posted Aug 27th, 2020 - The NSL News switches back from France to the United States, where the 4-way and 8-way opponents are in training at Skydive Paraclete XP. Airspeed XP8 completed a training camp of over a week on Wednesday, and Arizona Airspeed started a new 4-way training camp on Thursday. XPG4 has indoor training scheduled for Thursday evening and will be jumping from the Twin Otter on Friday.

Airspeed XP8 training camps are always worth the attention, as the U.S. national team will compete for the U.S. delegation at the Mondial 2020 next year and try to defend the U.S. gold medals that the Golden Knights have won four consecutive times (2012 - 2014 - 2016 - 2018). The team is also very open to publish some of their training jumps, which brings the world's top level in 8-way directly to the audience, especially at a time with not much of Formation Skydiving competition events.

There was still another very good reason to visit Skydive Paraclete XP for the recent 8-way training. Matt Davidson was back at the drop zone after his hip replacement surgery four weeks ago. It was too early for a live conversation just a few days after the surgery when the NSL News visited Paraclete XP in July.

This time, Matt Davidson was ready for NSL Live Talk, as his progression in the recovery process is the one of a 5-time world champion. He took the time to discuss several topics while Airspeed XP8 was in the middle of a 7-jump back-to-back package with alternate Andrew Happick.

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Airspeed XP8 Training - NSL Live Talk with Matt Davidson - Jennifer and Matt Davidson performing the "Push-Up Challenge"

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Matt Davidson said that the cancellation of the USPA Nationals 2020 will make it significantly easier for him to prepare for his comeback. At the time of the previous Airspeed XP8 update, he still had to be ready for the competition in November. Skydive City had announced that the Florida DZ would not host the event this year, and USPA were still considering other options.

There would have been pressure on Matt Davidson's recovery schedule with USPA Nationals later this year. The cancellation of the event gives him enough additional time to be well prepared for the 8-way comeback that he now plans for December this year.

The conversation with the most successful active 8-way competitor in the world included not only the physical component, which is the most basic foundation, even though it is also the easier part for a top athlete as Matt Davidson has always been. He explained that he wants to be mentally ready to fit into a well trained 8-way team.

Airspeed XP8 have not interrupted their training to wait for Matt Davidson's recovery. SDC Rhythm XP member Andrew Happick is the official alternate and has trained with the team a lot, indoors and outdoors. Other substitutes, like Craig Girard, have also stepped in when needed.

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USPA Nationals 2005		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open	2,A,19	F,20,D,9	C,21,N,11	15,M,8	4,6,P	5,1,H	22,7,12	3,K,16	E,17,14	13,18,J	O,G,B,L,Q	Total	Avg
1	DeLand Fire	22	27	22	20	18	21	17	21	22	20	36	210	21.0
2	Golden Knights Black	21	27	21	20	22	22	17	19	23	18	34	210	21.0
3	Airspeed Odyssey	21	26	20	19	20	20	17	20	22	18	-	203	20.3
4	DeLand Majik	20	25	19	19	17	20	16	20	18	18	-	192	19.2
5	Fastrax	20	26	20	19	18	18	15	19	19	17	-	191	19.1
6	Airspeed Velocity	21	23	21	16	17	17	15	18	22	18	-	188	18.8
7	Phugoid	18	20	12	15	16	16	12	16	17	15	-	157	15.7
8	Perris Fury	17	19	17	15	13	14	14	15	17	15	-	156	15.6
9	Perris Synchronicity	16	19	17	15	15	15	12	15	17	13	-	154	15.4
10	Spaceland Thunder	15	19	15	16	15	15	13	15	16	13	-	152	15.2
11	Fastrax Select	16	17	15	15	15	15	11	14	14	13	-	145	14.5
12	Spark	14	18	13	15	14	16	13	13	14	14	-	144	14.4
12	GKOG	16	18	13	16	16	10	12	15	16	12	-	144	14.4
14	Arizona Directe	14	17	15	14	15	13	11	16	14	13	-	142	14.2
15	Aerodyne Mamba	14	14	12	13	11	13	12	11	13	12	-	125	12.5
16	Dallas Mojo	12	15	13	10	13	13	11	13	14	10	-	124	12.4
17	Element Perris	14	14	13	11	12	12	10	13	12	10	-	121	12.1
18	Kachina	10	14	10	11	11	12	9	10	13	10	-	110	11.0

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Matt Davidson is fully aware of the fact that the team will be on a different performance level compared to the earlier XP8 days when he was training and competing with the team. He said that his situation with Arizona Airspeed in 2019 was good training for what is waiting for him in December this year.

He had joined the defending U.S. 4-way champion just a few months before the USPA Nationals 2019, as the NSL News reported on 13 June 2019. Ari Perelman had left Arizona Airspeed unexpectedly, and the team needed an experienced 4-way competitor to get ready quickly for the next world meet qualification.

Airspeed and Matt Davidson did not have much time to bring the new lineup to the top scoring level on the USPA leaderboard, and they still missed the gold medals only after a jump-off round with SDC Rhythm XP. Matt Davidson remembered how he prepared himself mentally for the Airspeed performance level.

A similar situation is probably waiting for him in 8-way, and he is focusing once again mainly on the mental part of the comeback. He also mentioned how important it is to be in a productive state of mind, and he pointed out the Golden Knights experience at the USPA Nationals 2005. The well trained U.S. Army team, with his current 8-way team mate Brian Krause in the lineup, lost to DeLand Fire in another jump-off round. Matt Davidson and Brian Krause both said that they have the 2005 experience in their minds when they think of mental preparations for a competition...