Mental Prep

[kingmonkeeking 0]

Howdy Folks,
So I started jumping without a rope about a year ago. Here's an extended profile. I have a little over 100 jumps. I am not a natural but have been very fortunate with willing coaches. I also have about 3 hours of tunnel time. Everything I have done has been drill dives or no more than 3 formations. Lot's of four way and a couple bigger ones. Lot's of individual mechanics but not so much team stuff.
Still flub exits of course.

I was starting to be able to set myself where I wanted to be and sometimes even turn and still be where I wanted to be.

Now I'm stationed in Turkey and am faced with a six month lay off. Now finally the point. What is the most effective reading, mental drills etc. I can do to learn the dive pool and start preping myself for actual team jumping when I get back stateside. Also for a fellow in my position what's the quickest way to get back what I've lost in plain fligt skills. I'm thinking along the lines of refresher jump, do a few solo's, do a few two ways, try to get in the tunnel for ten minutes, then talley ho (that's for individual flight not team stuff.)

[Enrique 0]

What is the most effective reading, mental drills etc. I can do to learn the dive pool and start preping myself for actual team jumping when I get back stateside. ***

Association has worked for me so far. At first I thought it was going to be difficult since, back in elementary school, it didn't seem to work.

Examples:

A (UNIPOD) "A" is the FIRST letter of the alphabet, FIRST = uni = UNIPOD

B (STAIRSTEP DIAMOND) "B" as in basement = to get to the basement I have to take the STAIRS = STAIRSTEP DIAMOND

C (MURPHY FLAKE) ... I can't remember this one but I know it by heart


In addition, laying down on the ground with a printed dive pool in front of you and actually building the formations is what REALLY helps... muscle memory.

Take four formations at a time, go back and forth, skip one, skip two, etc.

Good luck.

[BikerBabe 0]

Here are some of mine. DON'T LAUGH! They work!

C is for Corn Flake...MURPHY FLAKE

D-Doggy-style, as in: "YUAN it Doggy style?" LOL

E- MEEEEEEEEEker

Gee, it's a CATACCORD! (please don't ask me why that works, but I've never forgotten it!)

J- Jelly DONUT

K- HooKKKKKKK

L- Ladder-ADDER!

M- Married With Children, Al BUNDY

N-CraNNNNNk

O-Orbit-SATELLITE


Seriously though, learning the dive pool is the easy part. There are so many facets to visualization...What I would suggest for you since you don't have a team yet is to choose 3 other people that you have jumped with before and put them into your visualization. Also, you might want to try out different slots in your visualizations, since you may not know that yet, either. The following is what seems to work the best for ME...and of course, every person is different when it comes to this type of thing. What works for me may not work for you.

I only get to train two weekends a month. Between those camps, I take about 10 minutes a day to really sit and visualize a skydive. Which skydive I pick depends on the goals I had for the previous training camp and my goals for the next one. Sometimes it will be the best skydive of the previous traiining weekend. Sometimes it will be a dive from a previous meet's draw.

When I visualize, I like to get the sequence of the dive down pat first, and I sort of do a little chant to myself of the names of the formations in order. i.e. say I want to visualize myself (and my team) doing round one of the 4-way open from Nationals: B-12-2. First I'll say to myself, "stairstep, zipper, star, sidebody donut, sideflake donut." over and over, like I'm just walking the skydive, in my head.

After I have the sequence, I'll visualize the angles. What that means is I visualize the transitions from one formation to the next 3 times each. How will it feel? What do I need to do to get where I need to be? What part do I play in turning that block?

After I've done the angles, I'll visualize the skydive from the perspective of the cameraperson, all the way through, 3-5 pages. Then I'll take a break, come back, and visualize 3-5 pages but this time from my perspective, as if I were in the skydive this time. FINALLY, I'll visualize the exit, and where I need to be when we come out of the plane.

Also, if you have web access while you're over there, take some time to check out the Airspeed articles that are here on this site. There is a ton of good info in those, since my long-winded post here has only scratched the surface. I wuld pay special attention to the visualization one and the one that describes the slots.

Good luck!

Andi

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

[arlo 0]

I'd suggesting getting Dr John's book "Mental Training for Skydiving and Life." Outstanding book that helps you with things like visualization, goals, etc. It's stuff that you can do (worksheet involved) without being in a plane.

If you have a computer with ya, get the Airspeed Mindmaps that was released this year. Interactive stuff on the computer that should help.

Get home, get your ass in the tunnel for a bit....as you said. :)

go well in overseas....

arlo

edit: oh yeah, that would be Dr. John DeRosalia. You can check Skydiving Magazine to get a copy or even email him at skymind@pobox.com. He's an awesome dude that everyone can learn from...

[BikerBabe 0]

Quote

If you have a computer with ya, get the Airspeed Mindmaps that was released this year. Interactive stuff on the computer that should help.

Ooooh, I forgot about that! It's really cool! You can try it out at www.gravitypilot.com They have a little demo up on that site.

It's a little expensive, but really really worth it. Especially since you'll be "coaching" yourself, so to speak.

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