posted Sep 13th, 2007 - There were no suprises on the last day of the 8-way competition at the USPA Nationals 2007. All 8-way teams had settled in their final positions after Round 5. Arizona Airspeed gave away only one single round and had the sole highscores in nine of the ten rounds.

The qualification event for the World Meet 2008 in France is over, and the discussions and negotiations regarding the slot as the official US national 8-way team next year begin. Airspeed Odyssey will represent the USA in 4-way, Fastrax Blue is the national team in IPC's female category, the situation in 8-way is open.

The NSL News had the opportunity to speak with Airspeed legend Jack Jefferies at Skydive Chicago, and the video of the live interview can be viewed by clicking here. The original Airspeed member and multiple world champion in 4-way and 8-way confirmed in the interview that it would not be in the best interest of the country to send the line-up that won the 8-way competition this week.

Jack Jefferies was recruited by Airspeed for the 8-way line-up this year. Airspeed had a trained 8-way line-up in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. It was the USPA Nationals 2002 at Skydive Chicago when Jack Jefferies filled an open slot last time and won a USPA gold medal in 8-way.

Jack Jefferies lives in New York City and has worked very successfully as a business consultant in the corporate business world for a while. He has used his valuable team experiences with Airspeed for his professional career and explains in the interview what he is doing in his consulting business.

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His review goes back to the years before Airspeed was founded in 1994. He points out that the difference between the group dynamics and the training methods in the area of interaction and social behavior before and with Airspeed showed him the values that he can bring into the team work of the corporate business world.

Jack Jefferies has made approx. 200 jumps in the last four years and 50 jumps this year. He prepared himself mostly with visualization once he knew that he would compete with Airspeed in 8-way. He took back his Point position that he owned for many years and where he demonstrated excellence for the whole skydiving world over and over again.

The new Airspeed 8-way video of Round 2 features Jack Jefferies in a typical sequence where the Point has most of the action happening behind him. His visualization worked out very well for him, not only in this round. Airspeed's 18.9 average in Ottawa this week is the second-highest 8-way average that was posted in the world this year. Only the French national 8-way team scored higher with a 20.4 average at the FAI World Cup 2007 in Russia.

Finally, Jack Jefferies explained that the other Formation Skydiving events of the USPA Nationals mean a lot to the team, as well. Airspeed is eager to win all four disciplines (4/8/10/16), which was accomplished only twice so far. Three of the four events are already in the Airspeed bag after winning the 16-way competition today over Knights Defiance.

The Airspeed 16-way line-up included 13 current and former Airspeed members (Craig Girard, Eliana Rodriguez, Mark Kirkby, Andy Delk, Christopher Irwin, John Hamilton, Todd Hawkins, Gary Beyer, Dennis Rook, John Eagle, Dan Brodsky-Chenfeld, Andy Honigbaum and Steve Nowak on camera). Perris Fury members Joshua Hall and Ulrich Stuwe, plus Scott Latinis and Joey Jones, filled the open slots. Jack Jefferies had to go back to New York City and take care of business...