1st Competition This Weekend

[wildfan75 1]

Yes...I said 1st...I know...beer.

Just a year ago I was rockin' the big o' manta, celebrating doing my first four way at FF #15 and trying to figure out door diving (from a 182). This weekend I embark in my first 4 way competition in class A.

For three of the four, it will be our first competition. My biggest obsticle is staying relaxed (I'm nervous) and I've been telling myself that I need to take it one dive at a time and pretend that its like every other 4 way I've done...just have fun.

Any experienced 4 way teamers out there have any tips that they wished someone would have told them before their first competition? What to focus on while dirt diving? Tips for preparing the night before with the dive pool? Mental tips?

We are most concerned about our exits. We all come from a 182 dz and we'll be leaving the Otter. Obviously we'll be taking advantage of free world class coaching, getting help from our dz's more senior team, and everyone else willing to help.

Thanks in advance (especially you, Bill, because I know you'll respond).

[rehmwa 2]

Come by tonight and I'll help your team as I promised.

(You know I'll respond because I like your team, and they are very nicely suited up).

...
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

[wildfan75 1]

Yeah...we just got to get Dank on board with the Skimmer Suit and then we'll be set
We'll all be there tonight. We're hoping to get two in tonight before sunset and then dirt dive the hell out of the dive pool and work out exits in the mock doors.

[JENNR8R 0]

I found trying to figure out the dive pool ahead of time to be counterproductive. All I could handle was one jump at a time. You'll have help in the dirt dive right before each jump. Anything else is "information overload" for a newbie.

What do you call a beautiful, sunny day that comes after two cloudy, rainy
ones? -- Monday.

[sdctlc 0]

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dirt dive the hell out of the dive pool and work out exits in the mock doors.

Dont over work it and set realistic goals, you know the teams level and always shoot for improvement. That said, expecting a huge bump in what you do at a competition compared to what you do in training is a tough one given the new environoment.
Coming from a non-Otter DZ for the competition can be overwhelming and the one area that IMHO sets the mood for the jump is on the exits. If you can launch a solid exit DO IT!! With a few minor variations on the good exit your can get into the air clean and most likely VERY close to the 1st point. It will be tough mentaly to try and launch everything and then funnel it and feel like your chasing and rush. A competition is not the time to try new exits as it can easily take some of the fun out. I would suggest getting a solid launch that can be transitioned from as you will find your ahead time wise compared to a poor lauch of the first point. Also this will take some of the edge off the first competition jitters with the exits. IF you feel good about the exit it will translate to the rest of the dive but if your worried about if you can get the exit off some what clean, then that can also translate to a not so good dive, espically if you dont hit it as clean as you wanted....

I am focusing o the exits as I found when I was working on my early 4-way competition jumps, that was the big thing that translated to the rest of the dive, i.e. the single biggest make or break mentaly, for me at least. I would focus so much on a akward exit to get it right I would find myself having to re-group mentaly in the air after it was launched to get the dive flow going. Having a solid exit made it easier as I was learning and getting more confident at the jumps to go through the dive with some success....

Just my thinking on the subject..

Scott C.

"He who Hesitates Shall Inherit the Earth!"

[NeedToJump 0]

The biggest thing to remember is no matter what happens, keep having FUN! It's really easy to get caught up in the fact that it's a competition and then get disappointed if things don't go well.

Some things I'd suggest along this line are: if a jump doesn't go well, don't blame anyone. If an exit is funneled, don't blame anyone. Just remember to smile, laugh and enjoy the whole experience! Oh yeah, and talk shit on the plane

Have fun!

Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

[BikerBabe 0]

Just engineer the skydives the night before. Maybe creep round 1.

Go in reverse order.

By this i mean start with round 6, just put it together, walk it a few times, then move on to round 5, etc.

Finish up with round one. Walk it, then creep it the way you would before the real jump. Then go home and sleep. But before you sleep, spend 10-15 minutes visualizing round one.

on meet day, keep your jump prep the same as you would on any normal training day. Also, when the jump is over, do NOT do a nit-picky, technical debrief. it doesn't matter. Watch it once looking for GOOD things that you can carry onto the next jump. How calm were you, how was the exit, etc. Then forget it and move on. Save the technical debrief for after the jumping is done for the day.

