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Paul Hofstee still completed his Falco commitment with two more scheduled indoor meets, the ISR Grand Prix and the Belgian Indoor Nationals. At the same time, he has already been in training with the German team.
Falco did not wait until Paul Hofstee would have left. They started their recruiting campaign as soon as they knew that Paul Hofstee would not come back for Falco in 2020, and it did not take too long until Valerie Van Daele, Maarten Coenen and Hans Van der Avert found their 4th team member for next year.
Two ISR FireFlash members were helping Falco in their recruiting campaign. Sven Ibens has been coaching Falco, and his team mate Glenn Straeluyc knew one of the candidates very well. The cooperation between Falco, Sven Ibens and Glenn Straeluyc was successful and rewarded with only a short time period until Falco had a new and complete lineup.
Belgian Indoor Nationals 2019 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Total | Avg | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rank | AAA Class | 15,16,18 | F,2,11 | K,14,21 | 7,E,O,N | H,1,B,M | L,A,C,4 | 17,22,8 | D,12,19 | 6,5,13 | 9,G,10 | Total | Avg | |
1 | Weembi Unicorns | FR | 19 | 24 | 22 | 39 | 36 | 31 | 22 | 26 | 25 | 28 | 272 | 27.2 |
2 | Out of the Blue | NL | 17 | 22 | 18 | 31 | 32 | 25 | 17 | 17 | 20 | 22 | 221 | 22.1 |
3 | Falco | BE | 17 | 21 | 17 | 28 | 28 | 22 | 16 | 19 | 19 | 21 | 208 | 20.8 |
4 | Synergy | IT | 13 | 18 | 17 | 26 | 26 | 18 | 13 | 18 | 13 | 19 | 181 | 18.1 |
5 | Ayro | BE | 16 | 18 | 13 | 27 | 27 | 16 | 13 | 16 | 16 | 17 | 179 | 17.9 |
6 | JETMAX | BE | 15 | 16 | 16 | 23 | 27 | 20 | 10 | 14 | 17 | 18 | 176 | 17.6 |
7 | Stardust | BE | 11 | 15 | 15 | 22 | 22 | 19 | 12 | 14 | 13 | 17 | 160 | 16.0 |
8 | Trance-Ition | NL | 12 | 17 | 15 | 21 | 17 | 17 | 11 | 14 | 14 | 17 | 155 | 15.5 |
9 | Black Devils | BE | 11 | 14 | 10 | 19 | 18 | 13 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 11 | 132 | 13.2 |
10 | Gravity Abuse | BE | 10 | 14 | 12 | 19 | 17 | 12 | 8 | 13 | 10 | 15 | 130 | 13.0 |
11 | Vortex | UK | 10 | 10 | 12 | 16 | 19 | 13 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 124 | 12.4 |
Glenn Straeluyc has known the FS One team members not only since they formed the team. The story begins at AFF Level 1 when he and Grim Swinnen were Neal Willems' AFF instructors. Glenn Straeluyc remembers his AFF experience with the new Falco member: "He was such a student where you fly next to him in AFF and think 'What am I doing here, I don't need to help him'. At AFF Level 7 he was probably better than me..."
Nick Mathe, Glenn Straeluyc's best friend, who is also AFF instructor, noticed Neal Willems' talent later in this course, as well, and they kept an eye on him.
After a few months of skydiving at Skydive Flanders, Neal Willems kept showing a lot of interest in 4-way training and competition. He was motivated to learn more about 4-way when he was watching newly formed Belgian teams doing their business (Stardust, Ayro). That's when Nick Mathe came up with the idea of starting a new 4-way team with Neal Willems. They asked Grim Swinnen to join, Glenn Straeluyc became the player-coach for FS One, and former Les Stunts videographer Svekke Hassewer was filming the new team.
