What’s our Category?
Dear Roy
How do we decide which category we should be in? We have formed a brand new team, and we have a person from every level. One was competing last season in rookie, one in A, one AA, our cameraflyer has done every category, and we have someone brand-new to competition. Jump numbers vary from 300 to 800 jumps.
We formed the team because we live near the same dropzone so it’s nice to have a group to jump with at weekends. It’s more for fun than to set any ground-breaking averages or win medals (though that is always nice). We’d like to do some low-key competitions, at weekends and in the tunnel. We probably belong in A or AA but how do we decide which to enter?
Thank you for any help
Marianne
I believe that it is healthy to keep having challenges inside each class, technique and mental-wise; often I see teams staying for too long in the same category.
Hello Marianne,
I would say that probably it is logical to come somewhere in the middle of the overall experience. As you know, the thing all classes have in common is that they use all the 16 randoms. What you can do is start in the A-class where you have just several blocks to learn.
Once everyone masters these and feels comfortable, you can step up to the AA-class, even in the middle of the season. You can move up anytime you want. I believe that it is healthy to keep having challenges inside each class, technique and mental wise. Often I see teams staying for too long in the same class. They prefer to stay there because they can win medals and stay within their own comfort zone.
If you step up to a ‘higher’ class but you don’t have the opportunity to jump a lot, just use a few standard exits. In this way you can train and compete in each class without learning all the 38 different exits, but still have the challenge and fun of flying the whole dive-pool.
Roy
