posted Sep 26th, 2007 - Thomas Hughes, Center Inside of Team Fastrax Red, has provided the NSL News with information and comments on NSL-TV at several occasions in the past. The NSL News asked him once again for an interview after a short rest from the last action at the USPA Nationals 2007, and Hughes visited the NSL office earlier today.

Hughes competed in 4-way (Fastrax Red) and 8-way (Knight Trax) and won silver medals in both events. He also assisted Fastrax Blue during the competition at Skydive Chicago after working with the new US national team in IPC's female 4-way category throughout the 2007 season.

He was not disappointed with the 2nd place in the Open Class competition, even though Fastrax Red wanted to win the qualification for the World Meet 2008 in France. The 24.4 average is a world-class result, and Airspeed Odyssey is simply just the best team in the world at this point in time.

Hughes was very pleased with the performance of Fastrax Blue and the team's progression in 2007. Becky Broccato (Tail), Kelley Fredrickson (Point), Erin Murphy (Outside Center) and Brianne Thompson (Inside Center) had opened the 2007 season with a 15.2 average at the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2007 and finished with a 17.4 average after the ten rounds of the USPA Nationals 2007.

This 17.4 average a few weeks ago is the highest meet average in the US history of female 4-way line-ups. Team Synchronicity held the previous record with a 16.9 average at the World Meet 2004 in Croatia, which won the gold medals in this category for the USA. Thomas Hughes provides insights of his work with Fastrax Blue in the live NSL News interview.

Fastrax Blue will compete as the national team in the female category for the USA next year in France. The strongest contenders for the gold medals in France will be the French team on home turf and the British Team Storm. The NSL News will evaluate the international situation in the female category later.

Thomas Hughes knows that one of the major challenges on the road to the World Meet 2008 in France is the exit from the right-hand door of the Pilatus Porter. He provided insights of his plan how to get Fastrax Blue ready for this important task. He can use his own experiences with the switch from Twinotter to Pilatus Porter.

His former team, the British national 4-way team XL, was facing the same situation at the World Meet 2003 in Gap, France. The British team was used to a left-hand door exit and continuity plan. The competition in France required not only his own former team to find a way how to master the right-hand challenge.

It will be easier for his 8-way team to switch from the Twinotter to the Pilatus Porter. Thomas Hughes explained in the interview that 8-way teams mostly have a limited number of standard exits. There are still similar adjustments to be made as in 4-way, however, the effort is not comparable to the situation in 4-way.

Hughes confirmed that Knight Trax, the combination of Fastrax Red and Golden Knights, will represent the USA in 8-way next year. He could not provide the details of a training plan yet. Knight Trax, with Solly Williams filling an open slot for Niklas Hemlin, placed 2nd behind Arizona Airspeed in 8-way with a 16.8 average. Airspeed Odyssey already stated a few times that the team has no plans to compete in 8-way at the same time.

Thomas Hughes has another busy year of training, coaching and competition ahead of him. The video of the whole interview can be viewed by clicking here.