Team Training

[rmcvey 0]

This ones for the guys who have had some form of structured training regime in preparation for some form of competition...(in respect to freefly comp.)

If you were to do it all over again, starting from the day you first met your team mates, what, where and how would you do it?

Any opinons on the following (Where money is the main restraint)

Individual/Team coaching? If so how much is good/enough/too much... for you pennies and to keep it fresh and not turn into a grind...

How many days a month would you set aside for pure team training? Every wkend? twice a month?

What Drills, moves, skills etc.. are essential to dial in first, before attempting the more technical stuff?

If you could describe your training from an early stage it would be great, any tips advice much appreciated......


tHanks. BlooSkyz

[Andrewnewell 0]

Firstly make sure you know where everyone stands on the team(Are they in it for fun? or are you gonna compete seriously?).Also make it clear where you stand and what you want to achieve. dont be pressured in having to be part of that team.

Out line your goals as a team and then and see if theres any conflicting ideas/ direction. if there is then try to compromise, but dont lose sight of your own goals.

If its all good I suppose you make a commitment and honor it. I think the most important thing is to be honest with each other right from the start!

For training I think it is best that all the team members are of roughly the same experience and all have the same amount of drive when it comes to training.

Ithink it is best to get coached by the same coach individually when starting your team training and then then coming together as a team under that persons guidance. I would be in favor of doing two training camps. One at the start of the season so you can have a firm base to work from, with everybody singing off the same song sheet for a couple of months, And then a smaller training camp with the same coach a few weeks before competition to iron out some of the problems you maybe experiencing.

Its maybe a good idea to try and get someone else (someone who knows what there talking about) to take a look at what your doing, in between your main training camps. A fresh pair of eyes can really help.

If you have only just started to jump with your new team mates concentrate on doing basic controlled dives. it is important to learn how each of you communicates in the air and how each other flys.work on creating a solid foundation with each other. once you got that right then get creative!

Keep a healthy balance of training and doing fun dives.( even though they should all be fun, well you know what Imean)

If there is any problems, dont cover them up, address them! good team motto should be " no bull shit".

Have fun

[rmcvey 0]

Thanks Andrew thats great. Due you train EVERY weekend?? (Weather permitting???)

Anyone else on a team??

[Andrewnewell 0]

As the season gets starting my team trys to train as much as we can, because you never know if the weathers gonna last in this country. But theres no real reason to kick the ass out of it!

Heres something that you could use...

Make up some flash cards with certain moves on them (pref compulsory's). Early on I would recommend that you randomly choose two of them ( like raffle draw) and try to do the two moves in the sequence there drawn. if theres a maneuver that you try and cant achieve, then put that move in a separate group, after a while you will have two distinct groups of cards( stuff you can do and stuff you cant). make up dives with the stuff you can do (only two at a time, if just starting) to practise transitioning from maneuvers and speed changes. and from the other group of cards pick only one of the harder moves, try to figure out what went wrong/how to make it work and do jumps where you just practice that particular move.

I think this is a good way of doing drill dives that keep things interesting as its always gonna be random. If your really stuck on some of the harder moves dont keep cracking on until everyone's ballbagged, stop and get intouch with your coach, go back to doing some of the easier stuff. Once you've got everything cracked then start putting three or more moves in one dive, trying not to rush things and concentrating on the basics. slow and controlled better than fast and sloppy! Huurrgghhyeah

[McDuck 0]

Thanks! This is all great advice, and I plan on referring to it when I finally get my team together to start training.

The only other question I would add to the original inquiry is about obtaining sponsors. How do you go about selecting what companies to approach, and what kind of approach would you suggest? I would imagine you would target companies that are looking for a way to present a bit more of an edgy image. Since most of the companies associated with skydiving and equipment already sponsor teams, what other avenues would you recommend? Thanks in advance for the advice.

Kevin - Sonic Beef #5 - OrFun #28
"I never take myself too seriously, 'cuz everybody know fat birds don't fly." - FLC
Online communities: proof that people never mature much past high school.

[Andrewnewell 0]

sponsorships a bugger!

The main thing is to ask your self what have I got to offer this company? Not what you would want from them.

List down the main things you could offer and then try and write a proposal of some sort. Obviously freeflying is a great looking even to the un trained eye. use stills and video footage could be included in your proposal ( a picture paints a thousand words), especially if your trying to sell your team as an advertising platform of some sort?Thats all I really know about trying to obtain sponsorship, Im far from being a guru at that stuff.

Good luck.