posted Jul 4th, 2001 - The NSL News goes back in time again, after another interesting NSL Live Talk with the German national team Oceanside AtomiX and an update from Germany.

The new NSL News interview with Shannon Har-Noy Pilcher from July 2001 covered the same time period when Carl-Erik Tuv, Chris Talbert, Craig Girard and John Hoover were his direct opponents. There is a difference though between the other VIPs, as Shannon Pilcher had not yet competed at a FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving.

He was coaching the Norwegian national team in 4-way Women, TNT, who competed at the first world meet where this category was added to 4-way Open and 8-way Open in Formation Skydiving competition. Shannon Pilcher was training and competing with DeLand Genesis/PD Blue at that time. He would later win a 4-way gold medal as the alternate for DeLand Majik in 2004, followed by a gold medal in the active lineup of DeLand Fire in 2006. Shannon Pilcher still lives in DeLand.

"Shannon Pilcher, PD Blue member, Norway TNT coach and reporter for the NSL News from the FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving in Spain, is sporting a new hair style after returning from his exciting trip to Europe. He had committed to dying his hair if his team, Norway TNT, would score higher than 14.0 in 4-way Women at the world championship. Pilcher lost his wager and owed his team the new hair color. Scoring 14.4 TNT passed the 14.0 average to win the wager. The NSL News had the chance to take a current picture and for an interview with Pilcher shortly after his return."

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FAI World Meet 2001			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women		8,19,24	A,L,22,H	E,10,D,11	21,6,4	B,18,C,14	G,5,20	2,1,16	M,K,12,9	15,23,P	O,17,Q,N	Total	Avg
1	Synchronicity	US	13	13	13	12	14	14	15	16	13	24	147	14.7
2	TNT	NO	13	15	15	13	13	12	13	15	13	22	144	14.4
3	4 Pleasure	SE	13	15	14	13	14	14	14	15	12	19	143	14.3
4	V-Max	UK	9	15	14	12	14	14	13	16	13	21	141	14.1
5	Russia	RU	11	11	12	12	9	12	12	13	11	12	115	11.5
6	South Africa	ZA	12	12	11	9	11	8	11	13	10	16	113	11.3
7	Italy	IT	10	10	11	9	5	11	11	9	11	-	87	9.7
8	Parat	DE	8	10	8	7	9	9	9	9	6	-	75	8.3
9	Spain	ES	4	7	6	4	8	6	4	9	5	-	53	5.9
10	Austria	AT	6	4	5	4	3	6	5	7	6	-	46	5.1

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NSL News Interview with Shannon Pilcher on 4 July 2001

NSL News: Shannon, you are back from Spain and your hair is dyed? Did you lose your wager?

Shannon Pilcher: I did lose my bet, but it was certainly worth it. The Norwegian girls finished with four strong rounds and consequently achieved the 14+ average we were aiming for. My intention was to get them focused on performing, and not so much on winning. It seemed to pay off; however, the gold medal would have been nicer.

NSL News: Your team was in the lead for five rounds. What happened then?

Shannon Pilcher: Things actually started to deteriorate in Round 5 when we jumped a key on a Murphy Flake. We held it, avoiding the bust, but ended up losing a point on that round. As I mentioned before, Rounds 6 and 7 were our less confident rounds, so we didn't expect to necessarily win those rounds. But we had at least one large mistake in each round that hurt us pretty badly. In Round 6, the Black Hole - Bipole on the hill nearly funneled. And in Round 7, the same thing almost happened on the catch of Block 16, which is actually one of our best blocks. So rather than maintaining our pace, we ended up losing significant time, and points.

NSL News: For the longest time of the meet, Sweden was the top competition for you. However, the USA won the gold medal. At what point did the USA become a major threat?

Shannon Pilcher: It's hard to say. The USA girls had a bad start, with two busts early in the meet. Then in Round 5, although they tied Sweden in that round, they skydived wonderfully, nearly completing the third Zircon transition as time expired, as Sweden did. From that point onward, they had a great meet. Ironically, they only won two rounds outright, those being Rounds 7 and 10. But they beat Sweden in the last four rounds, and Norway in three of the last four. So I guess they did what they had to do.

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4-way Women teams at the Shamrock Showdown 2001

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NSL News: How was the support for the female event in Spain?

Shannon Pilcher: I've heard so many arguments for and against the female event that I can truly recognize both sides. But to be honest, in Spain, I didn't hear one single negative comment about the women's event.

NSL News: Will Norway TNT continue?

Shannon Pilcher: I don't even think they can answer that right now. But if I had to make a guess, I'd say no, not as the same group. Although I think each would like to keep competing at a serious level, it seems that some of them are heading in different directions different goals and ambitions. But who knows, anything is possible. I hope so.

NSL News: In the open class France lost the title to the U.S.A. Norway had no chance. Was Airspeed Vertical so much better?

Shannon Pilcher: The U.S. team nearly lost the meet in Rounds 9 and 10, so they are not invincible. But I would say they are the best team in the world right now. They skydive so much cleaner and more consistently than the other teams, whereas France seems to fight for their points, and Norway just never seemed to step up to the level that they're capable of.

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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: France won Rounds 5 through 10 by five cumulative points over Airspeed Vertical. Obviously, they lost the meet in the beginning. Do you remember what happened?

Shannon Pilcher: I think Round 2 was the deciding factor for this meet. The U.S.A. had an incredible round. It was reminiscent of a late round in the world cup where Airspeed appeared to be moving slowly, but continued to rack up the points as the clock wound down. The same thing happened in Round 2 in Spain. Airspeed just kept a clean, fast rythym all the way through the dive, outpacing France by three points (25 - 22). It didn't help that France was penalized, either. So, in a single round, Airspeed gained five points on France. It ended up costing France the title.

NSL News: Many people expected the Norgies to be in the gold medal race. It looked like they never had a chance. How would you evaluate their performance?

Shannon Pilcher: It was extremely disappointing, both for the Norgies and their supporters. I'd guess that they were less than two-tenths of a second from tying the top score on seven or eight of the rounds. Which, as Solly pointed out, means they lost seven or eight points in less than two seconds. In the big scheme of things, every team gets the same amount of working time, the same opportunity to score points. But it can certainly be deflating to the team morale when you come that close that many times. I'm just glad they ended with such a great Round 10 performance, so they could leave on a high note.

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PD Blue at the NSL Playoffs 2001

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NSL News: This was the first world championship for you, this time as a coach. Would you rather have competed?

Shannon Pilcher: I think you know the answer to that. Of course I would. But it was still a fantastic experience. As a coach, I got to ride the emotional roller coaster with my team. And as a spectator, I got to enjoy the drama that unfolded in all three events, which is something I might have missed had I been competing.

NSL News: Will you be competing at the next world meet in 2003?

Shannon Pilcher: That's our goal, but first we have to win the USPA Nationals 2002. I can't wait.

NSL News: Solly mentioned that he is planning to compete for the USA in 2003. We see a little local conflict here. Is the dual between PD Blue and Magic getting in full swing now?

Shannon Pilcher: No, not yet. But I think the water is starting to boil. Right now, I'm very anxious to start training, as I suspect both teams are. And although both teams will be fighting for the U.S. gold, I think each team will have a positive affect on the other. We will hopefully push each other, day after day, to be the best two teams in the country. Of course, neither team can ignore the likes of Airspeed and the Golden Knights. It's going to be fun, that's for sure!

NSL News: Thank you very much for your reports from Spain and for this interview.