posted Mar 19th, 2023 - Qatar coaches Gary Smith and Luc Verstrepen provided insights of their situation with the current Qatar delegation when the NSL News visited them for NSL Live Talk during a training camp at Skydive City in February. The conversation included a brief preview of the Shamrock Showdown 2023, as well.

Their 4-way junior teams, Cheetahs and Lions, were not ready yet for the outdoor competition, and the Qatar management did not register them for Shamrock Showdown. At the same time, new Qatar Tigers coach Andy Grauwels, NMP PCH HayaBusa 4-way champion of 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2021, was getting ready for the final preparations with the Qatar senior team at Skydive Florida in Lake Wales.

The previous NSL Live Talk with Gary Smith and Luc Verstrepen covered a large spectrum of the current situation in Formation Skydiving competition, including 8-way, and the preview of the Shamrock Showdown had the Qatar Tigers and the other three top contenders as one of the major topics.

Gary Smith and Luc Verstrepen both were aware of the challenging situation that the Qatar Tigers were facing. Arizona Airspeed has been out of reach for any other 4-way team in the last 12 months, and NMP PCH HayaBusa and the French 4-way Open Class team have been doing everything they could to find a way and close the gap.

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NSL Live Talk: Shamrock Showdown preview and aftermath with Gary Smith and Luc Verstrepen on February 24th and on March 14th

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The results at the Shamrock Showdown were showing that the efforts of the French and the Belgian national teams had their first results, and both passed the Qatar Tigers on the first outdoor leaderboard of the year. The previous conversation pointed out that one of the four top teams will eventually end up without medals, which was the Qatar team at the first confrontation of the world's Top 4.

Gary Smith and Luc Verstrepen were back in the NSL Coaches Corner on March 14th, just a few days after the completion of the Shamrock Showdown. Gary Smith had traveled the two hours from Zephyrhills to DeLand and witnessed the competition live at the event location on Saturday. Luc Verstrepen followed the competition on the internet, round by round.

The new NSL Live Talk conversation took place at a different location. The two Qatar coaches spend their free time after working with the teams often on golf courses, and the NSL News met with them at the club house of the local course in Zephyrhills. The aftermath of the Shamrock Showdown was naturally the major topic this time.

Gary Smith witnessed the much stronger second day of NMP PCH HayaBusa, who he had guided to their first and the following FAI gold medals beginning in 2014. He also acknowledged the strong and promising performance of the French national team, even though HayaBusa countered at least beginning at half-time in DeLand. Neither Gary Smith nor Luc Verstepen were surprised by Arizona Airspeed clearly confirming the world's top spot.

Shamrock Showdown 2023			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		14,O,7		C,9,11		4,2,F		Q,13,21		B,6,L,19		1,22,G		K,18,8		M,3,17		H,15,12		D,20,10		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	26		28		25	-1	24		27	-1	21		22		27		22	-1	22		244	24.4
2	France 4-way Open	FR	26		25	-1	23		24		25	-1	19		19		26		19		18		224	22.4
3	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	21	-1	23	-2	24	-1	19	-1	26		19	-1	18	-1	26	-1	21		20	-1	217	21.7
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	21		22		17	-1	21		23		18		17		22		17	-1	19		197	19.7
5	SDC Rhythm XP	US	20	-1	20		20		19	-1	21		14	-2	15	-2	22		15	-2	14	-1	180	18.0
6	Pour Decisions	US	18		19		16		17		19		13	-1	12	-2	18		12	-1	14		158	15.8

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Arizona Airspeed - France - NMP PCH HayaBusa - Qatar Tigers at the Shamrock Showdown 2023

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Gary Smith explained that the Qatar Tigers are currently dealing with the transition from one coaching style to another. He said that Andy Grauwels has spent only two training camps with the Qatar Tigers, one outdoors and one indoors.

Luc Verstrepen is a HayaBusa insider, as well. He was the team's second inside center after Sven Ibens stepped back and opened the door for his team mates to join the Belgian military and become professional competitors and then 4-way world champions later. Luc Verstrepen was already in the Belgian military and could join HayaBusa without any problems.

Gary Smith pointed out that the three top teams at the Shamrock Showdown were in the same order as they had finished at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2022. He saw HayaBusa's performance in Charleroi with new inside center Neal Willems as a big success in his first year with the three reigning world champions and David Grauwels on camera.

He saw similar progress at the outdoor competition in DeLand, at least after the slow start, and beginning in Round 5. The same Top 4 will meet soon in Slovakia for the next FAI indoor event, this time the world championship. French coach Mathieu Bernier hopes that his team with the same lineup as in DeLand will be even closer to Arizona Airspeed, while NMP PCH HayaBusa would like to copy the performance in the wind tunnel that they were showing in the second half of the Shamrock Showdown.

FAI Indoor World Cup 2022			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open Top 3		O,18,14		L,C,F,9		1,J,H,19		3,E,P,Q		20,7,16		2,13,8		17,D,6		N,22,A,G		12,5,11		M,21,4		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	29		54	-3	35		41		29		25		39		37		27		30		346	34.6
2	Aerokart Monaco Akdemie	FR	25	-1	58		28	-3	39	-2	25		25		33		32		24		28	-2	317	31.7
3	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	23	-1	54	-1	30	-1	38	-2	26		23		32		31	-1	24		28	-1	309	30.9

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Arizona Airspeed - France - NMP PCH HayaBusa at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2022

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