posted Nov 27th, 2024 - The recent NSL News coverage of the new Arizona Airspeed lineup began with the official announcement of Joey Marshall's, Christopher Kuhlmann's and Alex Swindle's selected two team mates, Alisson De Vargas and Doug Hendrix. The NSL News update included a brief overview of their 4-way career before joining Arizona Airspeed.

The follow-up story a day later provided an overview of all Airspeed lineups and their changes since 1994. Arizona Airspeed's returning member Joey Marshall explained the details and criteria of the selection process during NSL Live Talk on November 15th, and Gary Smith evaluated and commented the situation on November 18th.

Niklas Hemlin, who retired with three FAI 4-way gold medals after the 26th FAI World Formation Skydiving Championships, had more insights and Airspeed experiences than anybody else and explained as much as possible with NSL Live Talk on November 20th. New events took place, and other topics had to be covered, as well, while the Airspeed story naturally continues and will be a consistent part of the NSL News. There were a few more people who have been on the Airspeed related list of topics and interviews, and the next NSL Live Talk features Ben Liston on the Zoom platform.

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NSL Live Talk with Ben Liston on 27 November 2024

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Ben Liston has been an asset of the Formation Skydiving competition community since the 90s, and he has always enjoyed sharing his knowledge, experiences and social skills with this community. His professional work life at schools requires productive communication and positive social interaction, which seem to be a part of his natural personality structure.

He has just as much enjoyed mentoring and guiding 4-way and 8-way competitors on their way to higher performance levels in their skydiving careers, and he connected with new Arizona Airspeed member Doug Hendrix in New England long before his recent transition into full-time training and competition with the reigning 4-way world champions.

Ben Liston himself never made the same step, even though he loves the sport and is extremely passionate about it. He trained and competed with his teams intensively, and Mass Defiance is a team name that made history in the U.S. archives of 4-way competition. Some of his team mates (Brian Stephens, Dennis Rook) were highly talented and ready to make the big step from amateur status to full-time status. Dennis Rook eventually made it into the Airspeed lineup of 2004, while Ben Liston continued as a recreational competitor and still made it into the Airspeed 8-way lineup at the USPA National Championship 2018 to win an 8-way silver medal. Mass Defiance finished 4th (20.3) in 4-way Open at the same event.

USPA Nationals 2019			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open Class		7,C,H,P		J,21,20		O,3,11		B,2,K,E		8,Q,10		15,D,F,12		N,L,M,14		6,1,9		A,18,13		G,4,5		17,16,22		Total	Avg
G	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	45	-1	24		27		37		21		25		34		25	-1	26	-1	25	-4	-		289	28.9
1	SDC Rhythm XP	US	41		22		21	-1	33		21		23		27		25		24		25		21	-1	262	26.2
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	40	-1	24		22	-2	32		19	-2	24		29		25		21	-2	26	-1	20	-2	262	26.2
3	Defiance	US	30	-1	21		15	-4	28		16		19		22	-3	21		18	-1	18	-1	-		208	20.8
4	Ranch 2nd Generation	US	26		19		19		24	-2	16	-1	17	-1	24		18	-1	19		19		-		201	20.1
5	Kinetix	AU	26		18		17		22		13	-1	17		18	-1	17		17		17		-		182	18.2
6	Lite XP	US	24	-1	17		17		22		15		17		20	-2	16	-1	14		17		-		179	17.9
7	No Name	US	22	-4	17		14		19	-2	12	-2	13		14	-3	15		14		16		-		156	15.6
8	Aviatrixx	US	21		14		13	-1	18	-1	12	-2	15		17	-1	14	-1	12		14		-		150	15.0
9	Perris Force	US	20		13	-1	14		18		11	-1	11		18	-1	13	-1	12		12	-1	-		142	14.2

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Defiance at the USPA Nationals 2019

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The same Defiance lineup (Ben Liston, Brian Stephens, Nick Grillet, James Klinge, David Wybenga on camera) won USPA bronze medals in 4-way Open a year later and then competed at the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2019 in October to take the 4th place on the 4-way Open Class leaderboard.

Ben Liston has also been organizing the SkyVenture New Hampshire Indoor Fest for many years, the event where Doug Hendrix caught his attention on a regular basis. They connected and have been training and competing together ever since. Both were in the Prison 9 lineup of 2024 and won USPA silver medals in 8-way Open.

Ben Liston had a lot to tell about his former Chicken Bolts and Prison 9 team mate. The NSL Live Talk conversation also included the story of the Chicken Bolts at the USPA Nationals 2024 where they had to return the 4-way Advanced Class gold medals. Ben Liston's guidance for new competitors into the 4-way world and up the ladder to the top level earned him the Skydiver Of the Year awards for 2018. Doug Hendrix won the player-coach competition at SkyVenture New Hampshire, Ben Liston's signature event that he will now forward to new management. Doug Hendrix will have a much longer travel distance to get to the event site coming January. It's a long way from Arizona to New Hampshire.

USPA Nationals 2024		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open	19,3,N		6,K,18		B,G,22,P		J,E,8,16		F,10,H,O		21,2,5		Q,1,9		D,12,14		C,15,17		20,13,11		Total	Avg
1	GKXP8	22	-2	23		26	-1	25		22		17		23	-1	20		24		19		221	22.1
2	Prison 9	16		13		16		11		13		11		17		9		15		15		136	13.6
3	Bra Nok XP	14		14		14		14		9		10		13		8		13		13		122	12.2
4	Mandatory Fun!	14		13		13		12		13		10		13		7		13		11		119	11.9
5	Elsinore No Guts, No Gloryhole	12		12		10		11		11		9		11		10		12		10		108	10.8
6	The Gr8 Rhevival	10		9		11		10		9		8		11		4		7		8		87	8.7

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Prison 9 at the USPA Nationals 2024, Video Footage Courtesy of USPA/InTime

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