posted Apr 20th, 2001 - The NSL News continues to toggle back and forth between new NSL Live Talk and other interviews that were documented in the past. The first three ones with Carl-Erik Tuv, Chris Talbert and Craig Girard were all related to each other, as they were direct opponents in the same time period.

The new NSL News interview with Golden Knights team captain John Hoover took place on 20 April 2001. Craig Girard was preparing for 4-way and 8-way double-duties at the FAI World Meet 2001, where he would meet Carl-Erik Tuv in 4-way competition.

Chris Talbert and John Hoover had switched to 4-way with the Golden Knights, as Chris Talbert explained in his interview in November 2000. They would miss the world meet in 2001 and then be one of the top contenders in 4-way at the USPA Nationals later that year. John Hoover provided a preview of the 2001 season.

"The NSL News had the chance to ask John Hoover a few questions regarding the current race towards the gold medals at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving in June 2001. Hoover is the current team captain of the Golden Knights. He won 8-way gold medals with the Golden Knights at the world meets in 1995 and 1997. This year, he will not compete in Spain. Arizona Airspeed will try to defend their 8-way gold and try to win back the gold medal in 4-way. The Golden Knights have set their priority on 4-way. Hoover will be watching the competition at the world meet carefully. The NSL News interviewed him this week."

NSL News Interview with John Hoover on 20 April 2001

NSL News: John, the world meet 2001 is only eight weeks away. You will miss this one. Are you sad?

John Hoover: I always hate to miss a competition, but I am happy to finally be doing 4-way and that comes at a price. The price is missing this world meet.

NSL News: Let's look at the situation in 8-way first. It will most likely be between U.S.A., Russia and France again. Who has the best chances?

John Hoover: It is hard to say, because the French and Russian teams are so secretive in their training. I have to say that the US has the best chance, but this is a guess at best.

NSL News: Airspeed is not training very much. Why do you think that the U.S team has the best chances?

John Hoover: I have seen what changing team members can do to a team year after year. It slows down the pace and disrupts the rhythm of the jumps. Regaining this rhythm takes a lot of time and training. The biggest thing that Airspeed has going for them is that they are basically the same team from 1996. That means they have the most time together even if it is not recent training. The one thing the US will have to look out for is if the Russian or the French put together one of their old teams to come back to the World Meet.

NSL News: France has already gathered the veterans to make 300 jumps until the meet. Is this a serious threat?

John Hoover: I haven't seen or heard anything about their training. The real question is, can 300 recent jumps beat 3000 old jumps?

NSL News: Which score will win this year's world meet in 8-way?

John Hoover: My prediction is that any average over a twenty will be the winning score. Now that depends on the draw of course. If there are two jumps that are over 30 like in the 1997 world meet then the average might need to be a lot higher. 20 is a relatively easy average to obtain for a moderately trained team. A team has to do a lot more training to get to a 21 or 22 average.

NSL News: Are you expecting Airspeed to score 20 average at an average draw without much training?

John Hoover: Yes, right around there.

FAI World Meet 2001			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		16,P,13	1,Q,O,5	B,K,6,8	15,9,19	21,12,20	L,7,G,H	J,F,M,C,22	3,18,17	E,11,A,14	4,D,2	Total	Avg
1	Russia	RU	19	15	18	17	17	21	22	22	19	23	193	19.3
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	19	17	17	17	19	23	21	21	19	19	192	19.2
3	France	FR	16	17	16	15	19	20	20	18	18	20	179	17.9
4	Australia	AU	14	13	13	12	9	15	15	15	11	13	130	13.0
5	Netherlands	NL	14	12	14	14	10	11	13	14	11	13	126	12.6
6	Germany	DE	13	9	11	12	12	11	14	12	11	12	117	11.7
7	Great Britain	UK	13	11	5	12	12	11	13	10	11	-	98	10.9
8	Spain	ES	12	11	11	11	7	10	12	11	11	-	96	10.7
9	Brazil	BR	10	8	9	8	7	5	8	8	4	-	67	7.4
10	Canada	CA	8	2	7	6	6	5	6	7	5	-	52	5.8

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NSL News: Let's include the 4-way competition now. And again Airspeed is in the headline. Do you think that 20-average in 8-way is possible for Airspeed with competing in 4-way at the same time?

John Hoover: I don't know. Scott Rhodes always said that it was harder doing both events. The only time I have done both in a big meet was in Portugal in 1998 at the world cup. I enjoyed doing both, but one was just for fun with no chance of winning. I think that it is considerably tougher doing both with the hopes of winning both. Another thing that people have to remember is that at a world meet they run the events simultaneously. Not one at a time like at the USPA Nationals. This is one reason why it is so hard to focus on just one at a time.

