posted Apr 24th, 2020 - The NSL Live Talk series of online interviews continues with SDC Rhythm XP, the reigning U.S. outdoor champions and national team in 4-way Open for the FAI World Meet 2020.

As all other teams, the members spend the current meantime at their homes and with their families. JaNette and Steve Lefkowitz attended the online meeting at their house in Sebastian, Florida. Andrew Happick and Doug Barron were back in South Carolina near Chester, where they grew up with their families and in skydiving.

Andrew Starr is in North Carolina, where he is still on duty for the U.S. Army, even though the Golden Knights competition team is grounded, as well. New team videographer Justin Wageman spends his time in North Dakota, just a few miles from the Canadian border.

All Rhythm members connect with each other weekly for team updates, discussion of specific topics and some virtual engineering. They share a random draw and prepare the ten meet rounds together, including visualization of the sequences. Review of training and competition videos is a part of the team's online agenda, as well. They also maintain a schedule of physical training and follow it as a team.

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NSL Live Talk with SDC Rhythm XP on 23 April 2020

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SDC Rhythm XP have not been in real 4-way action since March 11th. It was shortly before the Shamrock Showdown was supposed to take place at Skydive City, which had to be canceled as all other indoor and outdoor events. The planning of virtual training began for all teams and competitors as soon as it became clear that skydiving centers and wind tunnels were closed.

SDC Rhythm XP have not only been switching to online training and meetings for the team purposes. JaNette and Steve Lefkowitz have also been offering online seminars for the Rhythm community twice a week.

It is a challenging time for professionals in the sport. The top teams and competitors are not only missing their regular training. State-employed teams, such as NMP PCH HayaBusa, Golden Knights or Qatar Tigers and Falcons, are at least in a secure financial position, and they only have to deal with the lack of training.

Most of the members of professional teams like SDC Rhythm XP or Arizona Airspeed are making their living within the skydiving world, and the corona virus crisis has a serious impact on their financial situation.

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Shamrock Showdown 2007			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		8,7,C	J,2,12	O,E,19,5	3,21,16	H,14,L,P	M,13,17	K,9,1	G,4,N,B	6,11,20	18,F,A,22	Total	Avg
1	Airspeed Odyssey	US	23	19	26	19	27	23	24	27	19	23	230	23.0
2	Fastrax	US	22	19	22	21	23	25	26	27	19	23	227	22.7
3	Golden Knights Black	US	22	19	27	20	25	22	23	25	17	22	222	22.2
4	Arcteryx	NO	19	17	21	18	22	20	22	22	17	19	197	19.7
5	Optic Nerve	US	16	14	16	14	19	17	17	16	13	15	157	15.7
6	Fastrax Blue	US	15	14	18	14	17	15	16	16	13	14	152	15.2
7	Teiwaz	US	16	14	16	14	15	17	16	16	11	13	148	14.8
8	Danish Blaze	DK	14	13	15	13	17	13	16	17	8	13	139	13.9
9	Golden Leaf	CA	15	12	14	12	13	14	13	11	11	13	128	12.8
9	DeLand Groove	US	21	19	24	19	23	22	-	-	-	-	128	21.3
11	Chicas	DE	11	11	11	11	12	9	13	12	11	12	113	11.3
Rank	AA Class		8,7	J,2,20	O,E,19	22,21	H,14,L	M,13,15	K,9,1	G,4,N	6,11	18,F,A	Total	Avg
1	CSC Rhythm	US	12	11	12	9	13	11	12	13	10	6	109	10.9
2	FSC Wind Damaged	US	8	8	8	7	8	6	4	5	7	9	70	7.0
3	Total Chaos	US	9	8	9	8	7	3	-	-	-	-	44	7.3
Rank	A Class		8,7	J,2	O,E,19	C,21	H,L,P	M,B,D	K,9	G,4	6,N	F,A,Q	Total	Avg
1	ZT Mal4mations	US	4	5	5	3	7	8	5	3	4	6	50	5.0

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The topic of the different groups of teams and competitors in the sport (Professional - Full-Time - Amateurs) has recently come up again with the NSL News stories that covered the battles of the "amateur teams" for their own unofficial top spot. The conversation with SDC Rhythm XP included the team's position in the professional skydiving world.

As most other top teams and competitors in the world, the current SDC Rhythm XP members all started as amateurs in the sport. Original Rhythm members and team founders JaNette and Steve Lefkowitz, both graduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), were the first ones to drop their previous jobs and turn into professional skydivers.

Andrew Happick and Doug Barron, their latest team mates, followed their example in 2016. They were both graduates of the Virginia Tech University and then decided to become full-time skydivers. SDC Rhythm XP's new team videographer Justin Wageman does not have to make the same transition. He is able to keep his university position that offers him enough flexibility so far. However, it is also a new situation for him, and he is still learning the new ways with a professional team.

This topic was discussed during the conversation, while the recent NSL News step into the past, with a review of an interview with mental trainer John J. DeRosalia, connected with the current situation, as well. Teams and competitors have a lot of time at the moment to work on their mental skills...

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Shamrock Showdown 2016			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		3,13,9		G,6,21		10,20,11		18,4,B		F,1,14		19,5,7		P,Q,16,A		C,15,M,12		J,L,K,2		E,O,22,17		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	23		24		19		22	-1	24		24		29		25		29		24		243	24.3
2	Aerodyne French Girls	FR	21		22		17		21		23		20	-3	27		21	-1	27		22	-1	221	22.1
3	Qatar Tigers	QA	19		22		16		21		19		19		29		20		28		22		215	21.5
4	SDC Rhythm XP	US	19		19		15		19		21		20		26	-2	19		25		21		204	20.4
5	Satori XL	UK	19		18	-1	16		20		19		20		26	-1	18	-2	24		22		202	20.2
6	TurBu 2.0	US	15	-1	19		15		15	-1	19		20		24	-1	15	-1	21	-1	20		183	18.3
7	Teiwaz	US	11	-2	13	-1	12		13		12	-2	13	-2	16		11		17		12		130	13.0

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