posted Nov 15th, 2024 - The NSL News coverage of the recently dominating topic continues with NSL Live Talk. Returning Arizona Airspeed member Joey Marshall was available for sharing more insights and background information after the announcement of the two new team members a few days ago.

Yesterday's NSL News update had followed up with an overview of the Airspeed lineups since 1994 and an evaluation of the member selection in the process of Airspeed continuity throughout the last three decades. The slots for new team members Doug Hendrix and Alisson de Vargas were randomly chosen for the overview yesterday, without the confirmation by Joey Marshall and Chris Kuhlmann.

Both new members have trained and performed in outside center slots in the past years, and the randomly chosen slots in the overview of Airspeed history were not the correct ones. Joey Marshall confirmed in the conversation that he and Chris Kuhlmann continue in their slots of the last five years, and Doug Hendrix joins Chris Kuhlmann in the rear piece as the new Airspeed tail. Allison de Vargas is Joey Marshall's new front piece partner. Joey Marshall also explained during the NSL Live Talk conversation how the new lineup assigned the slots for all team members. Each of the two pieces has one 2-time world champion joining forces with a new team member, which is the same format that NMP PCH HayaBusa used for their recent lineup changes.

---

---

NSL Live Talk with Arizona Airspeed's Joey Marshall

---

Arizona Airspeed's lineup history and correct slots between 2020 and 2025

---

Joey Marshall used most of the time to elaborate on the criteria that he and his team mate since 2015, Chris Kuhlmann, discussed how they would find their new team mates. Joey Marshall and Chris Kuhlmann have spent a whole decade of 4-way training and competition together, and they are going into their 11th year with the new lineup.

Together they committed only to Ranch 2nd Generation (2015 - 2019) and Arizona Airspeed where they collected all their world champion 4-way experiences. Joey Marshall has been in the point slot since 2015, while Chris Kuhlmann was his piece partner in the front piece as outside center. He switched to inside center when he joined Arizona Airspeed.

He said that their selection criteria for the two new team mates had no logistical limits, as they happen to be significant factors for other top teams. NMP PCH HayaBusa and Golden Knights are limited to the choices they have due to the military background, even though they are able to create shortcuts once in a while. Skydive Arizona is the very strong foundation for Arizona Airspeed's logistical support and interferes in no way with selection criteria. Joey Marshall and Chris Kuhlmann could take the freedom to look at other areas of performance potential, besides talent and skills, where personality structures and psychological components become very important for a highly competitive 4-way team.

Wind Games 2020			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		Q,F,6,14		1,13,4		8,J,15		O,9,D,5		21,A,P,H		N,C,20,12		7,G,K,19		10,16,22		17,E,11		M,B,3,L		Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	32	-1	29		28	-1	44	-3	45		29		35		25		34		47		348	34.8
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	34		24	-1	29		45	-2	41		29		34	-1	23		34		39	-1	332	33.2
3	SDC Rhythm XP	US	33		25		27	-1	44	-1	41		26		30	-3	23		30	-2	41	-2	320	32.0
4	IFS-Moscow	RU	27	-3	20	-3	25	-2	45	-2	36	-1	25	-1	30	-1	23		29	-2	33	-5	293	29.3
5	ISR FireFlash	BE	30		23		26		39		36		22	-1	27	-2	20		29		29	-4	281	28.1
6	Weembi Unicorns	IN	28		23		26		42		36		23		29		20		22	-4	26	-3	275	27.5
7	NFTO	UK	28		21		22		38		36		21		27	-1	18		24	-3	32	-1	267	26.7
8	Echochamber	SE	28		21		22		37		35		21	-1	23	-2	19		26		29	-4	261	26.1
9	Nephtys Weembi	FR	26		19	-1	20	-1	35		32		22		26	-1	19		22	-2	32	-1	253	25.3
10	Oceanside AtomiX	DE	25	-2	21		19	-2	31	-1	31		19		27		17	-1	22	-1	31		243	24.3

---

Arizona Airspeed at the Wind Games 2020 - NSL Live Talk with Joey Marshall and Chris Kuhlmann in 2020

---

The two team mates of ten years wanted to feel comfortable with their new Airspeed members in situations of high performance pressure, which is guaranteed to come to Arizona Airspeed very soon and very quickly. They will be looking at indoor pressure from the best European teams, including the French Aethers, at the Wind Games in January. The U.S. national indoor championship in February is the first qualifier for an FAI/ISC event, in this case the indoor world cup of 2026.

The FAI/ISC world cups offer four team slots for each country's delegation, which makes it easier for Arizona Airspeed if they plan to attend the indoor event in 2026. The new lineup will represent the United States at the indoor world championship 2025 at Paraclete XP, where Airspeed will need a substitute. New team member Alisson de Vargas competed for Brazil at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2024 and will not be eligible in April 2025.

There will be more time and performance pressure both later on next year. The application for the "Green Card" needs to be successfully completed before the USPA Nationals 2025. Otherwise Airspeed would need a substitute member to win the qualification for the outdoor world championship in 2026. Alisson de Vargas would be eligible for the most relevant FAI/ISC event timely and could replace the substitute member in 2026. However, at least the Golden Knights plan to represent the United States as the national team in 4-way Open, and the USPA Nationals 2025 is the most important event for Airspeed in the coming year. Of course, the team is fully aware of the situation and the upcoming pressure, and the selection criteria included the behavior under pressure. Main goal for Joey Marshall and Chris Kuhlmann with their new lineup is still on the athletic side. They are aiming at the next new standard level in 4-way competition, which is probably the unspoken 30-average benchmark.