Best Coach You've Ever Had?

[WrongWay 0]

Who in your opinion have you received the highest quality freefly coaching from and why?

Just curious, not to mention trying to bring life back to the freefly forum.

Wrong Way
D #27371 Mal Manera Rodriguez Cajun Chicken Ø Hellfish #451
The wiser wolf prevails.

[78RATS 0]

John Matthews without question. Knowledgeable and an excellent teacher.

Rat for Life - Fly till I die
When them stupid ass bitches ask why

[Snowflake 0]

Out of the 5 different coachs I've jumped with Omar would have to be the best. To start I showed him video of someone docking on me in a sit and I start to cork. He stops the video and goes over body position and you could almost hear the loud clicking in my head. I could have left without jumping and got what I wanted. He also gave me the best piece of advice about sitting which is "fly big" it's that simple if your sit starts to go to shit and your losing control then your probably contracting somewhere(probably legs)

[ianmdrennan 2]

Dave Brown.

Spectacular teacher and flyer. Able to communicate with lots of different types of people in a manner that makes sense to them. Without a doubt the most PROFESSIONAL coach (and organizer) I've met to date as well.

Blues,
Ian

Performance Designs Factory Team

[supafly 0]

Dusty Smith. I've had a few coaches (jumping and tunnel), and he has been my favorite. Amazing flyer, great teacher, and he made the whole thing fun.

I'm trying to set up coaching later this year with Omar and maybe some canopy flight coaching with TJ. I've jumped with both these guys when they've been orgainizing and I can only imagine that their coaching will be first class (and a great time).

Arizona Drive 4-Way VFS - www.DriveVFS.com

[WrongWay 0]

Dude, seriously, get coaching from TJ. I did a bunch with him at Eloy, and I've been jumping with him this weekend. He's a great guy, a great coach, and he knows what works for each individual. HIGHLY recommended.

Wrong Way
D #27371 Mal Manera Rodriguez Cajun Chicken Ø Hellfish #451
The wiser wolf prevails.

[melstarr 0]

Quote

Dave Brown.

i Definitely Second everything ian said!

davey-B emphasizes the relative wind to your body position not only in freefall but exit. his style of coaching is very thorough, educating and just down-right Beautiful ! i learn so much not only when he is coaching me, but listening to him coach others as well.

attached is a happy me & davey-B after a jump at the
Rockin' Skydive Atlanta Anniversary Boogie!

~ meL* Pink Mafia / Tunnel Mafia Sister

[Fast 0]

Quote

Dude, seriously, get coaching from TJ. I did a bunch with him at Eloy, and I've been jumping with him this weekend. He's a great guy, a great coach, and he knows what works for each individual. HIGHLY recommended.

Yeah, talked to him about sitting and got to make a jump with him recently.. Great coach.

~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

[dove 0]

I haven't had any formal freefly coaching but I definitely learned a lot from some of the LOs I've jumped with.

Two of the best LOs I've ever jumped with are Mike Wittenberg from Team Loki (LO at Zhills during the winter) and Adam Rosen from Monkey Claw (SKydive Crosskeys). Both are not only kickass freefliers but great communicators as well. And they put together incredibly fun and challenging dives.

Fall in dove.

[weegegirl 2]

I've had coaching from a bunch of people, and I don't have any complaints. All have taught me a lot and gave me a lot of great things to work on. These included...

Pip Redvers
Nate Gilbert
Brian Germaine
GeanCarlo
Sporto
TJ Langdren
Luis Prinetto
Dave Cole

Personally, for whatever reason, may have been where I was and what I needed to learn at the time, but I have two favorites. Those were GeanCarlo and TJ. Let me say again that all were freakin great.

GeanCarlo, because he taught me to fly all axiseseseese of my body and not just one. He did not want to caoch on just "head down" or just "sit fly" but on everything. Really taught me to fly. (well, I'm still working on it)

And just recently I had the chance to jump with TJ. I haven't had "official" coaching with him yet, but I plan to do a lot this weekend. TJ was so relaxed and had the greatest talent for explaining things. I think this is because he really LOVES to teach people and watch them succeed. This makes a HUGE difference.


Again, all were great!!!!

[D22369 0]

Andy Farrington back in '99

He stayed right with my corkin ass no matter what, and kept me in the frame so I could see what I was doing wrong......which was pretty much everything

Roy

They say I suffer from insanity.... But I actually enjoy it.

[Andrewnewell 0]

So far I've been lucky enough to be coached by some of most pioneering and influential coaches within the discipline. Alaska Jon, Ippo Fabbi and Max Cohn.

