posted Jun 10th, 2009 - Ben Liston, Mass Defiance's Center Inside and recently also Dallas Rogue 8-way member, has created a virtual tunnel training program that is now available for everybody who is interested in working on individual and team flying skills. He has combined the training program with a fund raising effort for the National Skydiving League, which has already created much needed and greatly appreciated donations to help keeping the NSL operation alive.

Ben Liston and his Mass Defiance team member, Point Brian Stephens, spent some extra time in the windtunnel to demonstrate the maneuvers, body positions and techniques. The curriculum of the virtual tunnel training camp includes: Basic Body Position, Balance Drill, Fall Rate Control, Turning 90, 180, 270, 360, 540, Drill Side Slides, Forward/Backward Movement, Forward/Backward w/ Grips, Box Drill, Superpositioning, Carving, Stability Drill, Speed Grip Drill, Turning Grip Drill, 360 Madness Drill, Cat-Pole 2-way Drill, Cheese Grader (Cat/Compressed Super-Positioning), Side Slide Burble Hops, Sidebody to Sidebody Hops, Cat to Cat Hops, X-Drill Hops (Open to Phalanx), Block 7, 7/9 drill, Block 8 Piece Work, Block 16 Piece Work, Block 19 Piece Work, Block 21 Pieces, Block 21 Center Work, approx. 15 minutes 4-way Tunnel Flying (Mass Defiance in Eloy, all blocks minus Block 1), Knee Flying.

Ben Liston is adding commentary and tips to the demo videos. He introduced the DVD to the public a few weeks ago:

"I have a tunnel training DVD that I've decided to share with the public. My team members and I use it for coaching work that we do. It's far from perfect, but does provide high and low video angles and verbal descriptions of how to do both individual movements and also a bunch of drills.

It certainly doesn't encompass everything, but it's a good tool to have, especially if used with the Airspeed Mind Maps, or the Airspeed and Golden Knights block technique DVDs.

The DVD covers individual body position and movement, tons of 2-way drills, 2-way block techniques, and it includes some 4-way video. The first 40 minutes of drills and instruction are from SkyVenture NH, and I included about 15 minutes of footage from Mass Defiance 4-way training in Eloy (which I think has all the randoms and every block but Snow/Offset), just so folks that have never seen some of the blocks have something to work off of."

Important to know: copies are only available via download, not as DVDs

Ben Liston: "I no longer have hard copies available, but do have both a high res/highframe rate Quicktime (.mov) version and an iPod/iPhone (.m4v) version available for download. The iPod version is 320x240 and the Quicktime one is 480x360. Both are about 315MB. By making a donation to the NSL you get access to both versions. E-mail me to get the download information: Ben(at)MassDefiance(dot)org

"This has been a great fun raiser for a great cause. We all benefit from the NSL leagues and the work Kurt puts into the leagues and the new articles on the NSL website. I hope we can all continue to make donations annually.

If you like the video, please make a post to the dropzone.com forums to help generate more interest for it and more donations to the NSL. My goal is to raise $1000 for the NSL and I won't be able to do it without some positive word of mouth advertising.

Your individual or team donations for the video should be made via paypal through SKYLEAGUE.COM. Just scroll down to the bottom of the page and you'll find the donations section. In the comments section of the paypal transaction please put "Mass Defiance Tunnel DVD payment" and your full name, just so I can keep track of who has made their donations. Just a reminder about your donations: the minimum donation amounts are $20 or more for personal use, and $50 for more if you are using it for coaching work or as a 4-way team (cost divided between the four team members)."

"If you happen to love the video so much that you think it's criminal to have only donated $20 or $50 for it, and would like to help me out with the costs I incurred making and distributing it, you can make a personal contribution to me through the Mass Defiance website: http://www.massdefiance.org/ There is a "support the team" paypal link right under the main photo. A personal donation is neither requested nor expected, but would certainly not be turned away and would help me keep the project going.

Lastly, and I'm trusting you guys on this, please do not share or make unauthorized copies of the video. This isn't a money making scheme, it's quite the opposite. I've put a lot of time, money, and effort into putting this together, and it would be an insult to me and the NSL to pirate copies. Just have any students of yours or other experienced jumpers who are interested in receiving a copy e-mail me:

Ben(at)MassDefiance(dot)org

I'll be happy to provide them with the information how to get a copy in exchange for a donation to the NSL.

I hope you all have fun and safe skydiving seasons - pull high and swoop carefully! Also, please (and I honestly invite this) contact me if you have any technical questions about anything explained in the video, or general 4- or 8-way questions. I love skydiving and talking shop, so don't be shy.

Blues, Ben"

The NSL greatly appreciates the unsolicited support by Mass Defiance and Ben Liston. It comes at a time when small business enterprises, such as the 1-person and full-time NSL operation, have to work hard to get through the challenging economic situation. The free training program can only be ordered by e-mail directly from Ben Liston.