posted Dec 19th, 2010 - The NSL Profile of the former French national competitor, national coach and national manager, Jerome David, is a long and colorful one. It is almost a complete story of top competition in Formation Skydiving history since 1986.

It is still far from complete, as many of the other profiles need updates, as well. There is a good reason why the NSL News begins the series of updates with the Frenchman who just retired from his job as the national manager of Formation Skydiving after being promoted to a new job in the French skydiving federation.

Jerome David guided the French FS teams to the biggest success in history at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2010 in Menzelinsk.

France won all three gold medals for the first time, and Mathieu Bernier became the first competitor who won gold medals in 4-way and 8-way at the same event. The NSL News now covers the next phase in Jerome David's coaching career, which features the events between 2003 and 2006.

Wrapup of the World Meet 2003

The whole French FS delegation believed strongly in the double gold project for the World Meet 2003 on home turf. However, soon they had to realise that it was a very challenging goal. First, they had to accept missing it at the World Cup 2002 in Ampuriabrava where the 8-way team won the gold medals but the 4-way team placed 3rd place behind DeLand Majik and Arizona Airspeed.

It did not turn out much better at the World Meet 2003 in Gap where the French 4-way won the gold medals easily by 15 points. The French 8-way team lost the meet early after two bad jumps on Round 2 and Round 7 and ended up in 3rd place behind Russia and USA.

The 4-way victory was the 4th gold medal for Jerome David. It was still hard for him to appreciate it since he had put so much of his time and efforts into the 8-way project. The success in 4-way was not enough for him. He remembered that the 8-way team was ready to win but missed its opportunity in Gap. It would take more efforts and more years to continue the pursuit of the ultimate challenge. It became even more challenging for the national coach when the French federation decided to strongly support the female 4-way event, as well. Now he had to recruit an additional lineup that could win gold medals for France, while it would make the budget situation more difficult.

New directions in 2004

2004 was a special year for the sport when the next World Championship of Formation Skydiving was scheduled in Croatia just ten months after the last one in Gap, France. It would have been possible for Jerome David to try the double gold challenge once again. However, both teams were tired, especially the 4-way members who had put so much energy into both events. Jerome David decided that the next national teams would focus only on one event and began to build two new groups: a new French 8-way team and also a new French female lineup.

He chose to give the young lineup an opportunity in 8-way that he had selected as the "farm team" in 2000. Manu Sarrazin, who was already in the 2002/2003 lineup, became the team captain. Erwan Pouliquen, who was still competing in 4-way, was assigned as the external 8-way coach. The new 8-way team was not ready to win in 2004, but Jerome David felt that this new generation of French FS competitors would be able to win the 8-way sword for France. He knew that France had never won 8-way gold in the history of Formation Skydiving competition. It was time for Jerome David to take on this historical challenge for France.

At the same time, he would also be engaged as the technical coach for the new French female 4-way lineup. It was a lot of work, however, Jerome David remembered that he saw it only as a real challenge: "Skydiving history has been made with those kind of challenges..." He met one of his oldest friends and opponents when he began his work with the French female 4-way team. Arizona Airspeed member Dan BC was the coach of the female US team.

The eternal competition between Jerome David and Dan BC turned out to be in US favor in Croatia 2004. Synchronicity won by three points over the new French team. However, Jerome David was aiming at the World Meet 2006 in Germany with his young team. The situation was the same for the female lineup and the 8-way team. Both were in Croatia to learn for the future. The young French 8-way lineup learned quickly too and finished in 2nd place behind Airspeed. They had performed stronger than expected and were even in contention for the 1st place. The final round would have been the final opportunity, but rain in the morning of the last meet day stopped the competition.

Jerome David was not very happy with the results of the 4-way Open Class competition in Croatia. The story of a bad video angle in Round 5 and the following defeat against DeLand Majik became a poor happy end for this lineup, which the French national coach wanted to forget quickly. The US delegation won all three gold medals, and France went home with three silver medals.

Unusual System in 2005 and 2006

Jerome David and the French federation were still happy with the results in Croatia. The French national coach continued with exactly the same 8-way lineup (Manu Sarrazin, Bruno Perin, Damien Sorlin, Clement Martin St Leon, Mathieu Bernier, Guillaume Bernier, Julien Degen and Jeremie Rollett) and the female 4-way team of 2004 (Sophie Deremaux, Sandy Labattu, Severine Bocquet and Cathy Gallet). He was hoping to win both sets of gold medals in Germany 2006 after two more years with the same lineups.

The new 2-year period with the young groups would be financially difficult for the French FS budget. Jerome David had to become creative and announced a new qualification system for the 4-way Open Class event. The winner of the French Nationals 2006 would become the French national team for the World Meet 2006 Gera, similar to the US qualification system. Jerome David thought that this unusual idea in France might allow the lineup of 2000 - 2004 a possibility to be in contention without too much financial input.

It worked out well, as the team was rebuilt with just few training jumps. Former 8-way competitor Paul Grisoni filled Marin Ferre's slot, who had decided to step back, and Jerome David still had his competitive 4-way lineup.

In Gera 2006, he once again met Dan BC on the other side of the female 4-way competition who was now coaching the British team Airkix. The result was the same, and France went home with silver medals in this category. Jerome David still considers this 2nd place the worst failure in his whole coaching career: "Having worked more than four years with a team without reaching the gold medal position is a very painful experience."

He had enjoyed the work with this lineup and hoped so much that he could help them get to the very top. It did not work out, however, the first French 8-way gold medals in Gera 2006 helped him to digest what he remembers as the "female fiasco". The young 8-way lineup was performing very strongly in the bad German weather conditions. Jerome David remembered that his 8-way team had perfect jumps in Round 3 and Round 4, which created enough distance to Arizona Airspeed.

World Meet2006		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open	8-O-Q-F	16-15-9	4-J-6	19-20-D	7-5-1	10-12-A	Total	Avg
1	France Maubeuge NPC	18	25	26	18	18	18	123	20.5
2	USA Arizona Airspeed	18	23	24	18	17	19	119	19.8

The same French 8-way lineup had defeated Airspeed for the first time at the Malevsky Cup 2005. They mastered the difficult weather situation in Germany perfectly and were declared 8-way world champions after five completed rounds. A very emotional celebration followed, as Jerome David remembered. It was the first time that a French 8-way team touched and kept the famous 8-way Excalibur sword. Jerome David said that many generations of French competitors had dreamt about the 8-way gold medals and missed it by next to nothing.

Last not least, Jerome David also added 4-way Open Class silver medals to his collection. The "pickup team" of 4-way and 8-way veterans won the second place in Germany without any significant training over Itali's team Sinapsi and Russia's Sky Panthers. France won one set of gold and two sets of silver medals and the Patrick de Gayardon award for the best nation in Formation Skydiving. It was the first time for France in 2006.

Now there was only one big goal left for Jerome David, and he was ready to pursue his vision. He wanted to guide this exceptional generation of young French competitors, who he had worked with since 2000, to the ultimate goal. He started to work on his final mission.