One other thing you may want to discuss with your team beforehand is if they want to look at scores throughout the day or not. Some people prefer to not know until the end of the day, others prefer to look at the scoresheet for every round. This can become a point of contention if the "lookers" spill the beans to the "non-lookers"...so figure this out before hand.

As for the round one jitters? everyone has them...don't let them lie to ya... The more experience you have just means you know how to hide it better. Just try to relax, and take things like a normal jump, and you'll be fine. and of course, once round one is in the can, it'll be smooth sailing =P

If you haven't really trained otter exits...i would suggest picking ONE random exit and using that the whole time. A sidebody is a good one. then just transition to the first point as soon as you feel comfortable.

of course, the biggest tip: HAVE FUN! meets are a blast!

Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

[rehmwa 2]

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Yeah...we just got to get Dank on board with the Skimmer Suit and then we'll be set
We'll all be there tonight. We're hoping to get two in tonight before sunset and then dirt dive the hell out of the dive pool and work out exits in the mock doors.

What's a "Dank"?

(If you are short a person, I'll fill in even)

Some good points above -

(I'll show you all the exits - if you want to treat the meet as a practice, you should try them. If you want to see how well you score, you should stay comfy instead - launch the meeker every time)

Walking ALL the dives the night before is usually just for engineering. You don't have to worry about that in the Class you are in. So just relax and do a couple practice jumps together. If you really must, work the 1st dive of the draw.

I also want to see your body positions and flying styles, so get copies of your videos.

Practice the night before - pick stuff you guys feel good about. Close the evening with a bit of fun rather than bite of something new. It'll translate to the next morning. 4-way is 100% mental - sort of.

...
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

[wildfan75 1]

Thanks everyone! Keep it coming!

We are planning with going with an easy exit. Faster to stay together on exit and then go to the first point than trying to launch something complicated and funneling and then getting the first point. We talked about the meeker.

We did take two dives from the meet in Iowa that we missed to practice last weekend. We did the dive that had the most points and the dive that got the least point so we could see how we stack up. We were right on the nose with points for both dives. And I'll be the last one to point fingers at anyone, but I guarantee that I'm the first one to point fingers at me. I sort of hope that everyone screws up at some point so I won't feel so bad when I do it.

Bill--Dank is Dan Kluge. We have three or four Dan's at Wissota so each has its one nick name.

As far as dirt diving the night before, it will be more for engineering purpose (who is what in which dive and where--we have our positions but figuring out what is o/s center, i/s center, etc).

Going backwards makes sense.

[rehmwa 2]

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(who is what in which dive and where--we have our positions but figuring out what is o/s center, i/s center, etc).

Going backwards makes sense.

If this is what you feel you need to do, then go for it. You should have one of us do it with you, and Jeremy has a good continuity plan supplied to him. If you get the 'standard' continuity wrong the night before, Solly will correct you the next morning. Changing at that point would be confusing at best. (It should be very quick).

Solly is VERY good with teams at different levels. He watches you and guides accordingly, he is not one of those that gives the whole "my way or the highway" kind of advice or "one size fits all". You'll learn a TON.

...
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

[jeremy_o 0]

Bill, what is your favorite kind of beer? You deserve it, and it will be cold for after dark.

http://planetskydive.net/ - An online aggregation of skydiver's blogs.

[Butters 0]

Your progress is amazing, from first jump to first competition in one year ... I'm jealous.

"That looks dangerous." Leopold Stotch

[jkong 0]

You can use one exit for all the dives? I did not know that...

[NeedToJump 0]

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You can use one exit for all the dives? I did not know that...

Yup, it just won't count as a point until you go from the exit to the first point. If you do exit a different formation than the first point, you don't have to break grips going to the first point.

To see what I mean, go here and select "Exit Random J (Donut)" from the dropdown list. You'll see that the formation that Fastrax exits is not a donut, but they quickly change grips as soon as they are out of the plane.

Wind Tunnel and Skydiving Coach http://www.ariperelman.com

[rehmwa 2]

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You can use one exit for all the dives? I did not know that...

You can exit no grips, go head down, do bunch of random wierd stuff, a horny gorilla and then build the first point.......

but you don't score a single point until that first one is shown - so best to find a way to get to that first point quickly and not waste precious seconds

There is no requirement to Launch the first point.

Bonus - your can climb over each other and grip switch all you want to get to that first point - showing separation is only a requirement after the scoring begins......

