posted May 16th, 2021 - Gary Smith has been a part of NSL News coverage in many ways for a very long time. He is currently best known for his coaching jobs with NMP PCH HayaBusa, Qatar Tigers and Qatar Falcons, and he joins NSL Live Talk regularly to share his wealth of knowledge and experiences with the audience. Many people are also familiar with his athletic success and his two 4-way world championship titles, one with DeLand Majik in 2004, followed by the successful title defense with DeLand Fire in 2006.

Everybody who has also taken a closer look at his NSL Profile knows that his career as a Formation Skydiving competitor began in South Africa. He won his first FAI World Championship medal with the South African national 4-way team DeLand Equanimity, a bronze medal in Turkey 1997.

However, his NSL Profile story covers mainly his time with the South African team, and it ends after moving to DeLand and making new team plans for the time with DeLand Majik. He was already coaching 4-way teams at that time, and one of the major projects as a player-coach became Optic Nerve with the team's founder Dr. Joel Shugar.

The NSL News went back into the unpublished parts of the archives looking for the first times when Gary Smith's name appeared in the updates. The articles with his name were posted in 1998 and 1999 when he transitioned from South Africa to Florida, together with the complete Equanimity bronze-medal lineup of 1997.

---

Americas Cup May 1999			1	2	3	4	5	6	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		18,10,1	5,O,17	A,15,L,21	12,7,8	N,J,22,P	2,K,F,13	Total	Avg
1	Space Center FX	US	14	18	19	17	21	14	103	17.2
1	DeLand Norgies	NO	17	21	19	9	21	16	103	17.2
3	Golden Knights Gold	US	15	18	16	15	19	17	100	16.7
4	DeLand Genesis	US	13	18	17	14	19	18	99	16.5
5	Optik Nerve	US	11	16	14	11	13	13	78	13.0
6	Golden Knights Black	US	11	14	12	10	16	13	76	12.7
7	Frost	US	11	14	13	11	12	11	72	12.0
8	V-Max	UK	8	11	4	7	12	11	53	8.8
9	Chain Gang	US	9	9	8	8	10	6	50	8.3

---

NSL News on 21 December 1998: Solly Williams is making himself at home in Deland, Florida

---

Solly Williams became part-owner of Skydive DeLand earlier this year, and he recently purchased a home in DeLand, as well. Solly Williams was a team member of the South African 4-way team Equanimity, who won the bronze medal at the World Championship 1997 in Turkey.

Equanimity used to train at Skydive DeLand, and Solly Williams has been living and coaching in DeLand for years, together with his teammate Gary Smith. After the team was finished, all the members continued working in the skydiving environment.

Solly Williams and his Equanimity teammate Gary Smith remained in DeLand coaching, while Fred Whitsitt (Skydive Miami) and Robbie Spencer (Skydive Rhode Island) started running dropzones in other parts of the United States.

Solly Williams has a five-year plan for his engagement with Skydive DeLand. In the meantime, he is planning to rent some of his five rooms to skydivers and teams visiting at Skydive DeLand.

---

USPA Nationals 1999		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Advanced	J,K,19,G	L,D,20,1	16,15,18	24,4,23	10,A,13	M,O,H,B,P	17,Q,2	F,E,7,21	12,9,8	C,3,22	Total	Avg
1	Optik Nerve	16	15	12	12	14	23	15	15	12	10	144	14.4
2	Elsinore Alpha	16	15	11	12	12	21	16	15	12	13	143	14.3
3	Frost	15	11	10	13	13	21	15	16	9	13	136	13.6
4	Euphoric	14	16	11	11	11	23	10	15	13	10	134	13.4
5	ZSpot	15	13	11	11	11	22	14	14	12	8	131	13.1
6	Sebastian TBA	16	15	3	11	11	22	10	16	11	9	124	12.4
7	Hinckley Mach 4	10	14	8	4	11	19	14	5	11	7	103	10.3
8	Perris Cruise O'Matic	14	16	9	11	11	19	7	12	2	1	102	10.2
9	Teiwaz	14	13	10	12	11	21	9	11	-	-	101	12.6
10	Elsinore High Pressure	13	11	7	9	8	15	12	11	9	-	95	10.6
11	Raeford Express	8	6	9	9	10	16	11	11	8	-	88	9.8
12	Fusion 4	9	6	7	9	9	14	10	12	-	-	76	9.5
13	Fun Luvin Freaks	13	9	8	6	8	12	10	9	-	-	75	9.4
14	Vertical Addiction	9	11	8	8	7	15	7	9	-	-	74	9.3
15	Mr. Pink	13	10	5	5	7	15	7	8	-	-	70	8.8
16	Block Heads	9	9	5	7	9	12	7	7	-	-	65	8.1
17	Windbreakers	8	11	5	7	7	13	1	10	-	-	62	7.8
17	Air Force	11	6	2	7	8	8	10	10	-	-	62	7.8
19	Random Axis	6	9	7	4	6	12	8	9	-	-	61	7.6
20	4ce Majeure	6	9	8	5	5	11	5	9	-	-	58	7.3
21	Elsinore Zulu	13	15	9	9	11	-	-	-	-	-	57	11.4
22	Flashpoint	12	9	7	9	-	-	-	-	-	-	37	9.3
23	Man In Tow	11	12	7	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	30	10.0
24	Hinckley Heat	8	7	0	9	-	-	-	-	-	-	24	6.0

---

Optic Nerve reunion at the April meet of the Florida Skydiving League 2008

---

NSL News on 7 January 1998: Bert Hajee and Paul Hofstee of the Dutch 4-way and 8-way national team just finished a training camp

---

You may ask how can they train with only two members. John Hoover of the Golden Knights and Gary Smith of the South African bronze medal 4-way team Equanimity of 1997 filled the slots.

It was not because the rest of their team members were sick - it was planned that way. An investment like this can give a team a big boost since the learning progression for each piece will be so much better by training with world-class skydivers. It sure helps if the whole team is doing this, first one half, than the other.

However, Bert Hajee and Paul Hofstee are not the first half of a team training this way. The most famous duo challenging themselves were Dawn English and Joey Jones. They hired Airspeed members for a couple of short camps in 1997 to learn from the best, put themselves on the same level, and have a lot of fun. The results have been pretty obvious.

Even before Dawn English and Joey Jones, a couple of Brazilian skydivers (members of the Zossers and others) used this training format to improve their own skills. Many of these camps were even on a 3-on-1 basis. Bert Hajee is also the creator of the FS TRAINER, a computer program for jump analysis.