain as the new 4way world champions of 2001. DeLand Majik was challenging Airspeed Vertical and invited the reigning 4way world champions to defend themselves. Airspeed Vertical agreed and traveled to DeLand. The Sun Path Products NSL News repoetd in March 2002.

Preview on March 1st, 2002

It looks as if the third meet of the Florida Skydiving League 2002 season may break all existing NSL records. The "FSL Shamrock Showdown" is turning into a little world meet and a big FSL meet. At this point, teams and competitors from the USA, the United Kingdom, Norway, Italy, the Netherlands and Ireland are expected to compete at Skydive DeLand on March 16 - 17.

These teams include the current world champion and US national team, Arizona Airspeed Vertical, the British national team, Sebastian XL, the Italian national team, Sinapsi and team pieces of the Dutch and Norwegian national teams. The participation of the international competitors will make the atmosphere in DeLand very special.

However, the most exciting part of the meet will most likely be the top teams challenging Airspeed Vertical. The world champions from Eloy have been undefeated ever since their first competition with the current lineup (Craig Girard, John Eagle, Mark Kirkby, Neal Houston, Marc Steinbaugh on video). This first Airspeed Vertical meet was the Valentine's Meet in February 2000.

Teams came as close as one single point at some meets, as the Golden Knights and PD Blue in 2000 and France has always been a serious challenger. However, no one has ever succeeded taking away the top honors from Airspeed Vertical since February 2000.

Vertical continued this streak at the first major meet in 2002 when they beat France and the Golden Knights at the Valentine's Meet/SSL 2 in February in Eloy. The challenge in DeLand in March will be tougher. Vertical will have to leave their home turf for the meet and the field of the best teams chasing the world champions will be bigger.

The Golden Knights will do their best to shorten the distance and catch up after Eloy in February. Sebastian XL will face Vertical for the first time with their 2002 lineup. There are rumors that even Genesis/PD Blue is planning to go up against the other top teams. And then there is a new factor in the Vertical game plan: DeLand Majik.

Valentine's Meet/SSL 2002 Meet 2		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Av.
Rank	AAA Class - Teams	5-3-H	1-P-K-14	13-1-D	C-12-8	19-M-17	G-J-9-20	L-O-4-F	2-10-22	15-Q-18	16-7-A	Total	Av.
1	AZ Airspeed Vertical	21	19	21	19	19	25	28	16	19	24	211	21.1
2	Perris Maubeuge	20	19	19	17	21	24	25	17	19	23	204	20.4
3	Golden Knights Gold	20	19	19	18	22	23	24	16	17	21	199	19.9
4	AZ Airspeed Zulu	18	17	17	17	18	21	0	13	16	18	155	15.5
5	Golden Knights Black	15	15	12	12	15	16	15	12	14	13	139	13.9
6	Endeavor	12	11	10	12	12	15	17	9	13	15	126	12.6
7	AZ Inertia	10	11	11	7	11	4	12	9	9	11	95	9.5
8	AZ Delirium	7	10	7	8	10	9	13	9	8	13	94	9.4

The new team with Solly Williams, Gary Smith, Joey Jones and Doug Park has never competed with the original lineup yet. Majik attended the NSL Championship 2001 as a guest team with Lise Aune filling in for Gary Smith and posted an impressive 21.7 average at Fantasy of Flight. However, things have changed since November 2001.

At this point in time, Majik is in full swing with all original team members. And they will have completed another 10-day training stretch right before the FSL meet in March. Could Majik be the first team to take away the first place from Airspeed Vertical? The "FSL Shamrock Showdown" will show.

When the FSL and Skydive DeLand management realized how much this event began growing, new plans were made, including a new name for the competition: the "FSL Shamrock Showdown". Omniskore with Tim "T2" Wagner was successfully requested. Three judges, T2, Craig Buxton and Richard Schachner will be busy all day long.

