tunnelmom

Hey they would love that. they have zero jumps so they shoudl fall within the rules. could you hook me up with anyone who needs a fourth? both kids know four way at an amatuer level and woudl love to join in!

We will get to meet you then because Team Future is going to be at XP for the next week -- Feb 8th to Feb. 15th

The story is on the home page of the ABC World News Tonight website: There are photos, an article, and a video of the broadcast on the site. http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/story?id=4252394&page=1

Hey Kim! How's it going? We love our freaknsuits! They make a great tunnel suit! The kids and I have them and so do the kids' coaches and they have been terrific and very durable in the tunnel! http://www.freaknsuits.com/

Kids league is every Sunday at 4pm and every Wedneday at 7pm. Team Future won't be there during that time, but the other kids will be! We will be in England getting ready for the World Challenge in Bedford.

Thanks Paige! It was fantastic to meet everyone! We can't wait to see those photos too! We will be back in just a few short weeks from February 8th to Februaray 16th, so we will be able to have just as much fun then ( or even more fun if that's possible) and we'll have more time to play with everyone in the awesome new tunnel (which is like a stadium for the kids)...... Can't wait to see you then!

We have all had the best time flying around with the people here and the kids have really enjoyed meeting the XP Kids this weekend! It has been awesome and we can't wait to come back! Thanks so much for everything Tim, Kirk and everyone else at XP! This has been one of the best weekends ever (and it's not over yet!). This tunnel is AWESOME!

The kids would love to come down to the dropzone for a class and a tour. They've come several times already, but just watched everyone land and didn't get a real tour. They are fascinated by watching the skydivers! When the weather gets warmer, I would guess they'll want to hang out there a lot and learn everything they can! Thanks for the invite! Maybe we can talk more about it by PM.

I am sorry that the comment bothered you... We constantly get asked the question "How many skydives would it take to acheive the skills the kids have?" and my answer is based on feedback we have recieved from many professionals we have met in the industry rather than my own opinion. I have said it before and I will say it again--- we completely understand that the "freefall" portion of the skydive is not inclusive of the entire skydiving experience. We know there are many other skills to learn. You have to remember that when someone is quoted in the newspaper, much of what they have *also* said is left out of the article-- I always make sure I explain to reporters that the kids are skilled in the freefall area but that doesn't mean they know everything else they need to know about skydiving-- such as canopy control etc etc-- but that doesn't always get printed in the finished piece. I don't think that Derek is off base at all with his comments. He is a fantastic, person and an excellent coach and instructor and his professional opinion is objective. I don't think that it is fair to say he is not being objective when many professionals who come to the tunnel have said exactly the same thing he is saying about their skill level (to us personally).

Is there any information about the leisure center / website? The kids (Team Future) would love a huge swimming pool to play in while we are there!

The kids can't wait to fly at Paraclete! We're looking forward to meeting the members of TPM who will be there!

We will actually be at Paraclete XP January 18th to January 21st with the kids (Team Future) and several TPM Members (Kayla and myself). We are coming with their coaches Brad Cole and Dan Perry, so I guess we will be able to meet in person then! We have quite a bit of time over the weekend so we will be flying a lot. There is a group of 12 of us coming from Colorado and who knows, maybe even a few new potential TPM members!

We have a big group of about 15 people coming to the tunnel from Colorado January 18th to January 21st and we can't wait! The kids (Team Future) are very excited to try it out and so are their parents, coaches, and friends!

From watching people in the tunnel there are dangers within the tunnel that are just different from in the sky. The walls and confined space make it so that every movement has to be very precise so that you don't injure yourself by slamming into the walls. Skydivers who can do certain things in the sky come into the tunnel all of the time and can't perform the same skills in the tunnel due to the space confinements walls etc. Again, I really don't think that it is fair to say that "they will have no idea how to get to the ground safely" or to compare this to a video game. I do understand the reason why you are trying to make an analogy, but I also completely disagree with the analogy. They are in the tunnel and they are practicing the same way the teams who jump from planes (and come train in wind tunnel) practice, simulated or not. All of the other skills will have to come later (canopy, exiting, altitude awareness, getting over their fear of jumping etc etc etc), but the freefall portion while "simulated" is actually being performed by them in this situation not being manipulated in a video game. IMHO... There is a big difference.

