Episode 50 is all about competitions. From flying psychology to training David Snowden has taken 25 years of flying passion into figuring out how to take a country (Australia) with plenty of talent but with few of the resources that France, Germany, and Switzerland (for example) have to be a serious player on the world stage. In this podcast Dave sheds light on their journey from not even having a team in 2015 and being ranked in 38th place in the world to breaking the top 15 and sending a strong, competitive team to the Worlds this summer in Italy. How did they do it? What can all of learn from their journey? How to foster a team attitude in such an independent sport? Can paragliding become an Olympic sport? Dave is quick to point out that the Australian Paragliding squad development has had a lot of people contribute to its success, but their path is one that anyone could (and should!) follow.
A buck an episode, that’s all we ask.
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Show Notes:
* Dave talks about how he developed a keen eye for competition in his 25 years of flying
* The British Championshiops, mentors, dealing with weather and developing a competition structure in Britain in the 90’s.
* Hosting a PWC in Bright, Australia after 3 years of effort
* Economics of competitions and how they can be funded more efficiently
* Mentoring and coaching and developing the Australian Paragliding squad
* Going from 38th in the National Rankings to the top 15- how they did it
* Using local comps and proper advertising to improve their own pilots internationally
* How to foster a team attitude
* The Olympics and the East Asia Games
Mentioned in this episode: Miguel Gutierrez, Brian Webb, Alas Del Hombre, Jon Mallinson, Bob Drury, John Pendry, Robbie Whittall, Bruce Goldsmith, Jocky Sanderson, North of Known, Kari Ellis, Mike Pfau, Aaron Durogati, Ondrej Prochazca