posted Feb 9th, 2026 - The previous NSL Live Talk with NMP PCH HayaBusa coach Gary Smith was published as part of the Wind Games update on January 28th. At the time, Smith was already in Empuriabrava, Spain, preparing to guide the Belgian 4-way team toward a second-place finish behind the French Aethers. He shared his final insights ahead of Round 1, which ultimately finalized the NSL Power Rankings in the last preview before the competition.

In addition, Smith assisted Pete Allum, who was unavailable to work with the Swiss 4-way Women’s team Airdrops, which he normally coaches. Smith’s primary focus, however, remained on the performance of NMP PCH HayaBusa following his recent work with the Qatar delegation.

He had good reason to be pleased with HayaBusa’s performance. The Belgians were the only top team to slightly close the gap to the French Aethers. They were also the only team to match the French highscores across all ten rounds—and managed to do so twice. According to Gary Smith, neither he nor the HayaBusa members had expected a better outcome than what the final leaderboard ultimately reflected. The team and coach were more than satisfied with their performance, and Gary Smith gave special credit to inside center Neal Willems for his contribution.

---

---

NSL Live Talk with Gary Smith on 5 February 2026

---

HayaBusa team captain Dennis Praet, now flying in the outside center slot, and tail Jeroen Nollet share the experience of three world championship titles together (2016, 2018, 2021). Dennis Praet adds another title from 2014 to that tally. In contrast, the newest HayaBusa members—Neal Willems (inside center) and Ray Lodens (point)—are still chasing their first world championship gold medals.

Neal Willems stepped into the inside center position, replacing four-time world champion David Grauwels. According to Gary Smith, Neal Willems has steadily worked his way up to fully assume the role previously held by David Grauwels, who now contributes to the team from behind the camera with his current teammates.

Smith also praised Dennis Praet for investing extra quality time with new point flyer Ray Lodens, focusing on individual skill development and accelerating his integration to HayaBusa’s pace. Having won all four of his world championship titles in the point slot, Dennis Praet brings deep expertise and “tricks of the trade,” which he—together with coach Gary Smith—has been passing on to Ray Lodens. With this lineup, HayaBusa aims to continue closing the gap to France and establish itself as a top contender at the 2028 outdoor world championship.

Wind Games 2026			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open Top 10		13,15,M		8,N,G,L		H,6,16		Q,D,J,12		17,P,21		7,3,2		F,19,11		B,20,4		22,E,10		C,9,5		Total	Avg
1	Aethers	FR	31	-2	37	-2	32	-1	39		34		29		32		32		25	-2	41	-3	332	33.2
2	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	27	-3	34	-2	32		33	-1	33		26	-1	27	-2	28	-1	25		39	-2	304	30.4
3	Golden Knights	US	30	-1	32	-2	29		31	-3	31	-1	25		29	-1	26	-3	23	-1	33	-1	289	28.9
4	Unruly	INT	28	-3	30	-2	26	-3	32	-1	29		26		27	-2	26	-1	24		39		287	28.7
5	Arizona Airspeed	US	27	-2	31		27	-2	31	-3	29	-1	25		28		26	-1	23		36		283	28.3
6	Tunnel Vision	US	27	-1	32		28		29	-4	30		25		27		26		23		34		281	28.1
7	Dynos	INT	26	-1	30	-1	27	-1	30	-1	29		26		27	-1	27		21		35	-1	278	27.8
8	Amnesya Fly X	IT	23	-3	29		24	-1	25	-4	27		20	-1	24	-1	23	-1	20	-1	29	-3	244	24.4
9	Skynamite	DE	23		24		24		27	-2	20	-1	21		23	-1	21	-1	17	-1	28	-2	228	22.8
10	Monaco F1	FR	21	-2	26		26		21	-5	20	-3	21		22		20	-3	18	-1	30		225	22.5

---

Golden Knights - Arizona Airspeed - Tunnel Vision at the Wind Games 2026

---

Gary Smith was at Paraclete XP to work with SDC Rhythm XP for the first time. Both he and Doug Barron said they had tried for several years to schedule training camps with the popular coach, coming close as recently as January. Unfortunately, Smith’s transatlantic flight was canceled due to bad weather, limiting his involvement at the time to reviewing indoor training videos online.

The collaboration finally came together last week at Paraclete XP, where Smith reflected on his experience with Rhythm’s training and on Doug Barron’s demanding double role—training in 4-way with his team while also flying as a new member of Paraclete XP8. Gary Smith noted that he was often already asleep by the time Doug Barron returned home in the evening from his 8-way training sessions.

Together with NMP PCH HayaBusa, Gary Smith also closely followed the performances of the three U.S. teams at the Wind Games: the Golden Knights, Arizona Airspeed, and Tunnel Vision. HayaBusa and Gary Smith will face the Golden Knights at the outdoor world championship in October, and they expect the world’s top teams to be much closer together in an outdoor competition. At the Wind Games, the Golden Knights dropped only a single round - to fellow U.S. team Arizona Airspeed in Round 10. Gary Smith, however, sees significant potential in Airspeed’s new lineup and believes the Arizona team will soon emerge as the top U.S. contender. The upcoming U.S. indoor championship at Paraclete XP will bring the same three teams back together on the 4-way Open Class leaderboard.