Seeking a serious mentor

I apologize in advance if this is not the correct place to post this and I would be happy to post elsewhere if need be.

I am a fun jumper at Mile Hi in Longmont and I am seeking a serious mentor/friend who is willing to help me to continue to progress in my skydiving career. I enjoy meeting up with others to jump with at the drop zone, but I am pretty specific and goal oriented when it comes to what I would like to accomplish in skydiving. My eventual goal is to be a coach and AFF instructor. With that being said, I am looking for someone who jumps on a very regular basis and is willing to coach me with that progression in mind. I would be happy to pay for some jumps, and would not want to capitalize all your time. I consider myself pretty dedicated to the sport and wish to jump as often as possible. Like I mentioned earlier, I appreciate the spontaneity of jumping with others that I meet at the dropzone, but with some specific goals in mind I would love to have someone to jump with on a much more steady and regular basis who has more experience then me and would like to impart their knowledge on an eager student.

I have 67 jumps as of Saturday, I received my A license in late August, I have all my own gear and I pack my own rig. Thanks for your consideration!

Jambandman

I apologize in advance if this is not the correct place to post this and I would be happy to post elsewhere if need be.

I am a fun jumper at Mile Hi in Longmont and I am seeking a serious mentor/friend who is willing to help me to continue to progress in my skydiving career. I enjoy meeting up with others to jump with at the drop zone, but I am pretty specific and goal oriented when it comes to what I would like to accomplish in skydiving. My eventual goal is to be a coach and AFF instructor. With that being said, I am looking for someone who jumps on a very regular basis and is willing to coach me with that progression in mind. I would be happy to pay for some jumps, and would not want to capitalize all your time. I consider myself pretty dedicated to the sport and wish to jump as often as possible. Like I mentioned earlier, I appreciate the spontaneity of jumping with others that I meet at the dropzone, but with some specific goals in mind I would love to have someone to jump with on a much more steady and regular basis who has more experience then me and would like to impart their knowledge on an eager student.

I have 67 jumps as of Saturday, I received my A license in late August, I have all my own gear and I pack my own rig. Thanks for your consideration!

You jump at a busy, fairly large DZ with lots of experienced jumpers there. I would look for a mentor in person at your DZ. Go there, jump often, hang out after the jumping, make friends, and you'll probably find a few people that meet your criteria.

You seem to have set specific goals, and are focusing on reaching them.

Good for you.

However, this is a worldwide forum. Unless you want an 'online' mentor who is perhaps on the other side of the world, this probably isn't the best place.

Does your DZ have an "experienced jumpers" FB page or something like that?

Or hit up the S&T A, lead instructor or DZO.

I'm not familiar with Mile Hi, but my DZ is always looking for "up and comers" who they can teach their way.
Not that they turn away people taught at other places, but they prefer it if they can 'teach you to be a teacher' themselves, the way they want you to teach.

They also make sure that there's a coach, TI & AFF-I course at least once a year (each).

As much as I like Mile-Hi, I found it quite difficult there in the beginning as well, to get to jump with more experienced jumpers regularly. It seems like everyone just jumps with their own group and it's hard to get in.
The ones that I found most open to mentor newer skydivers there, were the more experienced women. There is also a group of skydivers who put on the monthly "No Pro" events. One of them may be open to mentoring you. ( https://www.facebook.com/flyblusora/ )

There is also the Colorado Skydiving League FB group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/182266868998833/

It's not going to give you a mentor as such, but if you want to become an AFF instructor, I would guess that doing lots of belly FS jumps at this point is definitely going to help.

And I'll definitely look forward to jumping with you (at Mile-Hi, or Orange Skies, or Out of the Blue)

Thanks for the suggestions and the links. I have done a NoPro event once this year and i had a blast! I cant wait until next year's events.

In the meantime, I'm going to keep jumping and learning as I go. I have had a few people reach out to me and offer to help me accomplish my goals. I still would like to jump with as many people as I can. Hope to see you at the DZ sometime soon.

Chicken or egg?

Show that you’re serious by showing up and jumping a lot while keeping eyes and ears open.

>I am seeking a serious mentor/friend who is willing to help me to continue to progress in my skydiving career.

Good for you. And good luck!

I wish someone had made a well spoken, well informed, and well thought out request like this to me, when I was still active. It feels good to give back to someone who is appreciative - and you sound like that kind of person.

Blue skies.

One very effective way to get what you want here would be to join/found a 4-way team. Find three other serious, motivated people (and a regular videographer if you can), get a proper coach, and off you go.

It's the fastest way I've seen for people to keep their skills learning curve properly steep, early on in their careers.

Even if you only do it for a single season, your flying and understanding will be so far ahead of where you are now, and ahead of the people at your level who fun jumped all year.

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One very effective way to get what you want here would be to join/found a 4-way team. Find three other serious, motivated people (and a regular videographer if you can)

This is harder than it sounds. Persevere. It is worth it.

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Even if you only do it for a single season, your flying and understanding will be so far ahead of where you are now, and ahead of the people at your level who fun jumped all year.

This is 100% accurate, with the caveat:

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get a proper coach

If you can afford it, joining a tunnel league down in Park Meadows will hasten your progression and hook you up with like minded people to jump.