posted Jan 24th, 2023 - The NSL News has followed the 4-way and 8-way teams from Qatar from the time when they entered the world of Formation Skydiving competition at the Dubai Championship 2011. The first members of the Qatar delegation were done with their AFF training at Skydive DeLand. Head coach Solly Williams and his assistant Katie Woods were working with the first 4-way lineups, on the ground and in freefall. There was a team from Qatar on the Dubai leaderboard a year earlier, which was not a part of the new program that generated the current Formation Skydiving delegation.

Qatar coach Luc Verstrepen was done with his competition career, after his last two years with NMP PCH HayaBusa, which were rewarded with the first set of FAI world championship medals in Maubeuge 2008.

A few years later he became one of the first coaches for the Qatar delegation, and he is still working the same job, now together with Gary Smith. Andy Grauwels, Luc Verstrepen's HayaBusa team mate in 2007 and 2008, has now been added to the 4-way coaching staff, while Jeremie Rollett continues to work with the 8-way team, the Qatar Falcons.

Eleven years after the first competition of the current Qatar delegation, the Tigers have won two sets of bronze medals at FAI world championships in 4-way Open (Tanay 2021, Eloy 2022), another set of 8-way bronze medals (Australia 2018) and the first 8-way silver medals in Eloy last year.

---

---

NSL Live Talk with Qatar coaches Gary Smith and Luc Verstrepen

---

The 2022 season was the most successful one in the history of Qatar's Formation Skydiving delegation, with FAI world championship bronze medals in 4-way and silver in 8-way. However, the management of the Qatar delegation is eager to continue the progression in competition from the very start in 2011 to last year's success.

The Qatar Tigers were aiming at FAI gold medals, as they openly confirmed, and new coach Andy Grauwels, 4-way world champion of 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2021, is now supposed to guide the same lineup of the Tigers to the ultimate goal, the gold medals at a world championship.

At the same time, Qatar's Formation Skydiving delegation keeps growing. The project management had added the two new teams, Cheetahs and Lions, to the delegation years ago. Luc Verstrepen and Marin Ferre have been working with them, while Gary Smith trained the Qatar Tigers to the point where they became dangerous for NMP PCH HayaBusa. Gary Smith was coaching NMP PCH HayaBusa to all the 4-way gold medals that the Belgian team collected between 2014 and 2021, even though he had to scale back his efforts when the Qatar Tigers became the priority.

USPA Nationals 2022			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		G,9,M,8		P,3,O,E		7,13,18		B,21,Q,14		20,L,2		D,1,A,19		5,11,15		10,17,N		F,C,K,H,22		12,J,16		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	28	-2	32		23		26	-1	22		26		22		21	-1	35		23		258	25.8
G	Qatar Tigers	QA	23	-2	21	-3	20		23		19		23		18		20		29		19	-1	215	21.5
2	Hammertime	US	23	-1	26		16	-1	22	-1	18		20		16	-1	18		26		19		204	20.4
3	SDC Rhythm XP	US	23		24	-1	19		20		15	-1	19	-1	16	-1	17		25		18		196	19.6
4	XPG4	US	22		23	-1	17		20		17	-1	20		15		18		21	-2	16	-1	189	18.9
5	Skydive Midwest NEXT	US	22		23	-1	16	-1	19	-1	15	-1	18	-2	16		16		23	-1	17		185	18.5
G	Qatar Cheetahs	QA	19	-1	20	-2	15	-1	18		16		20		15		16		19	-3	14		172	17.2
6	Lightspeed XP	US	19	-1	19		14	-1	17		14		16	-1	14		14	-1	20		14		161	16.1
G	Qatar Lions	QA	16	-2	19	-3	15		17	-1	16		16		11		15		17		15		157	15.7
7	Spaceland Apex	US	17	-1	19	-1	13	-2	17		10	-2	17		13		12	-2	16	-3	13	-1	147	14.7
8	Corn Needs Butter	US	17	-2	15	-1	13		11	-3	10	-2	14		11		14		15	-2	14		134	13.4
9	SNE Fly Girls	US	13		10	-3	11		11		10		13		10		11		13	-2	9		111	11.1

---

Qatar Cheetahs - Qatar Lions at the USPA Nationals 2022 - Video Footage Courtesy of USPA/InTime

---

Qatar's project management was not done by just adding the Cheetahs and Lions to the project. Luc Verstrepen and Gary Smith, who are just in the middle of an indoor training camp with the complete 4-way delegation at Weembi Lille, explained that they are now working with a number of new skydivers who train to become the national competitors and medal contenders in the future.

The outline of the competition teams has not changed, with the Falcons in 8-way, Tigers, Cheetahs and Lions in 4-way. However, it is a new selection process that Gary Smith and Luc Verstrepen are in the middle of. The Qatar management has given them the authority and freedom of a competitive selection process. Goal is to create a new lineup with the top talent (Cheetahs), followed in selection order by the Lions.

The selection is not limited to the current members of the same teams. Gary Smith and Luc Verstrepen said that they are also working with several new members of the Qatar delegation, even including former Canopy Formation competitors. They hope that they will be able to send the first more defined lineup into their first outdoor competition at the Shamrock Showdown in March.

Even though the two highly experienced coaches have unlimited authority and freedom to select the lineups of the Qatar teams, the same success of the past decade is not guaranteed. Gary Smith and Luc Verstrepen explained the other side of unlimited authority and resources in yesterday's NSL Live Talk. The Qatar coaches are always limited to select the team members from the Qatar delegation. They don't have well trained 4-way and 8-way competitors available who they could recruit from other teams when a slot is opening up. However, the world-class coaches know how to bring new competitors to the top level, and Qatar will most likely continue as a powerhouse in Formation Skydiving competition.

FAI Outdoor World Meet 2022			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open/Women Top 10		20,16,B		P,D,21,13		17,K,11		E,A,19,22		2,9,M		C,14,F,12		3,6,18		4,10,1		8,Q,O,H		5,7,J		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	21	-1	28		27		27		31		23		21		20		32		31		261	26.1
2	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	20	-1	25	-2	21		23		28		20	-2	19		17		29		26		228	22.8
3	Qatar Tigers	QA	19	-2	23	-1	22	-1	21	-1	26		18		17	-1	17		28		28		219	21.9
4	France 4-way Open	FR	19		23	-1	22		23		27		20	-1	18		15	-1	20	-5	27	-1	214	21.4

FAI Outdoor World Meet 2022			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		20,16,B		P,D,21,13		17,K,11		E,A,19,22		2,9,M		C,14,F,12		3,6,18		4,10,1		8,Q,O,H		5,7,J		Total	Avg
1	Paraclete XP8	US	25	-1	20		20	-1	18	-1	18		19	-1	23		26	-1	16	-2	20	-2	205	20.5
2	Qatar Falcons	QA	21	-1	14	-2	16	-1	17		16		15	-1	19	-1	20	-1	14	-1	12	-4	164	16.4
3	Airbus	DE	18		14		14		13		4	-1	12	-2	16		16		12		14		133	13.3
4	MicroClim8	UK	16		9	-2	12		10		11	-1	7	-3	15		16		11		12	-1	119	11.9
5	Mojo Annecy-Clermont	FR	15		10		11		10		11		10	-1	8	-5	13		9		10		107	10.7