posted Jan 13th, 2015 - SDC Rhythm XP and Evolution, Canada's national 4-way team and bronze medalist at the FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2014, have known each other for several years.

Both teams launched their 4-way projects at about the same time. Evolution had a family lineup with father Michel Lemay and his three sons Martin, Vincent and Benoit, while SDC Rhythm XP was launched by a married couple, JaNette and Steve Lefkowitz.

Evolution and Rhythm went their own ways for a while, until they met for the first time at a 4-way competition, the USPA Nationals 2012.

SDC Rhythm XP won the first direct competition between the two world class teams, and it has never happened again, so far.

USPA Nationals 2012		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open	3,B,K,H	F,7,22	O,4,D,13	A,M,11,8	N,P,G,19	L,20,1	5,16,J	6,21,12	18,17,10	E,C,Q,15	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed (US)	30	28	24	23	34	22	28	19	20	37	265	26.5
2	SDC Rhythm XP (US)	30	24	23	24	25	21	25	17	19	30	238	23.8
3	Evolution (CA)	24	20	22	21	22	19	26	16	18	33	221	22.1

Evolution had competed for Canada three times at world meets (2006, 2008, 2010) while Rhythm had Arizona Airspeed in their way to a world meet after entering the AAA/Open Class competition at the USPA Nationals.

Rhythm's 2012 lineup included Chris Farina and Thiago Gomes who competed their last times for SDC Rhythm XP at the USPA Nationals 2012.

Then they were both recruited by Arizona Airspeed and won their first medals at a world meet two years later, silver in Prostejov 2014, and they continue with Airspeed's new lineup for the next two years.

Evolution changed the lineup after the USPA Nationals and the Mondial Dubai 2012, as well. Katie Woods became the new point, and the relationship between the two teams changed.

The new Evolution lineup finished ahead of SDC Rhythm XP at every meet that both teams attended. Evolution came also very close to the two former Rhythm members, Chris Farina and Thiago Gomes, in Prostejov 2014.

Paraclete Indoor 2014		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	K,13,22	15,3,10	D,B,6,9	G,7,E,18	11,4,L	A,21,1	J,Q,N,12	C,F,8,O	P,17,M,14	2,16,20	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa (BE)	27	25	43	33	30	28	33	35	30	25	309	30.9
2	Arizona Airspeed (US)	24	19	45	31	24	27	26	35	34	22	287	28.7
3	Evolution (CA)	23	23	38	28	26	28	29	34	31	22	282	28.2
4	VoltR (FR)	23	22	38	30	26	27	28	34	31	21	280	28.0
5	SDC Rhythm XP (US)	21	20	36	28	23	23	27	30	29	19	256	25.6

Videos: Evolution and SDC Rhythm XP at the Paraclete XP Outdoor 2014

Paraclete Outdoor 2014		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	18,2,O	D,19,22	G,C,P,10	9,A,L,H	K,16,B,Q	7,4,21	11,15,F	M,3,E,8	6,1,17	20,12,J	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed (US)	20	20	28	46	33	24	23	20	19	21	254	25.4
2	Evolution (CA)	21	22	25	40	30	21	23	23	20	19	244	24.4
3	VoltR (FR)	20	19	24	36	29	21	20	22	20	16	227	22.7
4	SDC Rhythm XP (US)	21	18	24	34	28	20	20	22	16	17	220	22.0

SDC Rhythm XP has consistently decreased the distance to Evolution since the new lineups met each other for their first outdoor competition (20.9 - 19.6), the Paraclete XP Outdoor Championship 2013 and then the first indoor competition (28.0 - 24.6), the World Challenge 2013.

The distance to Evolution is yet not a very important number for the team. The NSL Talk with coach Shannon Pilcher on 10 January 2015 made it very clear that SDC Rhythm XP has only one goal this year: Catching up with Arizona Airspeed.

The Rhythm team members confirmed this goal during the NSL Talk that followed the conversation with coach Shannon Pilcher.

The goal of challenging Airspeed is not new, however, there is time pressure this year, as Rhythm has to win the USPA Nationals 2015 to compete for the USA on home turf at the World Meet 2016.

Videos: NSL Talk with SDC Rhythm XP - Cross training with Evolution

The earlier story broke the news that Shannon Pilcher will be working with SDC Rhythm XP throughout the whole 2015 season, and the Rhythm members explained during the interview how the team came to the decision.

Coach Shannon Pilcher has supervised the Canadian team from the beginnings to this year's bronze medals, as the previous story explained.

However, Shannon Pilcher explained that he was most impressed how Evolution improved dramatically just in the 2014 season and ended up only four points behind Arizona Airspeed's silver medal position.

SDC Rhythm XP has been aware of the Evolution story when they made their choice. Now the pressure is on coach Shannon Pilcher, as well...

Show your support - Help the NSL with a Donation

5th DIPC 2014		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	Q,5,6	F,22,18	19,8,21	4,16,K	14,A,H,17	B,12,E,3	O,J,15,L	C,20,N,G	M,9,P,7	11,1,10	Total	Avg
1	Evolution (CA)	27	21	18	22	27	24	33	27	34	19	252	25.2
2	NMP-PCH Hayabusa (BE)	26	22	18	22	19	24	32	27	32	19	241	24.1
3	SDC Rhythm XP (US)	24	22	19	19	25	22	29	26	35	17	238	23.8

It was still almost coincidence when the coaching decision came months after plans were made for another training project that SDC Rhythm XP had arranged shortly after the USPA Nationals 2014. Rhythm invited their role model team from Canada to an indoor cross training camp this month at Paraclete XP.

The video shows how two Evolution members were flying with two Rhythm members for a few hours of tunnel time. The two teams mixed up their pieces for this training project. Rhythm's front piece (JaNette and Steve Lefkowitz) broke up and flew in all variations with Katie Woods and Vincent Lemay. Rhythm's rear piece (Christy Frikken, Mikhail Markine) never touched each other and did the same with Martin and Benoit Lemay.

The teams trained without Shannon Pilcher, as the plan was made before hew committed to the coaching job, and they exchanged experiences, training methods and technical details. Now the clock is running until Round 1 at the USPA Nationals 2015 - for SDC Rhythm XP and coach Shannon Pilcher together.