posted Sep 20th, 2016 - The SKYLEAGUE.COM contribution for the TURNING POINTS column in the Blue Skies Mag September edition was written before the start of the Mondial 2016 and after the completion of the French Nationals 2016.

The French national team in 4-way Open had won the competition after three losses against the French Girls, and the Sun Path Products NSL News took a closer look at the situation in the French 4-way runup to the upcoming World Championship of Formation Skydiving.

Coach Marin Ferre had the challenging task to bring back a new Open Class lineup to the lost medal rankings. It turned out that he was successful once again, bringing home the bronze medals behind NMP PCH HayaBusa and Arizona Airspeed. Blue Skies Mag published the background information before the start of the competition.

TURNING POINTS: Chasing gold medals - French coach Marin Ferre

France is doing things differently. If you live in the U.S. there is no doubt that you know the strange vibe whenever Americans talk about France. I don't know where this comes from; most likely it has something to do with the past, as the people of both countries don't really have much to do with each other these days.

I would not argue that France does many things differently compared to American understanding and way of life. I don't really care much at all, as I believe that people should all do freely whatever blows their skirts up, as long as it does not interfere too much with others' freedoms. I like it here, I like it there, I like it everywhere.

All right, I am in skydiving, so I pay more attention to this part of life than to other stuff, like politics (shudder...) or business (shudder...) Well, France is doing things differently in skydiving, too. I hardly know any other country where competitive skydiving is organized in the same or a similar way.

FAI Mondial 2016			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		12,A,16	18,15,O	1,F,E,C	17,B,14	10,2,20	21,11,G	J,5,19	L,M,K,7	D,8,4	3,13,Q	Total	Avg
1	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	24(-1)	25	35	26	19(-1)	22	27(-2)	39	23	22	262	26.2
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	21(-1)	23	31	26	18	22(-1)	27	40(-1)	23	23	254	25.4
3	France	FR	21	20	30(-1)	21(-3)	18	21	27	39	21	20	238	23.8

France has national coaches who oversee the development of the sport and the national teams. The government also sponsors assistant coaches and top athletes in different ways, which allows eager skydivers to pursue their dreams with less financial and logistical strain. They also get structural support on the way up to the top. Yes, France has always had A-teams and B-teams and coaches in the regions who spy talent, and support and help eager competitors up the ladder. The level of the state support always depends on the budget that the French government invests into the skydiving federation and the sport.

Both current national 4-way teams (open and women) consist of members who came through the French selection process. Only the 8-way lineup trains and competes with veterans of the past decade - who also started on French B-teams long ago.

Then there are the French coaches, who are also working for the federation/government. All of the coaches I have met in the past 30 years went through general sports education at French universities and have degrees in sports and coaching sciences. It does not seem to be such a surprise that France is a powerhouse in skydiving competition, does it?

FAI World Meet 2014			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		E,3,C,5	F,6,D,21	19,H,2	M,4,1	O,14,A,P	8,J,16	7,11,12	22,20,15	17,G,18	13,B,9	Total	Avg
1	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	32	29	25	25	33	25	22	18	26	29	264	26.4
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	31	27	25	24	31	23	22	17	24	29	253	25.3
3	Evolution	CA	31	28	24	22	28	23	20	21	25	27	249	24.9
4	VoltR	FR	24	26	18	23	26	20	20	13	24	21	215	21.5
5	Barkli	RU	24	23	20	22	25	21	19	16	18	26	214	21.4

There is one of the coaches who has once again caught my attention recently, Marin Ferre. He is currently working with the French 4-way open class team and was assigned to the challenging task of bringing back 4-way medals to France in the open class category.

Imagine: since the beginning of modern formation skydiving competition (1985), France has always brought home a set of 4-way medals. In fact, they were always gold or silver medals - until 2012 when Airspeed and HayaBusa took the first two places. It became worse when France did not win any medals in 4-way open in Prostejov 2014. Disaster...

This does not mean that France did not win gold medals in formation skydiving competition. The VFS team compensated with French gold at both events (2012 and 2014) and so did the French Girls - with coach Marin Ferre.

Now, you have to know that Marin Ferre was coaching the French 4-way open team first to silver medals in 2008 and then gold medals in 2010, after winning his own 4-way gold medals long ago. He collected three sets of gold medals as a coach of the French 4-way women teams (2010, 2012 and 2014) before new national coach Mathieu Bernier assigned him back to the 4-way open team after the 2014 disaster.

He started his work with the current lineup at the end of the 2014 season, and when the French Girls were still outscoring the new open class lineup at the World Air Games 2015. By the way, one of the former French Girls 4-way women's world champions is still under his tutelage; Laurence Herve switched from the French Girls to open after winning gold in 2014. Anyhow, it took Marin Ferre only a year to bring the new French open class lineup to the female speed, and last weekend was the first time after three losses that the three boys with the girl outscored the four French Girls. The French 4-way open class team won the French Nationals 2016.

The Mondial 2016, including the next World Championship of Formation Skydiving, is coming up next month, and there is a very good chance that France will be back in the medal rankings in 4-way open with Marin Ferre and his outstanding coaching performance. And then keep in mind that this team is looking at the world meet 2018 where they plan to go after the very top spot again...