daveb 1 #1 June 7, 2004 We have all had that wonderful experience when a jump is going so well, we celebrate when we get on the ground. ``Great jump!'' ``Awesome!'' ``Did you see everyone's grins?!'' We were training a block drill, and the block was turning superbly, repeatedly -- the best any of us has ever done. All our coaches' inputs were realized in the technique we applied, and the dang thing was almost magical. It was so much fun that we broke concentration at the bottom of the dive to geek each other and our camera flyer, who had come down on level. If you've ever seen a small child just burst out in glee when he figures something out, that's a measure of we felt. It feels good. I don't mean to gloat. Really. I just wanted to share that there is a feeling you can obtain that vastly transcends the great fun jump. It requires alot of time and effort to get there, but it's worth every second and every penny. Those that think team training is too much work may be right, but they are also missing a reward otherwise unobtainable. I hope everyone here gets a chance to feel this way. Your hard work can pay off richly! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Samurai136 0 #2 June 7, 2004 I agree!My team trained a bunch of blocks this weekend and everything was cogging really nice and smooth. The more we train and improve the better the 'high' gets... Unplanned 'fun' /zoo dives are kind of depressing now. Ken"Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian Ken Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rehmwa 2 #3 June 7, 2004 This weekend was one of those 'breakthrough' weekends. With the new lineup, I'm surprised it happened so early in the season. I hope we can carry it through into the next few weekends. Our weather had been crap as well. I like to land out of breath and laughing after a particularly nice dive. Preparation is huge - I've also formalized my process for identifying practice goals and it really paid off on our Friday jumps. We have a power point file with pictures of all the blocks and randoms (photo stills of us). I attached my thoughts on issues and positives to each slide in note form and guess at possible things to improve the 'issues' - this can be offerred (to the person or peice as options to improve). Then I prioritize the problem areas and that is our focus for practices - work one issue at a time only. The team gets to decide how to address the issues from my list or their own ideas and then we try it out. It absolutely kicked this time. Once we are through the top five, we'll reset and generate a current list of practice goals so we don't work on stuff from the beginning of the season. The next round I want to do together instead of doing the prep on my own. This will be a little tougher. The coolest part of the weekend was our debriefs. We spent an hour on like 3 jumps - slow motion, freeze frames of the exits and blocks. EVERYBODY contributed - blunt and direct, but in a helpful way. What was cool is that everything was 'taken' positively even when errors were pointed out (if not caught first by the owner) ("yeah, I see that, thanks. How about I try "this" next time...?). Video is the best. These guys are 'getting it' and blending into a team here, and I couldn't be happier. In a couple months I'm really hoping for some serious scores. Short version: Yeah, I know what you guys mean. ... Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brains 2 #4 June 7, 2004 Congrats dave, i still think your camera flyer is a little sketchy though. I have seen him take someones slot before. I hope that you guys have continued success. Never look down on someone, unless they are going down on you. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BikerBabe 0 #5 June 7, 2004 I totally know what you mean. We trained last weekend, and after the first couple of jumps, we were feeling good. So we decided to count points. Imagine the day-long high we got when we found ourselves turning above 15 in time on several different skydives...not drill dives, either! Then we started timing blocks, which is something our coach normally wouldn't do until much later in the season... We were eating dinner that night and we allowed ourselves to look at each other and say: you know, we're not half bad!! We were all buying each other beer, since none of us (well, except our PC) had ever turned a 20 in time before. What a gas!! It's not arrogance, it's just there comes a time when it hits you that maybe all that money and time you've spent is paying off. We've set a new goal for ourselves. Now that we know we can do it, we just have to be more consistent. No matter what level you're at, those "breakthrough" moments are definitely the fuel that keeps you going! Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Possum 0 #6 June 7, 2004 The heck with you guys. My team got rained out this past weekend. The only breakthrough I made was when I finally finished folding a month or so of laundry. Which sucked. But I'm not jealous. Now all my socks have a home. Yay. Mitch Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
airgord 1 #7 June 7, 2004 Alright you guys, enough of this patting yourselves on the back and get your asses back to work!!!! p.s. nice! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