...
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

[wildfan75 1]

Woo hoo!!! First competition out of the way and we are all VERY happy with how it went. Ended up with 32 (but really should have been 34--long story)(and it was 38.4 with the handicap but whatever). In case someone digs this thread up looking advice, here is the best advice that worked for me for me this weekend:

1) "On an arousal level from 0 to 10, 10 being completely aroused and 0 being dead, I want you at a negative 2" (Thanks Bill). It kept up from getting too hyped and too tense. We kept telling each other "Negative 2" through out the day. I will add that there were some teams that were really pumped up, joking on the plane, etc, but the "Negative 2" approach worked best for me/us. Find your way to stay relaxed.

2) Don't go to get coaching from Solly Williams after dirt diving. Go get coaching from Solly Williams BEFORE you dirt dive . It only took us 5 rounds before we got that in our heads. If you have world class coaching available, take advantage of it! We wouldn't have done as well as we did without it. And its better to get that help before you think you have it down. We had a few points wrong and we had a few that we were doing inefficently. Solly corrected us. Easier to have 15-20 minutes dirt diving the right dive than it is to dirt dive the wrong dive for 15 minutes and then relearning it for 15-20 minutes.

3) Take it one dive at a time. On Friday we got help figuring out what exits we were going to do (again...we're from a 182 dz so Otter's are foreign to us) for each dive and got coaching (thanks, Bill) that night. We looked at the dive pool and made comments on what we think, but didn't dirt dive anything. The first dive was three randoms (not hard) so we waited until the AM to start engineering and dirt diving.

4) Once we were done with one jump, we sort of did a "thumbs up, meh, thumbs down" with each other walking off the landing area, but as soon as we started packing, it was all about the next dive. It helped us stay focused.

And in case anyone is interested, it is possible to launch a unipod, flip it and stay together. I have video to prove it. It was our worst exit and our best round. We thought maybe we should have flipped more of the exits.

[rehmwa 2]

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And in case anyone is interested, it is possible to launch a unipod, flip it and stay together.

I think I've never seen video of a team barrel roll a unipod before. That was something.

...
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

[jkong 0]

Congratulations on your first comp! thats awesome :)

I found a pick-up team saturday morning, we only got average one point lol. we spent too much time trying to catch up with each other in the air - varied skill levels, fall rate issues, funneling exits and backsliding all contributed from what i remember. but it was a good experience and i am ready for the karp cup next month! but this time my team will be practicing together to correct some of those things before the day of the meet

[Fast 0]

Congrats Lynn!

Competition is fun. I really like being on a team

~D
Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me.
Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

[Butters 0]

It sounds like you had fun and did very well. Congratulations!

"That looks dangerous." Leopold Stotch

[wildfan75 1]

Thanks everyone. I can't speak for everyone else but I had a blast. I grew up playing 13 years of competitive soccer and 18 years of competitive hockey. It was nice to compete again and be a part of a team.

[CrazEEflyer 0]

Good game! Your competition video was great. You guys did an awesome job and I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a little jealous. It really looked like fun. I look forward to the day when I have the skills to compete in 4 way. We should jump together soon rather than just discuss it around the bonfire. Wissota rules!

[rehmwa 2]

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I look forward to the day when I have the skills to compete in 4 way.

there are 4 competition classes

with 78 jumps and your home DZ's great attitude about staying current and learning, you already have the skills to compete - next meet is July 21/22. Pull a team together - go Rookie if you want to keep it simple

...
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

[wildfan75 1]

Brad (right?)--You could easily get together with Paul, Chad, and Lamo, etc and do rookie. You should. Six Baldwin jumps with 1/4 of your videoagraphers jump is $190, plus $25 each for league fees, so its not too terribly expensive. You'll get free coaching before each jump to help you guys.

Bill's right--you need to seriously think about it. A third Wissota team would be awesome!!!

[wildfan75 1]

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We should jump together soon rather than just discuss it around the bonfire.

And we'll see how you feel the next day after drinking a 1/2 bottle of tequila(literally), two Bacardi Cokes, a So Co 7 and 2 Jaggar Bombs! There was no way I could jump on Sunday. I heard Bob say "8 way" and I broke out in a major sweat just thinking about pushing it. We will get at least one jump in next time we're both there...I promise!