I would say that Alaska {as my first coach} gave me a solid foundation of basic skills to improve upon. I would say he has an easy going and highly technical approach to coaching. He has a great style of instruction, very professional!

Ippo taught me to fly outside the box and to start exploring the grey areas of freeflight. The coaching I received from him was in my opinion inspirational. He had a great attitude and this created an almost stress free environment to work and learn in. A real pro and a nice fella.

Max was the last coach that I've trained under. I did a training camp with Max and my team. It was intense but rewarding. Max installed a higher level of discipline in my flying and pushed me to fly in loads of unusual body positions. He was honest and professional. a dedicated teacher.

All three of these guys have helped me out big time. A true bunch of pro's. I feel like a spoilt bastard.

[Zoter 0]

Chris Lynch

Taught me more in one 30min ground lesson and coached Freefly than I had learned in 25 FF jumps with 'advice' from others.
Stuff that made perfect sense when I actually started to do what he told me too..

[freeflydrew 0]

Max Cohn
Jeffro Provenzano
Alaska Jon
Omar
Chris Fiala

Fabian, Joao and Julianna in the tunnel (Orlando)

[Maxx 1]

Olav Zipser

not much to say about him.. Flies like a dolphin swims in the water. And spends a lot of time to brief and debrief every jump. He makes you laughing in the air and therefore brings you to relax and breathe... And he also teaches you the zen-approach of freeflying; all soft and smooth and meditative..

The jumps with Olav were awesome and he is a nice guy after jumping, too... Also very important for a good coach.

Feet up!
Max

[weegegirl 2]

Quote

Olav Zipser

oooooh. *jealous* i want some of dat!

[JRock 0]

TJ Landgren
Jenn Key
Steve-O Utter


All of them kick ass, but TJ is my main coach.

[WrongWay 0]

Quote

Steve-O Utter

Yeah i heard the story this weekend about his first set of Javelin FSMS rigs.....if that's true, that guy's got some balls.

I'll tell TJ this weekend that you said WAZZZUP.

Wrong Way
D #27371 Mal Manera Rodriguez Cajun Chicken Ø Hellfish #451
The wiser wolf prevails.

[piisfish 135]

Quote

Jeffro Provenzano
Alaska Jon
Omar

was with jeffro last week... he rocks (Andy Farrington was there too, and he's a great guy too). Talked a lot from Alaska John and Omar...

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[Zoter 0]

you name dropper you....

(seething green with envy)

[stuffit 0]

Mike Ortiz.

[silvere 0]

I'll second Dusty Smith...he thought me how to sit while I was out in Eloy.

TJ came out to our dz a couple of weeks ago, but I didn't have a chance to jump with him because we got rained out. but what he thought me on the ground helped a ton! he's a really nice person and truely cares about teaching others.

[Chrisky 0]

Max Cohn

Definitely the best coach i jumped with so far. I had a couple of coach jumps, but none were as effective as his. Even though the debrief was held for all jumps during the day with all coached people (positive-you also learn from others as well, negative- oh i'm sooo embarassed, but hey, we've all been there), but that was because the coaching was FREE (your and his slot only, that is), and thus he was doing every load...

I preferred his style of doing the jump because of his no-stress approach; Get out in a position you know and are comfortable in, then do what you want to learn (in my case HD). Breathe, relax, start your drill. Get unstable/loose eye contact/stressed -> back to comfortable, relax, try again. Not thelike: alright, let's do a linked HD exit and see whether you remain stable or what needs to be corrected.

His video is amazing, as you get to see all the signals he gives you as well (check out his vid of our jump here, CoachJumpWeb.avi (Sorry, can't link to the file directly...)

He's a great guy as well, of course!

The mind is like a parachute - it only works once it's open.
From the edge you just see more.
... Not every Swooper hooks & not every Hooker swoops ...

[hkf 0]

Chris Lynch

His coaching style really seems to work for me. He always establishes a clear goal for the jump, then a great brief to work out how to achieve that goal. He always manages to keep the jump fun, and his enjoyment during the dive is infectious. This is always followed by a positive video debrief.

In addition to the above Chris often watched my landings/swoops and would give lots of advice even if I wasn't on a coached jump with him.

I did a load of coached jumps with him in Headcorn UK last summer, as a result my team member and I chose to go to Sebastian last March for a 2 week FF training camp with him.

[LoudDan 0]

Steve-O, Nate Gilbert, and TJ just cause I was lucky enough to start at the drop zone they were at

Dave Brown is awesome to fly with as of course is Omar, Dusty, and Jeffro.

Coming soon to a bowl of Wheaties near you!!