Matt Davidson is currently one of the three most successful 8-way competitors in the history of formation skydiving competition since 1985. Only Scott Rhodes and Craig Girard match his six gold medals that he has won in the active lineups of Golden Knights and Paraclete XP8/GKXP8 at FAI outdoor world championships. Scott Rhodes won all his 8-way gold medals with the Golden Knights, while Craig Girard and Matt Davidson both added more 8-way gold to their collections after they had left the U.S. Army team. Craig Girard won his last 8-way world championship title at the Tanay Mondial 2020, while Matt Davidson was still in the GKXP8 lineup who broke or tied all previous 8-way indoor and outdoor record averages, including the historic 32.5 at the indoor world championship in April 2025. Matt Davidson would have even broken Scott Rhodes' record number of six consecutive 8-way gold medals (1987 - 1997) had he not missed the Tanay Mondial 2020, due to an overdue hip surgery. However, he was back in action soon to win two more gold medals in 2022 and 2024. Matt Davidson finally takes a voluntary and well deserved break from most intensive training and competition, and he shared information, experiences and stories for his NSL Profile.

I’m very fortunate to have received and to continue to receive an education from the World Champions, world class performers and other unique and incredibly interesting high achievers our sport tends to attract. I didn’t follow the traditional path in education our society tends to push its citizens towards in a classical sense. Instead, I received an immersive, all-consuming education from the U.S. Army following my enlistment in 1992, which taught me how to become a soldier and even more importantly, how to be a contributing member of a team.

I’m very lucky to have parents who encouraged me to follow my passions and who’s guidance enabled me to start my skydiving journey at age 16. Having the incredible fortune of being surrounded by highly disciplined people in the sport and in the military community in and around Ft. Bragg, North Carolina set the stage for a unique and powerful education at a time when I was most impressionable. I was initially able to have access to this incredible group of people through my father, Mike Davidson, who put me through the first jump course at the Ft. Rucker Sport Parachute Club in Alabama. After course completion, I traveled back home to North Carolina and began jumping with the 82nd Airborne and Green Beret Sport Parachute Clubs. Both clubs had helicopter support from local military aviation units.

Looking back, I received an invaluable education from the great people around me not only in the hard skills required to be a competent and safe skydiver but also in areas such as leadership, stress management, complex operations management and much more. I feel so fortunate to have had so much exposure to greatness early on in my life that I created a podcast where I have conversations with some of my mentors, teammates, friends and people who inspire me.

I’m passionate about sharing their stories, learning from them and sharing some of that education with people around the world. My podcast is called A Champion’s Journey and it’s available for free on all streaming platforms. I haven’t monetized the podcast yet but it makes all the work of producing the show worthwhile when listeners approach me to tell me how much it has inspired them.

I have too many tunnel hours to count. My tunnel journey started at age 16, prior to learning to skydive, when my dad was able to get me a flight in the Santos Matos vertical wind tunnel at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, operated by the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School.

After becoming a member of the U.S. Army Parachute Team, “The Golden Knights,” I spent so many hours in the chamber of that facility that I lost count. Many of our team training days began flying in the tunnel before dawn then driving to our outdoor training facilities in Raeford and Laurinburg/Maxton, North Carolina to make 10-12 training jumps.

In 2007, Paraclete XP built its tunnel which had more modern and efficient technology and helped to usher in a revolutionary era of progression and shared information in our sport as more tunnels of similar caliber were beginning to pop up all over the world. Since that time, I’ve had the great fortune to fly and compete as a team member with the Golden Knights, Arizona Airspeed, Paraclete XP8, and most recently with GKXP8/Team USA8 at the 2025 World Indoor Skydiving Championships.

So many memorable competitions. My first world championships was also the first World Air Games in Efes, Turkey in 1997. My most fulfilling competition was winning the 2012 World Parachuting Championships in 8-way with the Golden Knights/Team USA8 which took place in Dubai, UAE. For a host of reasons our team struggled to achieve victory and failed time and again over the 15 years which lead up to that competition. In 2011, we won gold over the French 8-way team in Saarlouis, Germany for the World Cup which once again whetted our appetite for victory but there’s something special about winning the Super Bowl of our sport. It was magical.

Our victory there was the culmination of years of hard work with a special group of people in one of the most epic settings on the planet. The recent World Cup in Voss, Norway was really special and so beautiful and my last outdoor competition in Beaufort, North Carolina for the 2024 World Parachuting Championships was magical too. The views jumping over the beaches and the Atlantic Ocean were incredible and helping to set a new World Record definitely didn’t suck either. Having family there to support and spend time with after the meet was icing on the cake.

I love all types of music but my favorite genre is House music. As a dj, I love how it brings people together. No other medium I’ve experienced brings people together like dance music does. People of all races, religions, political and socioeconomic backgrounds gathered in one place, all grooving and moving together to the same beats is something which is really unique and magical.

During our first training jump on site, I lead the team into the landing area under canopy. I noticed the inflatable arrow in the landing area was pointing downwind. Some drop zones can be very particular and can become aggravated if you don’t land in the direction the arrow is pointing. Going against my intuition of landing into the wind, I opted to follow the direction of the arrow and proceed to land my team downwind. Normally, it wouldn’t have been too big of an issue but I failed to take into account the very thick, moon dust-like sand we were landing on. I tried to surf on top of the sand but instead, my feet instantly dug in with my face being the immediate second point of contact. My legs scorpioned over the top of my head as I scooped in copious amounts of sand through the open visor of my Cookie helmet. The many onlookers were highly entertained. It took months of tunnel training and jumping before i stopped finding sand in my jumpsuit and gear. The next day in Abu Dhabi, my wife Jen and I and some teammates were eating burgers adorned with gold flakes. I was thoroughly enjoying the tasty burger and commenting on the fancy gold flakes. Jen nonchalantly said, "Some days you eat gold, some days you eat dirt."