posted Dec 10th, 2007 - Perris Valley Skydiving, host of the California Skydiving League, once again organized its annual team-building workshop over the Thanksgiving weekend.

This event introduces the idea that jumping with a regular group of people (called "team"...) is the best way to continue to learn and improve skydiving skills. Whether individuals had plans of competing or not - this event helps jumpers to find new teammates and friends to jump with during the upcoming season.

This year's event attracted individuals ranging from experienced 4-way competitors all the way to individuals just curious about how a team and 4-way works. Participants traveled from all over the country, including New York, Illinois, Florida, Texas, Arizona and Colorado, for the opportunity to jump with many different people, including Dan BC and the local 4-way team Perris Fury.

Over the past few years, Perris has been able to produce more teams than any other single dropzone who attend the USPA Nationals. Both Dan BC and Perris Fury are coaching individuals and 4-teams in the air and in the windtunnel throughout the season. Due to the excitement surrounding the Fury8 project, where each Fury member player coaches an 8-way team, the 8-way bug has caught many people, too.

Friday and Saturday of the Thanksgiving event consisted of round-robin type jumps with individuals trading partners and coaches various times throughout the day's jumping. Unfortunately, the flow of the event was interrupted on Friday by the infamous Santa Ana winds. This gave everyone the opportunity to head over to the Perris Skyventure windtunnel and have a little fun with tunnel flying. Perris Fury member Christy Frikken topped Friday evening off with her very fun 2-way competition, known as "Tunnel League".

There is more to building a successful team and being a great teammate than just skydiving. Chris Farina, also a member of Perris Fury, offered a seminar on "How to Build a Successful Team" on Saturday afternoon. The seminar was well attended and participants were able to interact directly with coaches and ask questions about the practical side of forming and running a team.

The remaining jumpers after Friday's and Saturday's events, plus many newcomers who were interested in a little competition, participated in the annual 16-way Turkey Meet on Sunday. Some of the formations proved challenging for the teams, but everyone had a blast throughout the day.

All who attended commented that they left after having a great time, making some really fun skydives, meeting some new friends or potential teammates, making contacts, and picking up many great ideas for the upcoming competition season.

This event is one in a series of events Perris Fury has planned for the 2008 season, including the Fury Free Week, the Fury8 Project, upcoming windtunnel camps in Bedford and North Carolina, the Javelin Day, a P3 camp, and the P3 Power Play. The Perris Fury website offers additional information.