posted May 18th, 2004 - NSL News: Joey, Majik scored a 25.5 average this weekend, was there room for more? Joey Jones: There is always room for more; we left a few points on the table scraps. NSL News: We all know that it was only a fast 6-round draw. Did you finish the draw later? Joey Jones: No, we trained on Sunday on some exits that we needed to polish up. We have been working on second-point block break times. After the meet and the jumps on Sunday, four of our jumps were personal best times. We were happy to come from a great meet and still have enough focus to put up personal best times in training the next day. It can be difficult to come back after focusing on a meet. You would rather go to the beach and bask in the glory, instead of getting your nose back to the grindstone. There is still a lot of work ahead.

NSL News: Majik scored 41 points in round two, how did you feel about the sequence for this round? Joey Jones: We were all excited to see the pure random sequence. Nobody loves random sequences more than I do. It is a great test for a team, both physically and mentally. The opportunity for error and risk is huge on such a high scoring jump. Being behind by two seconds can cost you three or four points. NSL News: Was it just another random sequence? Was it slow or fast? Joey Jones: It was probably an average sequence. There are different ways how to engineer it. We chose the longer moves and get the rhythm. We had a slow start, and when we found the groove off we went. We expected 38 to 40 points because of the long move from the Adder to the Hook. So with the 41, almost 42, we were very excited.

NSL News: Getting back to the focus, I saw that you began knee flying quite early, after a flaw. What happened? Joey Jones: We had weather and swooping, a lot of distraction, ended up on higher altitude. It happened at about 50 points, and we knew we were done. The meet was very challenging in many ways. We had weather holds, long ones. There was a swooping competition with groups exiting at 7,500 feet, and a long day. It was frustrating at the time. Now we are very happy with the outcome, especially looking ahead to the big meets where the time frame can be challenging. NSL News: Looking back, the highest Majik meet average happened in 2002 in Russia. How did last weekend compare to the Russian record score of 23.1 points? Joey Jones: Had we kept with the same pace over ten rounds, I think we would have beaten the Russian meet. The difference was that we had the 41 here, in Russia we had no jump with a higher score than 29, and no round was below 20. This surely was another 23-point average performance again. And it was nice to be there again.

NSL News: Why was this weekend’s performance so good? Joey Jones: We all knew it was the last time for us to show our stuff before going to Russia and meeting the French team. We train here. We do the NSL/FSL. Our jumps are on the meet video. We know that our opponents are following our performance. We knew that the scores would be spotted and judged, everybody would be watching. We wanted to come up with a polished performance and try to make a statement before we would go to Russia.

NSL News: You surely made a statement. How would you see the psychological impact of this result for Italy and France? Joey Jones: We knew that the whole world would watch the FSL scores and then the jumps on NSL-TV. I went out of my way to visualize these teams checking us out and tried to really compete with them as directly as possible for a challenge. It works. As far as the psychological impact, yes, it will have an impact. I know that the French team might have beaten us. They probably jumped the meet in their training, I heard. But we also watched the French team scoring the second highest average in history in Gap last year and the highest at a world meet. They knew then that we were watching. Now it is closer to Russia, and we both know what we are capable of. We are all able to perform on a world-class level, we have all seen each other, and we have all done it. It will all be about who does it the best on that one day when we are all face-to-face. We will have two of the best teams in the history putting their best on the line; it will be a great meet.

NSL News: Russia will be the first showdown. How important will the results in Russia be for the world meet? Joey Jones: It will be as important as we make these results. I am sure both teams feel they have an advantage in some way. France had a great performance last year. We beat the French team at the World Cup in 2002. We have an experience advantage, while they have the youth and resources. You can win or lose in Russia. It will not make a big difference. I feel we have a small advantage since we beat them already once. If we win again, it will be even stronger. However, they have their own advantages, if we lose in Russia it might become more even. NSL News: What are you doing between here and going to Russia? Joey Jones: This was the second to last training day before we go to Russia. I leave next week for 2.5 months, have to pay for this whole trip. I will spend two weeks in Sweden with my wife's family and working at the Swedish Basic Camp, then travel to Russia. There is a tunnel camp before. Solly is going to South Africa for the nationals. Doug is going to Sweden with me. Gary will be in Holland for coaching jobs. We will all meet again in Russia. NSL News: We will talk again in Russia, thanks for the interview, Joey.