posted Dec 16th, 2021 - Arizona Airspeed's 4-way and 8-way team members are usually sharing their expertise and experiences with other teams and competitors when they are coaching. Their professional lives are mostly a combination of training and competition and coaching jobs.

There are a few exceptions that came when modern technology allowed Airspeed members and other professional competitors in the world to continue with their other more traditional jobs. However, the skydiving community could find the top competitors in the world often at the skydiving centers and wind tunnels filling their available extra time with coaching.

Airspeed's senior members have traditionally been guiding their lineups and decided together with their team mates how to make progress. They have randomly worked together with coaches here and there. Original team member Jack Jefferies has been helping all Airspeed teams with his professional corporate experiences in team building and group dynamics, and the previous and current lineup, with team captain and leader Niklas Hemlin, have also asked Solly Williams for his insights.

Airspeed's current lineup has now made a bigger step in the coaching area and committed Joey Jones to work with the team regularly at least until the world meet in Eloy next year.

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FAI Dubai Mondial 2012			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open - Finals		5,12,E		6,D,B,K		O,8,7		N,13,18		10,21,M		19,H,11		C,G,1,A		20,9,15		16,F,P,Q		2,J,4		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	27		34		27	-1	22		23		23	-2	32		25		40		26		279	27.9
2	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	25	-1	34	-2	27	-1	21	-1	23		24	-1	32	-1	27		40		25	-1	278	27.8
3	Aerodyne Aerokart	FR	26		30	-2	27		21		23		25		29	-1	23	-2	37		24		265	26.5
4	Evolution	CA	22		31		24		17	-1	19	-1	21		28		22		30	-2	22		236	23.6
5	Sky Panthers Barkli	RU	19	-2	29	-1	22	-1	21		21		18	-2	28		20	-2	35		20	-1	233	23.3
6	Satori	UK	18		26		21		17		15	-3	18	-1	23		17		27		18		200	20.0

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Before and after Round 10 at the FAI Dubai Mondial 2012

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Joey Jones has been coaching 4-way teams since he became a professional top competitor himself, first with Space Center FX, followed by DeLand Majik, who won the FAI world championship gold medals in Rijeka 2004.

Solly Williams, who has been coaching Airspeed's 4-way team randomly in the past years, was Joey Jones' DeLand Majik team mate in the world champion lineup. The coaching situation becomes even more interesting considering the fact that DeLand Majik also generated the most successful coach in the history of the sport at this point in time.

Gary Smith was Joey Jones' coaching successor with NMP PCH HayaBusa. He started working with the Belgian team indoors in January 2011 and guided them to their first outdoor world meet together in Dubai 2012. There they missed their first world championship title by one point after the most dramatic finish in Round 10.

However, the same lineup continued for two more years and won the next world meet in Prostejov 2014 by 11 points over a new Airspeed lineup. NMP PCH HayaBusa and coach Gary Smith have won each 4-way world championship title together ever since.

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FAI World Meet 2019			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open Top 10		M,K,D,14	Q,4,5	P,E,9,15	3,N,G,2	6,1,8	F,12,11	13,22,J	H,L,B,18	O,20,A,17	21,7,19	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	39	36	42	35	27	32	29	42	38	31	351	35.1
2	Weembi High Rollers	FR	38	33	44	32	27	29	26	47	37	31	344	34.4
3	Arizona Airspeed	US	39	33	40	30	27	29	24	39	33	27	321	32.1
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	34	30	36	29	22	27	28	36	32	28	302	30.2
5	Airheads	CH	35	28	33	29	25	27	24	36	30	25	292	29.2
6	Black Cat	RU	34	29	39	29	25	22	25	36	26	22	287	28.7
7	Echochamber	SE	34	27	35	26	22	25	20	35	26	24	274	27.4
8	ACM Weembi	UK	32	28	32	26	20	24	19	35	26	25	267	26.7
9	Airfource	DE	33	22	33	25	22	23	20	35	25	24	262	26.2
10	HF Flying Circus	CZ	31	26	28	23	24	22	18	33	19	23	247	24.7

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NMP PCH HayaBusa - Weembi High Rollers at the FAI Indoor World Meet 2019

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The coaching story now comes to a new peak after Joey Jones' new assignment with Arizona Airspeed. Joey Jones was coaching NMP PCH HayaBusa before Gary Smith took over in 2011/2012. Both professional coaches know each other even better from their DeLand Majik times when they were front piece partners, Joey Jones in the outside center slot, Gary Smith as the point.

The Airspeed decision to work with Joey Jones creates a new coaching duel between the former DeLand Majik team mates. It's not a new situation for the two coaches though. Original HayaBusa member Roy Janssen, who was still the team's tail at the world championship lineup in Prostejov 2014, formed a new world-class indoor team to challenge his former team mates, the Weembi High Rollers.

His new team became the French national indoor team in 4-way Open and challenged NMP PCH HayaBusa for the top spot at the FAI Indoor World Meet 2019. Roy Janssen and his three French team mates (Julien Degen, Christine Malnis, Sophia Pecout) worked with Joey Jones as their coach, while Gary Smith was still working with the indoor and outdoor world champions.

The recent Airspeed decision is coming at a critical time for NMP PCH HayaBusa, after original team member Andy Grauwels stepped back, as the NSL News reported on November 25th. The Belgian world champions have to replace their outside center, while they are facing a very strong Airspeed lineup, now with coach Joey Jones. The stakes are set for a new extremely exciting race between Arizona Airspeed and NMP PCH HayaBusa.