posted Feb 14th, 2020 - NSL News updates have recently come from Skydive City on a regular basis. The skydiving center on the west coast of Florida has made Formation Skydiving training and competition a priority. Results of the efforts were regular training camps of world-class teams in the winter season, and Skydive City is also hosting this year's USPA Nationals and the Shamrock Showdown.

The latest visit of the NSL News came shortly after the NSL Live Talk with Qatar coaches Gary Smith and Jeremie Rollett, together with Golden Knights team captain and SDC Rhythm XP member Andrew Starr, on February 5th.

The Golden Knights had just arrived for their own winter training camp at Skydive City, and Andrew Starr joined the conversation with Gary Smith and Jeremie Rollett at the end of the first training day. The topics were not related much to the U.S. Army team, even though Andrew Starr mentioned that his 8-way team is approaching training and competition in different ways this year, and in the near future.

He said that he would be glad to elaborate more on the special topic, and the NSL News scheduled a new NSL Live Talk meeting for February 10th. This time, Golden Knights members Jennifer Davidson and Jeshua Stahler joined the conversation, as they play important roles in the new Golden Knights plans.

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Team captain Andrew Starr, Jeshua Stahler and Jennifer Davidson represent the experienced part of the new and current Golden Knights 8-way lineup. Andrew "Drew" Starr has won four 8-way gold medals in his career. 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 and eventually became Sean Sweeney's successor as the team captain.

Jeshua "Jesse" Stahler is only one title behind Drew Starr. He won his first 8-way gold medal in Prostejov 2014 and defended the title successfully in Ottawa 2016, then again in Australia 2018. He was actually not in the Golden Knights 8-way lineup of 2017 and 2018, after he had switched to 4-way VFS for the new U.S. Army team in this event.

However, Drew Starr called him back to 8-way action on a shorter call when team member Larry Miller left the team in the world meet season. Jesse Stahler stepped into a different 8-way slot quickly and helped to save the U.S. 8-way gold medals that year.

His VFS team mate Reese Pendleton joined Jesse Stahler in the new 8-way lineup this year and has become one of the five new members after Australia 2018, including videographer Andy Sippl.

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FAI World Meet 2016			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women		12,A,16		18,15,O		1,F,E,C		17,B,14		10,2,20		21,11,G		J,5,19		L,M,K,7		D,8,4		3,13,Q		Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	21		21		30		20	-2	17		19		24		35		20		17	-2	224	22.4
2	French Girls	FR	21		18		30	-1	23		17		18	-2	24		34		18	-1	14		217	21.7
3	NFTO	UK	17		15		21		19		13		16		18		26	-1	17		13	-1	175	17.5
4	Parachute Montreal Fuzion	CA	18		15	-1	19	-1	16	-2	14		16		17	-2	25		17		14		171	17.1
5	Les Stunts	BE	15		14		20	-1	16		11	-1	13		16		24		15		13		157	15.7
6	Bellatrix	AU	13		12		20	-1	16		12		13		15		22		13		14		150	15.0
7	Skymix	DE	13		11		15	-1	15		12		13		14		23		12		12	-1	140	14.0
8	No Mercy	PL	14		14		19	-1	13	-1	9		11	-1	12	-2	19	-4	14		11	-1	136	13.6
9	Infra Red Band	RU	15		12	-1	16	-3	13	-1	9	-2	11		13		17	-2	14		10		130	13.0
10	CZ Ladies	CZ	11		11		14	-1	13		9		10		12		19		9	-2	10		118	11.8
11	Valkyria	DK	10		8		16		10		9		10		11	-1	17	-2	12		10		113	11.3

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Jen Davidson has her own and very successful version of a 4-way and 8-way combination. She first won a gold medal in 4-way Women with the Golden Knights at the FAI World Meet 2016 before she switched to 8-way training and competition. Her team mate in 2016 was JaNette Lefkowitz who stepped in quickly when Angela Nichols did not continue the same year. Her story connects somehow with Andrew Starr, who is now filling in for JaNette Lefkowitz and SDC Rhythm XP.

Jennifer Davidson then won the 8-way gold medal in Australia 2018, together with her husband Matt Davidson, who is now her 8-way opponent as a member of Airspeed XP8. Jennifer Davidson became the second female Formation Skydiving competitor, after Eliana Rodriguez, with outdoor gold medals in 4-way Women and 8-way. Christine Malnis, Sophia Pecout and Clementine Le Bohec of the current French national 8-way team will try to copy the same achievement this year.

Jennifer Davidson, Andrew Starr and Jeshua Stahler are also 4-way team mates for the Golden Knights Gold lineup. Nik Grimm is completing their lineup. Jennifer Davidson could copy Eliana Rodriguez' unique triple-gold achievement (8-way, 4-way Women, 4-way Open) if the Golden Knights get to the 4-way top spot in the United States.

It's not going to happen any time soon, as the Golden Knights priority is on 8-way, even though their new approach to 8-way training and competition includes a 4-way portion. Jen Davidson and Jesse Stahler explained more of the training plan during the NSL Live Talk.