posted Feb 26th, 2023 - The second leg of the NSL News road trip in Florida was related to Qatar's Formation Skydiving delegation, as well. The two "farm teams", Cheetahs and Lions, were training with their coaches Gary Smith and Luc Verstrepen at Skydive City in Zephyrhills, while the Qatar Tigers had their own training camp with new coach Andy Grauwels at Jump Florida in Lake Wales. The Tigers were not alone in Lake Wales. In fact, the majority of competitors from Qatar were at the same place for training, including the military CISM events, Accuracy and Style, and Canopy Relative Work.

The Qatar Tigers were on a break when the NSL News arrived coming from Zephyrhills, and the fortunate timing allowed new NSL Live Talk with the whole team and coach Andy Grauwels. The NSL News had met the former NMP PCH HayaBusa member previously at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2022 for NSL Live Talk on 24 October 2022.

Andy Grauwels was coaching the British national team in 4-way Women, NFTO, at that time, who won the FAI gold medals in that event in Eloy. He has now been assigned to guiding the Qatar Tigers to the same gold medal position in 4-way Open, which looks almost like a Mission Impossible at this point in time. Arizona Airspeed is currently dominating the world's 4-way competition like no other team has been doing it in the past.

It sounds like a lot of pressure, however, Andy Grauwels and Qatar Tigers both are aware of the fact that a coach can only provide guidance, technically and mentally, as they explained during the conversation. The five team members still have to deliver the actual performance at the right time by themselves.

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NSL Live Talk with Qatar Tigers and coach Andy Grauwels on 24 February 2023

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Qatar Tigers scoring progression at 4-way competitions since 2011

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The graphics are showing how the Qatar Tigers developed themselves from the beginnings in 2011 to the current bronze medal position in the world, with the help of several different coaches. In fact, the story of the Qatar Tigers began even earlier, with AFF training at Skydive DeLand.

Rashid Easa Al Kubisi, Hamad Rashid Al Marri, Abdulaziz Shafi Al Shammari and Fahad Soud Al Shammari have accumulated between 8,000 and 9,000 skydives since their AFF training in 2008, which is almost exactly identical with the number of team jumps that the Qatar Tigers have logged in their team career. The four AFF students of 2008 have been the Qatar Tigers ever since.

They will now go back to the place where it all began for them, as they will compete at the Shamrock Showdown. Coach Andy Grauwels will also meet his former Belgian team mates in DeLand. He won his last FAI 4-way gold medal in Tanay 2021, together with current HayaBusa members Michele Silvi, Dennis Praet, Jeroen Nollet and his brother David Grauwels on camera.

The Qatar Tigers and Andy Grauwels have to find a way to how get ahead of the Belgian team before they can become 4-way world champions themselves, and the new French national team in 4-way Open has the same goal. Finally, there is Arizona Airspeed as the largest obstacle in 2024. All four teams will compete at the Shamrock Showdown in DeLand, where the story of the Qatar Tigers began in 2008.

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Qatar Tigers at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2022 and at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2023

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Qatar Tigers national 4-way team at FAI World Championships of Formation Skydiving

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