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skykittykat

Who Are Your Skydiving Heroes/Mentors?

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Hank Ellis - Who took time to jump with newbies, again and again, no matter how much they sucked.

John Rich - For teaching me, (by example), that it's never to early to leave if things are going bad.

Scott Latinis - Just because. :P

Cheers.
Larry
'In an insane society a sane person seems insane.' Mr. Spock

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I guess I don't really have any mentors given that I started out on the other side of the world to where I am now, got a few heroes though.

Patrick DeGayardon, surely the most innovative, fearless skydiver of the modern era.

Bill Booth, how many people owe him their lives?

Loic Jean-Albert, what a flier!

Robi and Jari, for bringing wingsuits to the masses, and giving us better and better suits al the time.

The original Airspeed lineup, founders of a dynasty.
Do you want to have an ideagasm?

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Im gonna vote on the person that i've always depended on and trusted :
the guy that pulled me through my first and last jump,
the Dude that never failed me when things were down,
The person that picked me up, when the dive went wrong,
the guy that congratulated me when things went well,
the guy that came up for the Cash, when cash was low.
The guy thats i have posted , on my office wall ( 8x10)





Me




(i forgot to mention the guy that came in second: Tom Pirus, for giving me a ride when hitchhiking to the Nationals in OK in the 80's, when the temps were over 100F)

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In no particular order...

Derek - This guy has a real gift for coaching. Every time I present a question to him or am in need of some advice to overcome a challenge, he has a great mind trick or practical way of doing it. He has helped my skills grow leaps and bounds for everything from flaring to packing to riding the canopy. If I had to pick one nominee for "Coach of the Year" at my DZ, he'd get it from me.

Lisa - Lisa once gave me 5 coach jumps in the same day, and since I wasn't proficient at packing yet, she packed both our rigs before each jump (it was a slow weekday with only a few jumpers). And she's always willing to take a lot of time to give thorough responses to my questions. She doesn't have to, but she does. And her cute little doggies always brighten my day.

Suzie - Suzie's warm & sparkly personality have put me in good spirits and made me feel welcome every time I have walked in the door. And when folks are out at the DZ jumping on a clear weekday, she hops on the phone and persuades everyone to play hooky from work and join them. She's a doll, and I hope she knows how much her work is appreciated!

Ravin - This guy is amazing. I think he's in the teens-of-thousands of jumps, and he will never tire of the sport. He never tires of teaching, either-- often times got out of bed and came to the DZ on a cold winter Saturday just to help me through another AFF level.

Ryan - Another great coach who loves to feed enthusiasm and encouragement.

Hoochie - Probably puts in more jumps in a year than I will in a decade...and an excellent videographer. And he likes to plop down next to me once in awhile and chat about how things are going.

Tom B. - A great tandem instructor who remembers the things that are going on in my life and asks about them. Pretty impressive, since I stink at just remembering names!

Kermit - Good at coaching, great sense of humor, great passion for the sport.

Jeff - Another guy who loves to teach, and will always teach me anything I ask him about. People who take the time and patience to teach newbies, simply because they like to mentor and teach...they rock. And Jeff's a fun guy who likes to do things a little...differently once in a awhile.

...and everyone on the Dodgeball team. Yeah, most of the time we got our @$$e$ kicked, but it was a helluvalotta fun!

As far as heroes? The 400+ lucky folks who set the record for the big-way.
"DOOR!!!"

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samantha joseph- did my aff with me...trained me..coached me..taught me how to be as safe as possible..and was always a good friend..and still is...hi sam :)

jeffro provenzano - coached me thru about 20 jumps in eloy..prolly the best freeflyer/swooper i have ever seen or met...and also a really chill dude...taught me alot of stuff...sup jeffro!


everyone at skydive jersey shore ( my home DZ )
they teach me alot of shit every single time im there...and it never stops...so i never stop learning...and i appreciate all of the wisdom i have picked up there...i dont know what i would do without SDJS


im sure theres more people..i just cant remember..
--------------------------------------------
www.facebook.com/agentlead

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That short guy in the middle is a mentor to me to this very day, as I am able to study material and emails we shared that he left as his legacy. If I ever had a question and wanted the most through, thought out and complete answer imaginable he was a veritable repository of information and experience. Even if it took 3 pots of coffee and 20 cigarettes to get the answer out of him, it was always – no - almost always worth it.

The 3 Amigos surrounding are from left to right:

Trent, Hoop and Steve.

Trent and Steve are heroes/icons/mentors to me because they belong to a successful freefly team (Anomaly) and void of the “Rock Star” attitude. Really nice down to earth skydivers who take their time to make sure newcomers the sport feel welcomed and give advice without being condescending or controlling, just fabulous people skills.
All this not to mention they are really good instructors.

Hoop has been since I met him, the guy I would ask to instruct if anyone in my family wanted to make a tandem. He is as good as the very best of the tandem instructors I have ever met because he knows the material back and forth and whether it’s a tandem or a solo freefall student, he takes the time to teach properly making certain that the students he works with comprehend fully and be given the finest instruction anywhere.

That is 4, now I will have to be fair I will have to pay tribute to, oh say around a million other skydivers that I look up to.
Mykel AFF-I10
Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

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