I am not sure why you would judge these kids like that? Have you met them? None of us knows what they will actually be like when they turn 18. What I can tell you is that they are extremely different... My daughter's style is completely opposite of my son's. It is really hard to generalize something like this, especially without relaly getting to know these kids. Every tunnel flyer and skydiver has a different personality which may or may not show up in their overall skillset. I think that teaching these kids all of the dangers of the sport and making sure that they understand those dangers will go a long way in keeping them safe. They sure do have excellent role models (both skydivers and tunnel flyers) at SVCO, and that will go a long way in making me feel comfortable with what will happen if/when they actually jump from an airplane!

Every sport has it dangers... I have seen kids get knocked unconscious or have serious injuries in football, soccer, baseball etc. The kids just love the sport, the nice thing about flying in the tunnel is that it gives them the opportunity to learn many aspects of the freefalling portion of the sport (minus exit skills canopy control etc). It translates into skills they will definitely use should they decide to become skydivers in the future. Tunnel flying and skydiving definitely compliment each other. There is a whole group of kids in Colorado involved in the tunnel and I would not be surprised if many of them become skydivers when they are old enough. Some are very close to 18 now and are already talking about how they can't wait to jump.

I enjoy reading all of the positive things about the tunnels. I feel the same way about the tunnel in Colorado. There are fantastic people working there and they make us feel like family! I can understand where you are coming from based on the experiences we have had at our own home tunnel. Thanks for posting! It is nice to hear the good things especially during the holiday season!

Thanks so much for the positive feedback! Whenever you come to Colorado, let us know and the kids would LOVE to fly with you!

The kids are just kids and people need to remember that. We feel that we are raising them right. We constantly remind them not to get a big head about all of this, which is not an easy thing to do with the amount of attention they have gotten in the past few months. Parenting is hard. Unless you are a parent yourself, it is very hard to understand everything involved with raising kids. Even when you do become a parent, you try your best, but there is no "manual" or "instruction booklet" to tell you what to do. You have to just try your best. What I do know is that this has been the best experience of thier lives. We are lucky we have been able to give them this opportunity, and they are lucky to have the opportunity. If I had it to do all over again, I woudl not change a single thing we have done with relation to the tunnel flying. The kids are having the time of their lives. The cost of kids league at Sky Venture Colorado is very reasonable, which allows families to give thier kids this opportunity. We have had the kids in soccer for many years, and soccer is definitely not cheap either. When we take the cost of all of the travel for competitive soccer, uniforms, coaching fees etc. and add it up for both kids for the past 6 years, it is not that much less then what we have spent at the tunnel. Our kids are good soccer players, but they are not great soccer players, they are also just one of the milliions of kids who play soccer, it is not unique and special like the tunnel flying. What is special about the tunnel is that it is a unique sport for kids. The article was trying to show that flying in the tunnel is a new sport for kids that wasn't available to them prior to wind tunnels. I think the purpose was to show that with the tunnels popping up all over the nation, there will be a new era of people flying, both in the tunnel and out of airplanes. The wind tunnels will eventually change the sport of skydiving when these kids are old enough to jump from a plane and when they learn all of the other skills necessary to skydive. I know many people who started out in the tunnel and are now skydivers. I fly in the tunnel myself and it is not easy for me! I really respect what the kids have accomplished becuase I cannot learn things anywhere near as fast as they do. As a result of flying in the tunnel, I want to get my AFF this spring. Our true hope is that these kids can do whatever they can to help the wind tunnels and the drop zones and to gain recognition for the sport as a whole. One of the things we have enjoyed so much about the sport is the people we have met. They are all fantastic. The instructors in Colorado are like family to us. We have been in Arizona a lot lately and will be in Arizona more in the coming months and we are getting to know the peple there as well and they are also fantastic. All we ask from the community is that people keep things positive and that all of the skydivers try to remember that kids are just kids and that these kids look up to all of you guys as role models. It doesn't matter who is better than who, or if you can fly head down or sit fly or not. The kids idolize all of you guys who can jump from planes and they are the ones who are jealous of you becuase they think you are just the coolest! We appreciate all of the support we have gotten from the community and the sponsors. That is what has made this sport so special to our whole family. The reaction by 99.9 percent of people when they meet the kids is so overwhelmingly positive it is hard to really put it into words. The support and encouragement we have gotten from skydivers, instructors and everyone else who has met the kids is nothing short of awesome. We hope things continue to remain positive for the kids as they grow and develop in this sport.