At this point, the FSL management has already counted a total of 22 teams expected to attend the meet. And this number does not include the teams of the Rookie Class. DeLand will have a very busy weekend. Several teams have requested to make it a 10-round event and the FSL management may offer this extension to all interested teams. However, for the NSL and FSL records, the originally planned six rounds will count.

More rounds on the second day of the meet will complete the whole dive pool and will also be used for an additional "Skins Game", where special prizes will be given to the winners of each round before and after handicap.

Just in time to accommodate the teams and competitors in DeLand, the Florida Skydiving League renewed their cooperation with the DeLand Holiday Inn Convention Center. For the meets in DeLand and for training camps of NSL participants in DeLand, the Holiday Inn offers first-class rooms for only $45 per night. To get the special rate, be sure to tell the reservationist that you are with the National Skydiving League. Reservations for the meet in March should be made as soon as possible. It will surely be a busy and exciting FSL weekend in DeLand.

Shamrock Showdown		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Av.
Rank	AAAClassTeams	12-H-2	J-L-G-D-P	6-Q-C-B	K-N-7-16	F-A-14-M	5-13-15	18-3-10	9-19-18	17-4-22	11-O-21	Total	Av.
1	DeLand Majik	19	34	31	23 (-2)	22	20	17	21	18	21	226	22.6
2	Airspeed Vertical	19	34	28	24	23	19	17	19 (-2)	19	21	223	22.3
3	Sebastian XL	17	27	22	20	23	16	14 (-1)	17	17	18	191	19.1
4	Italy Sinapsi	14	27	18 (-2)	21	21	14	14	17	15 (-2)	17	178	17.8
5	Punky Fish	14	24	21	16	17	13	11	14	13	13	156	15.6
6	Sweden Phenix	14	19 (-2)	19	17	17	11	13	6 (-6)	14	14	144	14.4
7	Blue Eye Majik	11	23	14 (-4)	19	14 (-4)	10	11	14	12	14	142	14.2
8	SpaceCenterTeiwaz	12	18	18	12	10 (-5)	13	11	14	9 (-2)	15	132	13.2
9	Jet Stream	11	15	15	13	13	10	11	12	11	11	122	12.2
10	SuperFly	11	15	12 (-1)	11	10 (-2)	9	10	11	7 (-2)	11	107	10.7
11	TBD	5	14	9 (-2)	9	12	8	4	10	9	8	88	8.8

Review on March 17th, 2002

It was incredible, exciting, almost mind-boggling. No team in the history of 4way Formation Skydiving competition had ever scored above 22.0 average in a 10-round meet. The exceptional athletes of Airspeed Vertical (Craig Girard, John Eagle, Neal Houston, Mark Kirkby, Marc Steinbaugh) had won each meet ever since they formed the team in the beginning of the 2000 season, and they have competed at many events, including USPA Nationals, World Cup and World Championship...

Then they traveled to DeLand to compete at the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2002 and posted a 22.3 meet average - their highest 10-round meet average in team history and in the history of 4way competition. And it still was not good enough today.

DeLand Majik did what nobody has done before and few people thought could happen at all. They defeated the reigning world champions by three points with a 22.6 average.

The emotions and the excitement in DeLand matched the quality and intensity of the competition. A very friendly atmosphere between the teams and competitors combined with very competitive skydiving and outstanding performances. Participants, spectators and media could enjoy two days of a fun event. The local TV media took the victory of the local heros to the screens the same night. The NSL News will follow up soon. The best two teams in the world were great sports after the meet was over. Majik and Vertical celebrated the history making scores together.

Vertical's veteran and multiple world champion in 4way and 8way, Craig Girard, found the right words for the events of this weekend: "We came here and performed as good as never before in our team history. There is no reason to be disappointed if this is not good enough to win. Somebody must have been incredibly good to beat us."

The NSL News will follow up with more meet information and pictures very soon. However, the NSL-TV already shows the jump that set the foundation for Majik's victory. In round three, Majik came up with a performance from a different planet and took the lead by three points. Enjoy this incredible performance for now. More coverage of the FSL Shamrock Showdown will follow soon on NSL-TV.