posted Jun 26th, 2010 - The NSL News story on 13 June 2010 had covered the performance of the Frecnh national 4-way team, Aerodyne Cypres Maubeuge, at the first meet of the Coupe de France 2010. The event took place on the same meet weekend when Arizona Airspeed competed at the Midway Battle.

The French national 8-way team used the same opportunity for a last test before traveling to Menzelinsk in Russia for the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2010, and the Golden Knights used the same competition draw at the Midway Battle. The NSL News story on 12 June 2010 covered this 8-way competition.

The NSL News received additional information from France in the meantime, which provides more insights of how the French teams prepare for the World Meet. The 8-way team also published a video clip of the latest training efforts.

The Road to Russia

Jérôme David, French national coach, informed the NSL News that the French 8-way exited from a Dornier 28 at the Coupe de France competition and had some serious problems with this door. Other than that, there was only one penalty in the team's 6-round performance.

He added that the French national 4-way team had no problems with the Dornier door. However, Aerodyne Cypres Maubeuge had a total of four point deductions in the 10-round meet in France and outscored Arizona Airspeed in Illinois by four points after five rounds.

Jérôme David also explained that Perros Dunkerque Maubeuge and Val Heureux Maubeuge Picardie are two of the three French national C-Teams that competed at the Coupe de France competition. None of the French national B-Teams competed, as their members had 8-way priorities that weekend.

The Golden Knights had to withdraw from their remote meet with the French team after two rounds when team captain Brian "BK" Krause learned that he had become a father. Both 8-way teams still compared their scores very carefully.

The French 8-way team had once again back luck with the weather when the team tried to continue with a training camp after the competition in LeBlanc. France is behind the schedule after bad weather at the May camp and a shoulder injury of team member Damien Sorlin.

The 8-way team is now trying to make as many jumps as possible to catch up after going into the Coupe de France competition without any training and warmup jumps. Team member Martial Ferré said that his team did not have very high expectations for the competition. He confirmed that the exits from the Dornier did not help much, as the door is very short and caused several painful encounters with the door frame.

The training camp after the Coupe de France competition was more successful, and the French 8-way team was working with the latest meet experiences. 80 jumps in one week of training helped to make up for the missed training earlier this year.

The French national 8-way team and the Golden Knights also had the opportunity this week to take a closer look at the performance level of the Russian 8-way team. The Barkli lineup, with three Sky Panthers, posted an 18.2 average after six rounds at the Russian Nationals 2010.

The same team had posted a 17.0 average in May when Barkli copied the competition draw of the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2010. The Golden Knights had finished with a 19.1 average after eight rounds. The scores of the six rounds this week included a 14-pointer in Round 3. There was no other Russian 8-way team at the national championship.