When I read some threads in Forums I just shake my head and think that people are willing to say things in forums that they might not say if they really knew the people they were talking about and could get to know them on a personal level. I just want to clear some things up so that the intent of the quote is understood. I also want everyone here to know that my kids have gotten so much out of the tunnel flying and have met so many people in this industry who have become important parts of our lives. We started out flying in the tunnel at a "kids league" in Colorado. The kids fly twice per week with other children in the tunnel. Our kids loved it so much that they wanted to have some goals and decided to form a team and train to compete in a tunnel competition. The kids league is where we got them started and we thank Skyventure Colorado for providing an opportunity for these kids to fly! As for the article.... Anyone reading that article who knows anything about wind tunnels and skydiving has to know that the reporter made mistakes in the article. I will just refer to one to make my point-- she talks about the fans in the Skyventure tunnels being in ground fans... That shoudl show that some information was not properly relayed on her part Don't believe everything you read! The discussion about comparing abilities of the kids to the instructors was taken somewhat out of context. It was only in relation to WIND TUNNELS, not skydiving and was meant to answer a question about how much assistance the kids need to go from the doorway to the tunnel. A great deal of our conversation was ommitted, making the quote come across differently then it should have. It was really a response to help the reporter understand different skill levels and why the kids do not need assistance with certain things. It was definitely NOT meant to slam instructors or to say that these kids are better than other people. I truly apologize that it came across that way! I certainly did not mean to offend anyone at all and I am very sorry. The kids love this sport and really do want to skydive someday and if they do decide to jump from a plane, they will certainly have a lot to learn. The interviews I had with the reporter were all clearly focused on wind tunnels and not actual skydiving, this was clear in our conversations, but not necessarily in the article. The discussions about flying abilities were discussions about their freefall ability and had nothing to do with actually jumping from an airplane. Of course they have to learn all of the other skills before they jump! Their freefly skills will be very good by that time. Freefall skills are all that I was talking about in the quote. All I ask of the people here is to not judge people before you really know them. Remember we are all people, just like you are. These kids are going to be around in this sport, they have worked very hard and have a true passion for flying in the tunnel. It takes a great deal of effort and focus for an 8 year old boy to learn a 4 way formation! Anyone here who would like to come see them or fly with them is more than welcome to come visit in Colorado. We'd be happy to let you jump in the tunnel and meet the kids!

There are definitely a lot of things in the article that are questionable. I was interviewed by the reporter numerous times and she failed to post much of what we discussed as well. A lot was left out for sure. Much of this would not be picked up on by the general public who is unfamiliar with wind tunnels. But for those of us who know more about the tunnels, the things she mentioned like the wind tunnel technology (in ground fans in the newer tunnels?) , can really raise an eyebrow. Even the discussion about pricing, etc. definitely used different terminology than we typically use when thinking about tunnel time. We talk in price per x number of minutes rather than per session, which is way too broad! In addition, one of my little ones was not to happy because the article only mentioned Justin's future competition plans and current sponsorship by Go Fast! etc and did not mention Kayla in the mix when we definitely discussed that both kids are sponsored and going to compete in Bedford etc. All of the kids sponsors were mentioned in interviews, but only two were mentioned in the article, so there were definitely missing pieces when the whole article was assembled. While the publicity for skydiving and wind tunnels is a step in the right direction for the sport, the article could definitely have been improved upon. I could go on for a long time about other issues with the article, but I think you all get the point. My guess is that information about new tunnels popping up might have just been pulled off of a website. I hope that the article will encourage people to try flying in the tunnel and try skydiving, I think that the whole direction of the article was to show that skydiving has changed and the sport has a future, so lets just think positive and hope that the general public read it that way and will give tunnel flying and skydiving a try!

The kids had a fantastic time flying in the tunnel in Hollywood. We will definitely be back! It was great meeting everyone there! They just got sponsored by Go Fast! through the end of 2008. They have also received sponsorship from Skyfest Boogie, Sky Systems, Freak'n Suits, Tony Suits, and Skyventure Colorado. Thanks to everyone who is supporting the kids!

We will be there some time each day, right now we will fly on Sunday at 11 am and Tuesday at 11 am. Then we will also probably be there around 9pm Saturday night (and other times to be determined).

Team Future will be there from November 10th to the 14th! The kids can't wait to try it out!

Congratulations on the opening!