posted Nov 15th, 2010 - The NSL News will soon move on to the new French lineup in IPC's female 4-way category. The new Aerodyne Cypres Maubeuge lineups for the Open Class competition in 4-way and 8-way were introduced with the stories on 21 October 2010 (4-way) and 12 November 2010 (8-way).

The new French 8-way lineup will most likely face the Golden Knights at the World Meet in 2012, as no other team in the USA will realistically be able to seriously challenge the US Army team in 8-way at the USPA Nationals 2011.

Golden Knights team captain Brian "BK" Krause recently informed the NSL News that there is also a personnel change in his 8-way lineup. Matthew Accord has become a member of the US Army's tandem team and continues as the alternate in 8-way. Mike LaRoche, alternate in 2010, is back in the active lineup.

Mike LaRoche was in the 8-way lineup of 2009 that won the silver medals at the USPA Nationals behind Arizona Airspeed and was then sanctioned by USPA to represent the USA in 8-way at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2010.

The NSL News story on 10 March 2010 reported that Kurt Isenbarger, alternate of 2009, filled the slot at the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2010.

Mike LaRoche was not able to compete for the Golden Knights since he had to be at home for his family. His daughter Grace LaRoche was born prematurely with a weight of 2lbs and 2oz. The NSL News story on 11 March 2010 explained why Kurt Isenbarger was the perfect alternate for the Golden Knights.

Golden Knights with Mike LaRoche at the USPA Nationals 2009

Kurt Isenbarger eventually continued with the 8-way team throughout the complete 2010 season, helped the team to win the silver medals at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2010 and the gold medals at the USPA Nationals 2010.

The NSL News had Mike LaRoche live in front of the NSL-TV camera in Menzelinsk on 4 August 2010 when he was ready to step in as the Golden Knights alternate.

Kurt Isenbarger still continues with the 8-way lineup, and Mike LaRoche is now back in. Both will prepare for the next showdown with the French 8-way team, whether it will be at any of the meets in 2011 or at the next World Championship of Formation Skydiving in 2012.

The next confrontation with France will be very different. The complete Golden Knights lineup in Menzelinsk, including the alternate, will meet only three of the French 8-way members of 2010 next time.

Only team captain Clement Martin St. Leon and his two youngest members, Thomas Perrin and Julien Olek, will be back to defend the title against the Golden Knights next time. The other five French 8-way competitors (Julien Degen, Guillaume and Mathieu Bernier, Bruno Perin, Manu Sarrazin) have not competed against this Golden Knights lineup yet.

However, the same French 5-way plus Clement Martin St. Leon defeated the three most experienced Golden Knights (Brian Krause, Kurt Isenbarger, Matt Davidson) and youngster Sean Sweeney when they competed in 8-way for Team USA at the World Meet 2008 in Maubeuge.

USPA Nationals 2008		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Round8	Round9	Round10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open	3,A,Q,6	19,17,B	7,E,L,15	8,O,P,K	M,13,16	18,10,17	H,J,14,4	D,G,1,N	C,21,12	20,5,9	Total	Avg
1	Aerodyne Cypres Maubeuge	27	17	21	20	23	19	26	30	21	18	222	22.2
2	Arizona Airspeed	23	16	19	14	20	17	19	22	17	16	183	18.3
3	Team USA	20	15	18	15	16	15	16	22	15	15	167	16.7

The situation was similar compared to last year. Arizona Airspeed had won in 4-way and 8-way at the USPA Nationals 2007 and decided to compete only in 4-way at the World Meet 2008. The Knight Trax combination of Fastrax members and Golden Knights were 2nd in 8-way and accepted to compete for the USA in Maubeuge a year later.

Eric Heinsheimer, John Hoover, Thomas Hughes and Doug Park completed the lineup of Team USA, Larry Miller was filming this team, Kirk Verner was the alternate. France won in 2008 with a 21.6 average, 11 points ahead of the US team after seven rounds. Both teams met again a few weeks later at the USPA Nationals 2008, Team USA with a few new members, France chasing down the 8-way world records.

Julien Degen, Guillaume and Mathieu Bernier then dropped the 8-way event, continued with Jeremie Rollett only in 4-way and did not compete with the current Golden Knights lineup in Menzelinsk this year.

Six French 8-way competitors of 2008 and four Golden Knights of 2008 and 2010 are now getting ready to continue with the same 8-way battle. Only one of the 16 active competitors in both new lineups has not been engaged yet. Mike LaRoche will be able to enjoy this 2-year race from here on, together with Larry Miller who was filming the 8-way team in 2008.

Brian Krause also mentioned that he will most likely add some more 4-way training to the Golden Knights agenda. The NSL News explained in the story on 3 November 2010 that the US Army's Gold lineup (Kurt Isenbarger, Matt Davidson, Brian Krause, Sean Sweeney) will most likely be one of the 4-way top contenders at the USPA Nationals 2011.

The Golden Knights Gold will begin to show their 4-way skills at the Shamrock Showdown 2011. This time, they will launch the new competition season with the strong Gold lineup in DeLand.

USPA Nationals 2011
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