posted Jan 8th, 2016 - It's not breaking news any longer that SDC Rhythm XP has a new lineup. The Sun Path Products NSL News reported on December 20th that "the Rhythm and Turbo front pieces have joined forces" and followed up a day later with the news that "Airspeed's Thomas Hughes steps back at the end of the 2016 season".

Upcoming personnel changes for the Rhythm lineup meant a visit to team tryouts in the past. It did not happen this time.

The two front pieces of both teams discussed the merger without official tryouts and met at Paraclete XP for indoor training and planning sessions.

However, a trip of the Sun Path Products NSL News to Rhythm's first outdoor training in Sebastian has also become a regular event at the beginning of the year.

Yesterday's visit was even more interesting, as it was the first training day with the new lineup. The video clip includes live NSL Talk with the whole team and the video of the very first team jump.

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Rank	4-way Open - Top 10 in 2015	Country	Averages	Best 3
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	27.8 - 25.6 - 26.5	26.6
2	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	25.7 - 25.0 - 26.9	25.9
3	SDC Rhythm XP	US	24.5 - 23.6	24.1
4	Golden Knights	US	23.3 - 22.4 - 22.7	22.8
5	Black Cat	RU	21.8 - 21.9 - 21.3 - 23.4	22.4
6	Thunder ISR	BE	22.1	22.1
7	Carolina Turbo XP	US	22.0 - 21.7	21.9
8	Qatar Tigers	QA	21.4	21.4
9	France 4-way Open	FR	21.7 - 20.9	21.3
9	French FLY-IN Girls	FR	19.9 - 20.3 - 21.3 - 22.4	21.3

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SDC Rhythm XP has lost two team members to Arizona Airspeed in the past years (Thiago Gomes, Chris Farina), and Mikhail Markine will join Airspeed at the end of the 2016 season after three years with Rhythm.

Once again, it did not take too long until JaNette and Steve Lefkowitz had a new lineup and launched a new Rhythm era.

The beginnings of the Rhythm 2016 lineup might be even more promising than in the past. SDC Rhythm XP finished the 2015 season in 3rd place of the SKYLEAGUE.COM World Outdoor Team Rankings.

Carolina Turbo XP is in 7th place of the same rankings and the US team with the most significant progression last year.

The new Rhythm lineup now brings together the two founding members of the Rhythm project and two original Turbo members.

The new combination will probably not need much time to reach the performance and scoring level where SDC Rhythm XP finished in 2015.

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The Sun Path Products NSL News had discussed the new 4-way situation in the U.S.A. with Chris Talbert and Gary Smith on January 5th.

The 2016 season will most likely not bring any surprises until Arizona Airspeed's current lineup will be done after the Mondial 2016 and USPA Nationals.

It will become more interesting when both teams will be facing each other with their new lineups for the first time.

Rhythm will have trained and competed a whole year with the new lineup, while Airspeed has to deal with a slot scramble for the new lineup with Mikhail Markine and without Thomas Hughes.

The new Rhythm lineup has made the slot assignments by now. Only Turbo point Andrew Happick continues in the same slot. His piece partner of the past years, Doug Barron, has moved to the tail slot.

JaNette and Steve Lefkowitz have also separated from each other for the first time in their Rhythm career.

Steve Lefkowitz moves from point to outside center and forms a very experienced front piece with Andrew Happick.

JaNette Lefkowitz takes the inside center slot, which puts the complete rear piece into new positions and jobs.

JaNette and Steve Lefkowitz are still working together in the center, while the former Turbo members will try to see each other across the formations.

It will not take too long until the new SDC Rhythm XP lineup will go public for the first time. Paraclete XP Indoor Championship and Shamrock Showdown are on the 2016 meet agenda.

JaNette Lefkowitz also announced a new project during the live NSL Talk, which encourages women to become skydivers.

Steve Lefkowitz then said that Rhythm will offer new sophisticated resources via mobile web application. It will be another exciting Rhythm year...