posted Dec 22nd, 2006 - The NSL News story on October 17 was posted in the middle of the USPA Nationals 2006 action and covered the strong comeback of the Golden Knights 4-way team. The Army team had changed the line-up earlier this year and sent 4-way veterans to Eloy in October (Eric Heinsheimer, Kurt Isenbarger, Brian Krause, Matt Davidson, Larry Miller on camera).

The same story quoted team member Brian Krause with a preview of the near future: "We will have this team going full time in January 2007. We will start our winter training in February 2007 and finish it up with the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2007. Eric is still assigned to the US Military Academy, but he will already compete with us in Eloy. Then he will be reassigned to us in January 2007."

Brian Krause recently provided an update and confirmed the earlier information: "Eric will not be officially back on the team until the middle of January. We will do several tunnel camps at the end of January and the beginning of February. Our winter training starts on February 10th, and we will attend the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2007. After the Shamrock, we will return for one more week of training and head back to Fort Bragg."

The Golden Knights plan to attend several competitions in 2007. The meets of the Carolina Skydiving League are on the team's agenda, as well as a few of the planned NSL Cup events. There is also a chance that the Army team might travel to Russia for the Malevsky Cup 2007. Brian Krause added that they will accommodate "...whatever else we can fit into our schedule."

Plan is to complete 750 team jumps. It will be a late start, and the USPA Nationals 2007 are scheduled for an early date (September 9 - 11). Brian Krause knows that there will be time pressure: "We will have to push hard to meet our goal. We may add additional training camps at another DZ. However, we are looking forward to a great year."

It could become a very special year for the Golden Knights. Two of the team members will come back to the location of the greatest national 4-way success in the Army's history of modern Formation Skydiving competition. Eric Heinsheimer and Kurt Isenbarger won the 4-way gold medals at the USPA Nationals 2002, together with John Hoover and Christopher Talbert in the line-up. Sean Capegreco was filming the team.

It is pure coincidence that the USPA Nationals 2007 will be hosted once again by Skydive Chicago. However, Eric Heinsheimer and Kurt Isenbarger will surely have great memories of an outstanding competition in 2002. It seems to be pure coincidence, as well, that the Golden Knights have a very promising line-up and training plan when coming back to the place of Army glory.

The 2002 line-up had a furious 10-round battle with Airspeed Vertical and DeLand Majik. The outstanding performance in Round 5 of the competition stunned the audience and the other contenders and laid the foundation for the first place.

The NSL News located the video of Round 5 in the NSL-TV archives, and the audience has the opportunity to watch the flawless performance that changed the US 4-way world for a few years.

The world class performance of the Golden Knights in Ottawa forced Airspeed to give up the team's 4-way dominance of many years, and DeLand Majik had to wait for another year until taking control of the US 4-way competition.

The same Golden Knights line-up traveled to France in 2003 and represented the USA at the World Meet 2003. It was a hopeless situation for the Army team on France's home turf in Gap. The French team of 2003 (Marin Ferre, Julien Losantos, Davide Moy, Erwan Pouliquen, Laurent Pechbarty on camera) was probably at the peak of its 4-way career and left the rest of the field in the dust, including the Golden Knights in second place (229 - 214).

The energy and motivation of the Golden Knights was on its lowest level after coming back from France, and the team had to defend the US title in Lake Wales a few weeks later. The Army team still pulled it together for the last ten competition jumps of this line-up and at least offered the new USPA champion, DeLand Majik, serious opposition (213 - 211).

However, Kurt Isenbarger, Eric Heinsheimer and Christopher Talbert retired at the end of the 2003 season, and John Hoover formed a new team with Matt Davidson, Brian Krause and Brooks Weiner for the 2004 season. Larry Miller was filming the new line-up.

The new Golden Knights warmed up in 2004 with a second place at the USPA Nationals (211 - 199) and became a very serious contender in 2005.

The most exciting race for the USPA gold medals with DeLand Fire included a jump-off, which ended to the advantage of the new 4-way champion from DeLand (36 - 34). The stories of the dramatic competition in Perris can still be found in the NSL Archives (Archives > 2005 > Leagues > Special Events > USPA Nationals 2005 Results).

John Hoover retired at the end of the 2005 season and served in Afghanistan. Matt Davidson and Brian Krause formed a new line-up for the 2006 season, and Larry Miller continued to film the Golden Knights. The NSL News story on October 17 and the included links to other related stories complete the circle and explain how the 2007 line-up came together.

There is no doubt that Eric Heinsheimer, Kurt Isenbarger, Brian Krause, Matt Davidson and Larry Miller on camera will be a top contender at any 4-way competition in 2007.

The 2007 competition season of the Golden Knights will begin with the first serious challenge at the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2007, where Airspeed Odyssey and Team Fastrax will test the Army team's strength early in the season. The USPA Nationals 2007 will serve as the qualification event for the World Meet 2008, and Skydive Chicago will feel like home turf for Eric Heinsheimer and Kurt Isenbarger.