posted Mar 19th, 2019 - The Golden Knights are used to be in the top spot on the 8-way leaderboards at the end of an indoor or outdoor competition. In fact, it was almost nine years ago when the U.S. Army's 8-way team finished only in 2nd place. The French 8-way team of 2010 won the FAI world meet gold medals in Menzelinsk, Russia.

Team captains Brian Krause and Sean Sweeney have won every single 8-way competition ever since with their changing lineups, and new team captain Andrew Starr took over after winning his own 4th gold medal in Australia 2018. He was filming the Golden Knights in Dubai 2012 and waited for his full slot as the alternate in Prostejov 2014. Then he was in the active lineups of 2016 and 2018.

The NSL News reported his very challenging situation on 7 November 2018, when he had his new 2019 lineup together. Only three 2018 world champions (Andrew Starr, Jennifer Davidson, David Flynn) continued, and videographer Joe Bradshaw would move on into the active lineup.

Result of the significant changes in the lineup was not only that the Golden Knights did not win the first meet since Australia 2018, and after nine undefeated years. Three other 8-way teams placed ahead of the Golden Knights at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship.

Paraclete XP Indoor 2019			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		O,4,B,10	17,6,15	19.9.7	L.K.G.18	21.J.12	M.E.P.D.22	3.1.H	Q.A.16.N	11.2.C	13.5.F	Total	Avg
1	Paraclete XP8	US	28	29	22	30	26	30	43	35	27	26	296	29.6
2	Qatar Falcons	QA	28	27	19	29	22	31	36	35	24	22	273	27.3
3	Veloce QRF 1	FR	23	23	18	24	20	22	32	31	21	19	233	23.3
4	Golden Knights	US	22	21	17	23	19	23	27	24	17	20	213	21.3
5	Veloce QRF 2	FR	18	18	13	19	13	15	23	23	15	16	173	17.3
6	LJ's Angels	US	17	15	14	20	15	18	22	19	13	17	170	17.0
7	Blocksmiths XP	US	17	15	13	19	13	15	21	19	9	14	155	15.5
8	Veloce QRF 3	FR	16	12	13	19	12	16	19	21	11	15	154	15.4
9	Spaceland Lite	US	16	14	11	17	14	15	20	19	11	12	149	14.9

Paraclete XP8 and Golden Knights at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2019

It was not really a big surprise for team captain Andrew Starr, who has been in the middle of training the new team members and get them ready for the performance level that the Golden Knights have been used to in the last decade.

Even the 8-way competition at Paraclete XP still had some unexpected obstacles. World champion videographer Joe Bradshaw had to step back before even taking his slot in the active lineup, as he has to serve other purposes in the U.S. Army. New team videographer Andy Sippl took his slot for the Paraclete competition, and he will now keep it for the outdoor season, as well.

That was not the only change. New member Rico Sifuentes was also not available, and Matt Davidson helped out for the meet. It was the last competition for him after more than two decades with the Golden Knights and five FAI world meet gold medals.

Joe Bradshaw will come back only for a short period of time on camera this summer. Team captain Andrew Starr does not even know by now who will be filming the team after that and at the USPA Nationals 2019. However, he is confident that he will find a new team member for the camera slot from the whole pool of Golden Knights videographers.

FAI World Meet 2010			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		3,21,N	6,20,9	E,G,17,5	K,16,2	12,C,22	B,D,M,1	7,15,J	13,L,P,11	4,18,O	10,14,19	Total	Avg
1	France	FR	25	19	16	21	22	25	18	19	23	15	203	20.3
2	Golden Knights	US	23	17	18	20	22	27	20	17	21	11	196	19.6
3	Barkli	RU	20	19	16	17	22	20	18	19	20	14	185	18.5
4	Norway	NO	8	5	6	7	7	7	8	9	10	5	72	7.2
5	Kazakhstan	KZ	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	4	0.4

Andrew Starr has been discussing the situation with former Golden Knights team captains Brian Krause and Sean Sweeney, and even with Tanay 8-way coach Craig Girard, who trained and competed with the Golden Knights in the late 90's.

Brian Krause was in a similar situation when he re-built the Golden Knights 8-way team in 2009, after a 7-year period with the U.S. Army focus on 4-way competition. However, he was able to bring his very strong and experienced 4-way lineup (Brian Krause, Matt Davidson, Kurt Isenbarger, Sean Sweeney) into the new 8-way team.

The 2009 lineup did not win the USPA Nationals and still competed in Menzelinsk 2010, as Arizona Airspeed wanted to focus on 4-way competition only. France took the 8-way gold medals in 2010, and Brian Krause needed his own four years for getting his lineup ready to win FAI gold medals.

Andrew Starr has an even more challenging start as the new team captain. It still does not hold him back from following the same path. He is convinced that he has a lineup with highly motivated team members who will get themselves ready for the upcoming challenges: "They just have to eat, breathe and dream 8-way for a while, and they will be ready..."