posted Nov 26th, 2009 - Kirk Verner, one of the original members of the legendary Airspeed 4-way team (Jack Jefferies, Dan BC, Mark Kirkby), did not compete at the 2009 USPA National Skydiving Championships, as the NSL News mentioned quite a few times during the live coverage from Texas.

He has been dealing with a shoulder injury for a while and finally decided to get it fixed with a surgery before the USPA Nationals. He did not recover early enough to come back in time for the 8-way competition, which his team, Paraclete XP, was planning to win.

Brian Johnson and Shannon Pilcher stepped in for the injured Kirk Verner and Gary Beyer. Paraclete XP ended up in 3rd place, two points behind the Golden Knights. The US Army team will compete for the USA next year at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving in Russia.

Kirk Verner had competed with a Paraclete lineup at two indoor competitions this year before he decided to get his shoulder problems fixed, the tunnel meet of the Carolina Skydiving League in February and the Paraclete XP Indoor Skydiving Championship 2009 in June, where his son Alex was in the Paraclete lineup. He also competed with Andy Honigbaum and two Golden Knights (Brian Krause, Matt Davidson) at the World Challenge 2009 in April.

The plans to win the 8-way competition at the USPA Nationals and travel to Russia next yeare did not materialize. However, Kirk Verner has already finalized a new plan how to continue with a Paraclete team from here on, and it sounds like a great plan.

It's a 4-way plan, which includes approx. 600 jumps next year and "tons of tunnel time", as Kirk Verner told the NSL News. The team's outdoor season will most likely begin with the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2010, as the 2010 agenda is currently under his review.

Three of the team members, Kirk Verner, Andy Honigbaum and John d'Annunzio, are Paraclete staff members and have already attended quite a few indoor and outdoor meets together. Their work for and at the Paraclete XP wind tunnel makes it obviously easy to get enough tunnel training.

The fourth team member is another former Airspeed world champion and trained and competed with the Paraclete 8-way lineup this year. John Eagle is obviously back with full power into Formation Skydiving competition after a few years of lower key engagement. This year's Paraclete 8-way videographer Matt McLean will be filming the team.

600 jumps and "tons of tunnel training" will lift this lineup very quickly to the top level of 4-way competition. The three former Airspeed members know how it feels to compete on world class level. John d'Annunzio has already shown his skills and talent as a member of this year's USPA 8-way bronze medalist.

Kirk Verner and John Eagle were already Airspeed team mates when Craig Girard moved to Arizona and formed the first Airspeed 8-way lineup in 1997. They continued as 8-way team mates until 2003 and won one gold and two silver medals at the world meets in this time period (1999, 2001, 2003).

However, they never competed together in one of the Airspeed 4-way top lineups. The original Airspeed 4-way lineup with Kirk Verner disbanded at the end of the 1999 season. John Eagle became a member of the new Airspeed Vertical lineup (Craig Girard, Mark Kirkby, Neal Houston) when Kirk Verner took over the management of the "farm team" Airspeed Zulu and then Airspeed Dragon.

Only the Airspeed Red pickup 4-way lineup at the USPA Nationals 2004 brought Kirk Verner and John Eagle together in the same team. It was John Eagle's last 4-way meet with Airspeed.

It was the same year when Andy Honigbaum had joined Arizona Airspeed and met Kirk Verner. It was a perfect start for Andy Honigbaum, as Airspeed won the 8-way gold medals at the World Meet 2004 in Croatia. However, Andy Honigbaum and John Eagle missed each other, as John Eagle did not compete with the Airspeed 8-way lineup of 2004.

Kirk Verner and Andy Honigbaum then became Airspeed team mates in 4-way, as well, with Airspeed Velocity in 2005. It was only a 2-year period for them together in the same team. Kirk Verner left Arizona heading to North Carolina and the Paraclete XP career. Andy Honigbaum continued for another year with Airspeed and then followed Kirk Verner to Raeford where they have worked and trained together ever since.

The 2010 season will have the three former Airspeed team mates in the same 4-way lineup for the first time. The 2010 season is already shaping up nicely with great news of top 4-way teams making new plans.