NSL News: Airspeed want and need to win both events. The Golden Knights are currently focusing on 4-way. After your experiences in 8-way on the highest level, is it possible at all to be on the top in both events at the same time?

John Hoover: To answer that with any authority you need to ask me at the end of this year. Now just from what I have been told, one will always excel at the expense of the other. Either your 4-way will be up and your 8-way down or visa versa. Let me say that after doing 4-way recreationally for the last six years and doing well at it, I think that you can be reasonably competent at both at the same time, but you have to make a choice as to which one is more important.

NSL News: Let's exclude the 8-way now. Airspeed Vertical will go up against France and Norway in 4-way. Who is the tougher competition and why?

John Hoover: I think the French. Rob Work said at the 1995 world meet: "Never count out the current world champions." I think that having the status as a current champ has something to it. It is not the French team's job to beat Airspeed. It is Airspeed's job to beat the French.

NSL News: You are just talking about France and Airspeed. Are you not expecting the Norgies on the same scoring level?

John Hoover: I didn't say that. You asked who would be their biggest threat and I think that the French will be. Norway is the wild card in the whole thing.

NSL News: John, what are Norway's, Vertical's and France's strengths and weaknesses?

John Hoover: Norway has improved impressively over the past year. They seem to be surgeons on dives, taking it apart piece by piece. They have to be able to string ten good jumps together. I believe that this is the only thing that separates them from Airspeed and the French. Nobody who has seen Airspeed in the last year can deny their speed, power and ability to make a dive work. As they reach new heights in their training, they will have to be able to put the jumps together without falling off the horse. The French have the speed going in. And another big advantage is that they have been doing tail-gate exits for the last two years. This is an unknown factor in the whole race.

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USPA Nationals 2001			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		6,F,18	7,17,22	G,21,3	M,N,P,16	2,Q,1	12,4,19	H,14,L,15	B,24,J,23	9,A,8	C,5,E,10	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed Vertical	US	21	17	21	23	24	19	20	23	24	21	213	21.3
2	Golden Knights Gold	US	21	20	18	22	24	17	23	23	23	20	211	21.1
3	Arizona Airspeed Zulu	US	19	18	18	24	21	17	20	21	21	14	193	19.3
4	DeLand PD Blue	US	21	18	18	15	21	16	20	22	23	17	191	19.1
5	Elsinore Matrix	US	19	18	17	23	20	11	18	19	21	12	178	17.8
6	Endeavour	CH	16	15	17	19	16	14	14	17	19	17	164	16.4
7	Touch of Magic	US	14	15	16	17	19	13	14	17	17	17	159	15.9
8	Synchronicity	US	15	13	11	16	17	13	13	17	19	14	148	14.8
9	Golden Knights Black	US	14	8	12	11	16	11	12	14	16	11	125	12.5
10	Murph & the Magic Tones	US	11	12	12	11	13	10	13	9	14	11	116	11.6

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NSL News: Which score on an average draw will it take to win the 4-way event?

John Hoover: 21.5 to 22, somewhere between there. The top teams have been consistently doing averages in this range.

NSL News: Let's look at the 4-way situation in the United States. It seems to become more difficult to win the U.S. Championship than the world meet. Who will be in the race for this year's U.S. Championship?

John Hoover: There is no way to tell what teams will be doing what by the end of the year. Airspeed will always have a strong team no matter who they end up with. Then there are the teams from FL who really haven't started training yet and of course us. I would like to think that we will be up at the top, but as time has taught me you never know what might happen.

NSL News: Let's count the team names: Vertical, Zulu, Golden Knights, PD Blue, Majik. Did I forget anybody?

John Hoover: I think that is all of the full-time teams.

NSL News: Are you expecting each of these teams at about the same scoring level in October?

John Hoover: I think that most of them will be within striking distance of all the others, yes.

NSL News: This sounds much more difficult to win than the 8-way event. Does it make it more exciting or more frustrating?

John Hoover: More exciting. I cannot wait to be up there duking it out with the other teams.

NSL News: This weekend, the home work is on the agenda first. The Carolina Skydiving League is opening the 2001 season. Will both Golden Knights teams compete?

John Hoover: That is the plan right now. We still have to work out some details. I am saying this just two days before the meet, so you can see that we are pushing to get there.

NSL News: Thank you, John.