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| FEATURED ARTICLE |  | Team Fastrax and
Start Skydiving Offer Wounded Veterans
Tandem Skydive Opportunity "Blue Skies for the Good Guys and Gals" Honors our Nation's Heroes Team Fastrax Professional Skydiving Team and Start Skydiving are proud to announce their new program, "Blue Skies for the Good Guys and Gals," to say THANK YOU to the men and women who serve our country. The program will provide a tandem parachute opportunity for those Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guard (active duty, reserve or guard) who have been wounded in combat and received a Purple Heart. Team Fastrax has partnered with the Wounded Warrior Foundation and The Thank You Foundation to reach out to Veterans around the country. "These are our nation's finest and brightest and we have an obligation to do whatever we can to lift their spirits and show them how much we care, said John Hart, founder of Team Fastrax and owner of Start Skydiving. "As a Gulf War veteran and 20 year Army service member, I am honored to sponsor an event that will have a special impact on these men and women." The program will kick off at Start Skydiving in Lebanon, Ohio on Memorial Day Weekend as part of the Thank You Foundation Boogie. Selection.com, the nation's premier background screening service, is spearheading the corporate charge to raise the funds to make these skydives happen. For more information on how to help and participate you can contact The Thank You Foundation at : 1-877-280-8893
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The Thank You Foundation is a non-profit organization whose mission is to show appreciation and express gratitude for those who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces, both past and present. The Foundation accomplishes its mission though several programs and activities such as sending care packages, visiting Veterans in care facilities, providing complimentary tickets to sporting and entertainment events, and presenting Thank You Cards and Certificates of Appreciation to those who have served or are serving our military. Donations can be made directly to: www.thethankyoufoundation.org |
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| Dear John,
At Start Skydiving, we place our customers first in everything we do. This newsletter is meant to keep you informed about the latest events and occurrences at our Professional Skydiving Center. Please take the time to email or call us with any comments that will improve the services we provide at Start. You can help us spread the word about Start Skydiving by forwarding our newsletter to your friends. All you have to do is select the "Forward to a Friend" button to the left. |
What's Up This Week | Week ending 29 March 2008 Water training is this Saturday, March 29th. The cost is $25 per person. The training itself will be at the YMCA in Lebanon, but we'll meet at the dropzone at 11:00 for paperwork and ground training. If you are plannin g on attending, make sure to send us an email at
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to let us know. Remember to bring a bathing suit and towel! If you dropped off your rig for a reserve repack, please come out and pick it up from Greg. Please pay him directly, either with cash or a check ( payable to Greg Beecher). Remember, he can't accept credit or debit cards. Repacks take five days; if you leave your rig with Greg when you leave the dz on Sunday, it will be done by the following Friday. Plan ahead and your rig will be ready by the weekend, with no missed jumping. Check your repack date now; we have lots of fun things coming up, and we want everyone to be able to join in. We are officially open for the season, so come on out and get current! We are now operating on Spring hours: Saturday and Sunday, 9:00 am until sunset. |
| | Safety First! | Things you need to know Safey thought for the week: When is the last time you - or your rigger - inspected your main canopy? A rigger will check your reserve and the overall condition of your rig during a routine repack, but an inspection of the main is not included. Even if you haven't had any trauma to your canopy, nylon does degrade over time. Lines can wear, stretch, or get out of trim; stiches can come out. WIth the start of new season, now is a great time to give your main a thorough inspection. |
| The Art of Tracking |  TrackingWhen tracking, you can decrease your stability by rolling the shoulders forward, lowering the hands, and raising your seat. Hence, you can greatly increase horizontal speed while maintaining the same or slower vertical speed, which increases your gliding distance. Making yourself even more unstable by de-arching even more will not increase your horizontal speed (due to the increased drag), but will decrease your fall rate and hence further extend your gliding distance. To achieve the maximum gliding distance, the center of pressure must be below your center of gravity. For those interested in learning how to track, John Hart will be conducting free training sessions and follow-the-leader tracking dives (up to three people per dive). If you're interested, you can email John at
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, or just grab him at the dropzone. |
| | DZ Happenings | | Here is the scoop! We've got some great upcoming dropzone events. Kip Lohmiller will be offering the following rating courses:
Tandem Instructor Course: April 11 - 13
AFFI Course: April 14 - 20. (Note: Tthis is both the Pre-Course and AFFI course) To sign up for any of the courses, contact Kip at
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. Mid-East Skydiving League will be holding an all-day Meet 'n' Greeet on April 12, starting at 9:00 am. Fastrax will host a skills camp for any one interested in forming a team for the MESL or learning more about 4-way in general. Contact Mike Ashley at
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. For new jumpers, off student status but not yet licensed, there will be a free re-currency training on April 5th, starting at 8:00 am. Please call or email manifest to have your name added to the list. You may direct questions to Selena Marks. And always remember, If you're in the market for new gear, make sure you check out our sponsors on the left side of this newsletter. All the manufacturers we support are top-of-the-line. Ask manifest if you are in need of something; Kip or John will sit down with you and explain the benefits of having the right equipment. |
Picture of the Week |
Robin exiting Patriot One and Mike looking on.
Photo by: Justin Price |
| National Skydiving League |  Four Way Tips John Hart, Team Fastrax Greetings All, Below is the eighth in a series of Four Way tips Team Fastrax is providing at the April Skills camp. Debriefing An effective debrief procedure is essential to productive training. When a team has a coach, he or she will typically lead the debrief. The following is a tried-and-true procedure for debriefing a dive without a coach: Each jumper, one by one, does the following: · First, discuss something you like about your own performance on the jump. This must be done first. · Optionally, mention something you like about the entire team's performance on the jump. · Discuss something you could improve when you repeat the dive (or if you were repeating the dive). Sometimes a person may be doing something problematic that they do not realize but which is apparent to their teammates. A teammate should bring this up only at the end of the debrief, after everybody has had a chance to discuss their improvements. Raise these topics in as non-confrontational a manner as possible. The jumper whose performance is discussed should keep their mind open, avoid a defensive response, and always keep in mind that everybody's goal is the optimal performance of the entire team. This is the time to keep egos in check! Coaching Having a good coach is as important in skydiving as in any other sport. Without a coach to guide them, a team would have to discover on their own every problem, solution, and technique encountered in the history of the sport. A coach is always an experienced competitor, who has experienced and handled all the challenges of growing teams, developed excellent engineering, flying, analysis, and debriefing skills, and most likely been through any situation a typical team is likely to encounter. In addition to providing expertise, a coach serves as a facilitator. During preparation, debriefing, and the day-to-day operation of the team, personalities can clash due to disagreements over details and conflicts over leadership roles. The team agrees that the coach will take that leadership role, thereby avoiding many of these conflicts from the outset. Meet 'n' Greet - April 12 Meet 1 - May 24 Meet 2 - Jun 21 Meet 3 - July 19 Meet 4 - Aug 16 NSL Playoffs - Sept 20 - 21 Rain dates are the Sundays. If good weather prevails and the meets complete in one day, we'll have organized big(ger) ways on the Sundays. If anyone has an interest in doing some 4-way this summer, feel free to contact me directly at
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. We're here to serve. Here's to a great season in 2008! -Mike |
Thank you for making Start Skydiving the place where great people become skydivers and skydivers become great! Blue Skies, The Team at Start Skydiving |
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