posted Jul 27th, 2005 - The NSL News posted an interview with Golden Knights team captain John Hoover with the story on July 21. The story included an evaluation of the 4-way situation after the Malevsky Cup 2005 and some insights of the Golden Knights 2005.

The NSL News and John Hoover discussed several other topics, as well. However, the NSL News had to promise to exclude certain topics until the August issue of the Skydiving Magazine would be published. John Hoover writes for the magazine on a regular basis and had prepared an update for the August issue.

The latest issue of the magazine is now available, and the NSL News can use the public information to cover the rest of the Golden Knights situation.

The most interesting part of the missing information was the fact that the US Army team will also be very competitive in the 8-way event this year. John Hoover explained in the July 21 interview that the 4-way team with Matt Davidson (Tail), John Hoover (Center Outside), Brian Krause (Point), Brooks Weiner (Center Inside) and Larry Miller on video surely wants to win the gold medals at this year's USPA Championship. He also had a surprise for the NSL News already that day when he mentioned that he also has a very competitive 8-way line-up ready.

The NSL News had to promise to keep this under cover, however, it surely was exciting enough to resume the Golden Knights coverage at this point. The Golden Knights 8-way team used to be the strongest part of the Army's competition team in the 80's and 90's. In fact, the 8-way event used to be the primary focus of the US Army competition team for many years, and the Golden Knights produced many 8-way world champions in 12 years of 8-way dominance in the USA and the world.

The Golden Knights lost the total control over the 8-way event when Arizona Airspeed decided to enter this discipline. Multiple 8-way world champion with the Army team, Craig Girard, had left the Golden Knights and joined Arizona Airspeed in 1996. Girard's 8-way experiences helped to launch the Airspeed 8-way project, and the 8-way training began in Eloy. The first serious competition between the two US 8-way giants of the future took place at the USPA Championship 1996 at the Ranch.

The Golden Knights could still easily fend off the Airspeed attack, and the situation was identical at the USPA Championship in 1997. The Golden Knights had just returned from winning the 8-way gold medals at the World Meet of 1997 in Turkey with a 22.4 meet average and two new world records. However, the first battle between the Golden Knights and Airspeed 8 a few weeks later started the exciting duel of the coming years.

The dramatic showdown at the next USPA Championship 1998 in Eloy (scores are still available at Omniskore) already brought the end of the US Army's 8-way dominance. The 10-round victory after an unforgettable 8-point breakdown of the Golden Knights in round five qualified Airspeed 8 as the national team for the next two years and for the World Meet in 1999.

The Golden Knights had a comeback at the USPA Championship 1999 in Sebastian, Florida, and beat Airspeed for the national 8-way title that year. However, Airspeed traveled to the World Meet in Australia four weeks later and defended the Army team's 8-way gold medals by two points over Russia.

The Army team lost an exciting 8-way competition and the next qualification as the US national team once again to Airspeed at the USPA Championship 2000 and then had a dramatic change of priorities in the aftermath of this event. The Golden Knights focused on the 4-way event from here on, and Airspeed has totally controlled the 8-way event in the USA ever since.

The latest news of the Golden Knights agenda, officially provided by John Hoover in the August issue of the Skydiving Magazine, seems to change the bigger picture once again. The Golden Kights surely do not seem to change any priorities back to the 8-way event. However, there must be a serious goal behind the 8-way efforts when John Hoover mentions: "..., we hope to improve our overall average and chances of winning the 8-way title at the U.S. Nationals this September in California."

Additional comments during the conversation with the NSL News and in the August article leave no doubt that the Golden Knights are not only going to Perris to have 8-way fun, as they usually compete in all events anyway. The 8-way line-up wants to win the gold medals.

What happened that makes John Hoover and the Golden Knights so confident that they have a chance to beat the well trained Airspeed 8-way line-up? It is the fact that the current world class 4-way team members will be joined by some of the most successful 4-way and 8-way competitors of the Golden Knights: Eric Heinsheimer, Kurt Isenbarger, Vernon Miller and Carey Mills. John Hoover explains in the August article that the four returning members have over 20 national and international 8-way titles to their credit.

Just bringing these world class 8-way veterans back into the Golden Knights game plan would not be too dangerous for Airspeed 8. However, the Golden Knights hope to complete a total of 150 training jumps with this line-up, which could be enough to get up-to-date with block techniques and bring back the feeling for top 8-way competition for the whole team. John Hoover might have a point when he finishes: "It will be tough, but we believe we have a shot."

The 8-way news from the Golden Knights headquarters will surely add to the excitement of 8-way and 4-way competition at the USPA Championship in September. The extremely tight 4-way situation is well known, and the 8-way competition might now offer more and better competition than only a start-to-finish victory for Airspeed. It will also be interesting to see how Airspeed and the Golden Knights both will deal with the goal to win both events.