Czech Open Indoor Nationals 2019 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Total | Avg | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rank | AAA Class | 3,7,22 | 15,4,5 | N,14,10 | 13,20,E | O,L,C,11 | 18,A,19 | 21,17,K | Q,2,G,1 | P,H,B,J,16 | F,8,M,9 | Total | Avg | |
1 | HF Flying Circus | CZ | 21 | 19 | 21 | 20 | 29 | 21 | 23 | 22 | 37 | 29 | 242 | 24.2 |
2 | HF Bad Boys | CZ | 19 | 20 | 19 | 18 | 28 | 19 | 22 | 20 | 34 | 32 | 231 | 23.1 |
3 | Skydive University Slovakia | SK | 17 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 24 | 19 | 18 | 20 | 27 | 26 | 202 | 20.2 |
4 | KA | HU | 17 | 17 | 17 | 15 | 24 | 18 | 20 | 18 | 29 | 26 | 201 | 20.1 |
5 | Sky.... | CZ | 13 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 20 | 13 | 15 | 17 | 24 | 20 | 164 | 16.4 |
6 | M Team | CZ | 13 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 18 | 11 | 12 | 15 | 17 | 21 | 143 | 14.3 |
7 | Accord | CZ | 9 | 8 | 11 | 12 | 15 | 11 | 13 | 13 | 17 | 18 | 127 | 12.7 |
Rank | AA Class | 20,11 | Q,9,1 | 22,L,N | 6,F,B | D,7,14 | C,15,A | 8,J,P | M,18,O | 13,21 | 2,G,4 | Total | Avg | |
1 | Flyspot One2Three | PL | 16 | 24 | 18 | 26 | 22 | 16 | 21 | 23 | 17 | 19 | 202 | 20.2 |
2 | FS ONE | BE | 13 | 22 | 17 | 22 | 17 | 19 | 17 | 22 | 15 | 15 | 179 | 17.9 |
3 | HF Cubs | CZ | 14 | 16 | 16 | 25 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 19 | 14 | 11 | 166 | 16.6 |
4 | HF Dragonflies | CZ | 12 | 17 | 13 | 21 | 17 | 15 | 17 | 18 | 10 | 13 | 153 | 15.3 |
5 | HF Flying Rebels | CZ | 13 | 15 | 13 | 21 | 16 | 18 | 14 | 13 | 16 | 10 | 149 | 14.9 |
6 | Mimozemky | CZ | 9 | 14 | 11 | 18 | 14 | 9 | 12 | 13 | 10 | 11 | 121 | 12.1 |
7 | HF Chameleons | CZ | 7 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 78 | 7.8 |
Rank | A Class | 19,P | G,B,L | A,H,7 | E,8 | 2,Q | C,D,6 | 4,21 | N,J,F | M,O,K | 9,J | Total | Avg | |
1 | MAD Team | PL | 18 | 19 | 29 | 19 | 20 | 23 | 17 | 38 | 47 | 31 | 261 | 26.1 |
2 | Ladies Power | PL | 19 | 28 | 27 | 20 | 17 | 23 | 17 | 39 | 39 | 30 | 259 | 25.9 |
3 | High Five | CZ | 13 | 21 | 21 | 10 | 11 | 16 | 12 | 23 | 31 | 18 | 176 | 17.6 |
However, the friendship between the FS One members even strengthened while Glenn Straeluyc was hospitalized: "I think Neal and Grim visited me in the hospital almost every day. And they had to drive two hours each day to do this. Once they entered the hospital, completely dressed in jumpsuits, to get some tunnel briefing before a training session that evening. They even practiced an exit entering the elevator of the hospital..."
Glenn Straeluyc had to focus mostly on his comeback with ISR FireFlash, while Falco began to look for a new team member and asked Neal Willems to join. All FS One members supported him to use this great opportunity and step up in the 4-way world. In fact, Glenn Straeluyc thinks that Falco will soon be on the same level where they were before Paul Hofstee left. Sven Ibens will continue to work with Falco, which guarantees ongoing progress, Glenn Straeluyc believes: "In my opinion, Sven Ibens is one of the world's best coaches, so they are learning from the best."
Sven Ibens is looking forward to working with the new lineup: "Neal Willems is a young guy, a great team player and has promising talent. Last week, we finalized the Falco team plans for 2020, and all looks very nice with a great plan..."