Skydive Arizona in Eloy hosted its Rookie Round-Up—Diamonds in the Rough event March 14-15. The drop zone capped registration at 30 rookies so that there would be a ratio of one coach for every two rookies attending. Coaches included members of all of Skydive Arizona’s pro teams—Airspeed, Defiance, Anthem, Fliteshop and Dream—as well as Flight-1 instructor Justin Price. During the event, rookies took advantage of jumping one on one with a coach in the discipline of their choice and making dream jumps, such as hanging from a Skyvan.

The Rookie Round-Up coincided with Safety Day, so participants enjoyed being able to attend seminars and complete water training at the pool. Friday night, the rookies got to fly in the onsite wind tunnel with members of 4-way formation skydiving team Arizona Airspeed and Jason Peters of mixed formation skydiving team Fliteshop. On Saturday, the rookies enjoyed a hot dog cookout and listened to a presentation of USPA’s 2019 Fatality Summary by Safety and Training Advisor Erin Orwig. On Sunday, every rookie went home with a prize donated by the many vendors who supported this event.

Skydive Arizona is hosting the next Rookie Round-Up, which is once again limited to 30 participants, in October. Registration will begin two months prior.

George Hargis | D-36681
Eloy, Arizona