posted Feb 15th, 2019 - The NSL News has visited Skydive City a few times in the past years when the Qatar Falcons 8-way team visited Florida for winter and spring training camps.

Then it was the update on 14 December 2018 that reported a change in Qatar's Formation Skydiving delegation. Coaches Gary Smith, who had been working with the Falcons 8-way team, and 4-way coach Jeremie Rollet had decided to switch their responsibilities.

DeLand Majik and DeLand Fire 4-way world champion Gary Smith would take over the Qatar Tigers, and French 4-way and 8-way world champion Jeremie Rollet switched back to the 8-way event.

Jeremie Rollet is currently training with the Qatar Falcons once again at Skydive City, and it was the next opportunity for the NSL News to follow the progress of Qatar's Formation Skydiving delegation.

Gary Smith recently attended the first indoor competition with the Qatar Tigers under his umbrella at the Wind Games 2019, where the 4-way team finished with a 30.0 average. Former Tigers coach Jeremie Rollet said that it was a great start for Gary Smith with a very consistent performance over the ten rounds in Spain.NSL Live Talk with Jeremie Rollet on Thursday at Skydive City - Qatar Falcons training jumps

The Qatar Falcons will soon attend their next competition, as well, after finishing with 8-way bronze medals at the FAI World Meet 2018. They started the 2018/2019 indoor season with the 8-way competition at the Weembinamic where they outscored the strong Weembi Girls by seven points with a 23.9 average.

Next week they will meet the reigning 8-way world champions, the Golden Knights, and the new Paraclete XP8 lineup at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2019.

The Qatar Falcons finished up their outdoor training at Skydive City on Friday and then travel to Raeford to get ready for the next indoor competition after several hours of tunnel training at Paraclete XP.

Jeremie Rollet said that Gary Smith handed the 8-way team over with a very good and solid foundation, as the bronze medal position in Australia confirmed in October last year. He is able to get straight into the technical details and his own experiences as a 2-time 8-way world champion of 2006 and 2008.

FAI World Meet 2018			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		21,L,B,G		22,18,17		19,7,O		J,16,12		10,A,D,15		Q,M,F,C,N		H,20,P,13		6,14,11		E,2,5		4,1,3		Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	24		21		18		24		19	-2	29		21		18	-1	17		33		224	22.4
2	Tanay	RU	21	-1	21		17		22	-1	20		28		16	-1	18		18		28	-1	209	20.9
3	Qatar Falcons	QA	19		16		15		18	-1	14	-1	21		16		14	-1	14		23	-1	170	17.0
4	MicroClim8	UK	17		15		12		14	-1	15		21		15		12	-2	13		18	-1	152	15.2

He started by introducing a few more variations of 8-way exits and focusing on the first page. The Qatar Falcons applied two different 8-way exits in the past to build the first formations of any sequence, and Jeremie Rollet added two more options to the team's exit repertoire.

Jeremie Rollet also asked the Falcons to jump from a lower altitude of 7,000 ft. for a while to focus the attention only on the new exits and the performance of the first page. The potential results of this specific training will not be visible at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship, while a few videos of training jumps offer insights of the exits and sub-terminal performance.

Team captain Abdulla Ahmad Al Hammadi said that the team can feel a different coaching style, and his team was happy with the beginning of the new time period, while interpreter El Fateh Shahata, who lives in Orlando, said that the language has not changed much: "Skydiving language is the same - in English and in French..."

The Qatar Falcons have a 26.9 indoor average in their records, posted at the French Indoor Nationals 2018, and launched the 2018/2019 indoor season with 23.9 at Weembi in November. Last year, they finished one point ahead of XP8 with 24.9 and miles behind the Golden Knights (30.4) at the Paraclete meet. All three teams will probably finish much closer together at the end of next week...

Paraclete XP Indoor 2018			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		17,19,B	J,O,21,N	Q,8,A,22	10,P,2	13,5,6	12,H,18	9,C,G,K	M,D,E,4	1,F,7	3,16,11	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	26	31	27	24	25	31	31	39	30	40	304	30.4
2	Qatar Falcons	QA	21	26	22	19	22	27	22	27	29	34	249	24.9
3	XP8	US	20	22	22	21	20	26	23	33	29	32	248	24.8
4	Veloce QRF	IN	18	20	19	17	19	21	22	29	23	29	217	21.7
5	Rhythm8	US	18	18	20	15	14	21	21	24	19	21	191	19.1
6	Veloce Captain Jack	IN	14	18	16	15	16	17	20	25	19	22	182	18.2
7	Blocksmiths XP	US	14	16	16	16	15	15	17	19	17	18	163	16.3
8	Spaceland Lite	US	12	12	12	13	13	14	13	18	17	18	142	14.2