posted Apr 6th, 2020 - One team at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2020 used the event to make the transition from AA/Intermediate Class to AAA/Advanced Class competition. It was the 4-way Intermediate Class champion of the USPA Nationals 2019, Platinum XP, who took on the whole FAI dive pool and the first slot-switching sequences.

Actually, only two of the four Platinum XP members at Paraclete XP were new to AAA Class competition, original team member and Platinum XP founder Don Hurd, and Matthias Kaminski, who had joined the team in 2017. Player-coaches John D'Annunzio and Brian Krause are very familiar with the complete AAA Class dive pool, of course.

Don Hurd and Matthias Kaminski both would still be eligible for AA/Intermediate Class competition, even at the USPA Nationals. They had missed the national outdoor championships due to injury and health troubles. Platinum XP's lineup at the USPA Nationals consisted of player-coach John D'Annunzio, Jason Adams, Max McParland and Ryan Weeks, with Matt McLean on camera.

Don Hurd and Matthias Kaminski both had still competed for Platinum XP at the Paraclete XP Summer Classic, where Jeana Billings took John D'Annunzio's player-coach position. This lineup finished almost with exactly the same average (13.4) that won the AA/Intermediate Class gold medals (13.3) a few months later at the same place.

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USPA Nationals 2019		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Intermediate	E,F,K,22	13,15	19,8	J,P,M,L	7,18	1,9	D,14,Q	11,20	B,A,2	21,O,G	Total	Avg
1	Platinum XP	13	11	11	22	11	15	12	9	14	15	133	13.3
2	Stockholm Syndrome	14	10	11	16	11	13	10	6	12	12	115	11.5
3	Carolina Ice XP	11	9	6	21	9	13	11	7	14	13	114	11.4
4	Spaceland Toxic	12	8	10	17	10	13	10	8	12	12	112	11.2
5	SDC Rheology XP	13	9	7	19	8	11	11	9	12	10	109	10.9
6	Jumptown Precision	13	6	7	18	9	12	10	8	12	13	108	10.8
7	MWFF Mad Props	12	8	8	16	8	10	10	8	12	11	103	10.3
8	4 The Hard Way	10	8	6	21	9	10	9	7	10	12	102	10.2
9	Tail Spin	12	10	9	18	8	9	8	5	10	10	99	9.9
10	Get Schwifty!	8	7	8	17	9	12	10	6	11	10	98	9.8
11	SCZ ZEUS	6	9	6	17	10	12	10	6	10	11	97	9.7
11	4Tune	10	8	6	15	9	12	10	7	8	12	97	9.7
13	Perris Bold & Beautiful	12	7	7	15	8	11	8	7	11	8	94	9.4
14	Khaboom	9	8	8	15	8	10	5	6	11	13	93	9.3
15	STF Precision	12	7	7	15	6	9	7	7	13	8	91	9.1
16	inXPerience	6	7	7	15	10	10	10	3	8	10	86	8.6
17	Perris Twirly Pants	9	6	7	11	5	9	9	7	13	7	83	8.3
18	Burble Me Softly	10	5	7	9	7	8	6	6	11	8	77	7.7
19	Post Exchange XP	8	7	7	12	7	4	5	6	10	7	73	7.3
20	AF Brainfreeze	9	7	7	11	6	6	6	2	11	6	71	7.1
21	Turbulence	9	6	5	9	7	8	5	4	8	9	70	7.0
22	Carolina Bootie Babes	8	5	4	12	6	6	7	5	7	6	66	6.6
23	Perris Oddballs	9	5	5	9	5	7	5	3	9	7	64	6.4
24	Spaceland Toxic Thunder	6	4	3	11	4	5	6	5	9	9	62	6.2
25	Carolina Relative Humility XP	7	6	4	7	5	6	5	4	9	6	59	5.9
25	7 Foot 4-Way	5	6	5	9	3	7	6	4	9	5	59	5.9
27	C.I.A.	0	5	2	8	7	4	5	7	10	9	57	5.7
28	DeLands Hit Show	7	3	1	7	5	8	1	5	7	5	49	4.9
29	Strangers in Flight	2	4	5	7	3	4	4	3	5	7	44	4.4
30	OS Quad Squad	4	4	3	6	5	5	4	1	5	5	42	4.2
31	Ranch Victorious Secrets	4	2	3	2	3	4	1	3	2	4	28	2.8

Platinum XP at the USPA Nationals 2019 - Video Footage Courtesy of USPA/OmniSkore

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Don Hurd and Matthias Kaminski both recovered well from their health problems and were back in action after the USPA Nationals. In fact, Don Hurd organized a Platinum XP reunion as a part of his own recovery and comeback process. The complete 2017/2018 lineup (Don Hurd, Eric Tudor, Jason Adams, Matthias Kaminski) met at their home drop zone, Skydive Alabama, last summer for a fun training day.

However, Don Hurd and Matthias Kaminski were already making plans for the 2020 season, after missing the USPA Nationals. John D'Annunzio would be back as the team's player-coach, and Platinum XP was looking for a 4th member. John D'Annunzio's Airspeed XP8 team mate Brian Krause offered to fill the slot for the 2020 season. Don Hurd and Matthias Kaminski did not spend too much time crunching the numbers, and the 2020 lineup was soon complete.

The new lineup also made it much easier for Don Hurd and Matthias Kaminski to decide how to move on. The NSL News had reported on 18 November 2018 that the Platinum XP 2018 lineup had to make a difficult decision between AA/Intermediate or AAA/Advanced Class training and competition in 2019. The situation at the beginning of the 2020 season with the new lineup did not even need serious consideration, even though Don Hurd and Matthias Kaminski would still be eligible for AA/Intermediate Class medals at the USPA Nationals.

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Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2020		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Advanced	21,15,10	7,5,G	13,L,11	3,K,B,6	19,8,9	M,P,14,C	N,A,17,1	20,16,Q	F,22,D,H	0,2,4	Total	Avg
1	Vega XP	15	22	19	21	20	28	21	17	27	19	209	20.9
2	Flying Spaghetti Monsters	16	24	19	19	19	26	22	16	22	17	200	20.0
3	Lucky Chris	15	19	17	19	18	22	19	15	21	17	182	18.2
4	Platinum XP	13	18	15	16	19	23	19	13	20	13	169	16.9
5	Dramatic Pause	13	16	16	17	16	21	15	14	21	17	166	16.6

Platinum XP at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2010

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Don Hurd, Matthias Kaminski, John D'Annunzio and Brian Krause began with their indoor training for the 2020 season and attended their first AAA Class competition together in the 4-way Advanced Class of the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2020. They finished one point ahead (16.9 - 16.8) of their AA/Intermediate Class average at the 2019 event.

The same 2020 lineup was planning to continue throughout the year, even though there would not be much training. John D'Annunzio and Brian Krause have to give all of their attention to 8-way training and competition with Airspeed XP8. However, Don Hurd, Matthias Kaminski agreed to take what they could get.

The learning opportunity could not be much better. Don Hurd is Brian Krause's piece partner in the front piece, while Matthias Kaminski can learn everything about the rear piece from his piece partner John D'Annunzio.

Then came the corona virus crisis and changed everything. Together with all other 4-way and 8-way teams and competitors, Platinum XP is now waiting out the complete shutdown of any indoor and outdoor operations. They are hoping that there will be time to train after the world meet and before the USPA Nationals 2020, where they would compete in the AAA/Advanced Class. This all depends now on the corona crisis situation...