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Kirk Verner is a current member of the US 8-way Formation Skydiving Team and is one of the original and founding members of one of the most successful 4-way teams in history - Arizona Airspeed. 

With a skydiving career spanning just over 4 decades, Kirk has amassed an impressive list of achievements. He’s a 2x 4-way Formation Skydiving World Champion, 4x 8-way World Champion and 1x Indoor 8-way World Champion. 

At almost 57 years of age, Kirk is one of the most relentless people I know and he’s showing no signs of slowing down. His mental and physical toughness are otherworldly and are matched by very few - of any age.

Kirk has been an inspiration and role model for me since I was just 16 years old and I’m honored to be his teammate on the US Team for the 2023 and 2024 competition seasons. 

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When I think of tandem skydiving, the first person who comes to mind is none other than Mike Elliott.

Mike was the tandem skydiving instructor who escorted former President George H.W. Bush on not just one but three separate occasions.

In this podcast, Mike tells us all about those jumps, his military service starting as an Airborne Infantryman, Air Assault Instructor, Airborne School Instructor, and Army, "Golden Knights" demonstration Team Leader.

Finally, we'll hear what motivated Mike to start the All Veteran Group and what has been most rewarding for him as President of that Organization.

Mike is a great storyteller and he had me on the edge of my seat for the duration of this interview. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

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I hope you enjoy this special Father's Day Edition of A Champion's Journey Podcast featuring my biggest hero, my dad, Mike Davidson. He served 26 years in the U.S. Army as a Special Forces Airborne Ranger and Physician's Assistant. Still practicing medicine as a full-time P.A., he spends his spare time serving as coach, mentor, and pilot for members of the U.S. Naval Academy Parachute Team.

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Drew Starr is a four time World 8-way Formation Skydiving Champion and is the Team Captain for the U.S. Army Parachute Team’s Competition Section. 

In addition to his four World Championship victories, he is also seven time  National Champion, current World Record holder for the highest single scoring skydive, highest scoring freefall average, and highest wind tunnel average in the 8-way Formation Skydiving event. 

Drew’s prior military experience includes serving as the Noncommisioned Officer in Charge of the 82d Airborne Division’s 407th Support Battalion’s Intelligence Section and the Detainee Intelligence Team of the Combined Joint Interagency Task Force 435. 

Drew’s impressive list of consistent high-achievement manifested as a result of his strong character, forged through trial and adversity. Several times over and in many ways, his resilience was put to the test and each time he prevailed. 

The qualities I admire most in fellow competitors are resilience and heart. Drew Starr has an abundance of both. I’m proud to have served with Drew as a teammate and even more proud to call him a friend. This conversation was a special one for me and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. 

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Driven. Focused. Dedicated. Disciplined. Relentless. Inspiring. These are some of the words which come to mind when describing Lauren Modica. About to begin her senior year at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, Lauren is setting herself up for a bright future with unlimited possibilities. 

Interested in aviation from a young age, Lauren attended trade school for aviation maintenance during her last two years of high school. During that time, she also attended night classes at Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology where she earned her Aviation Maintenance Powerplant license. 

Lacking the financial means to pay for the required flight hours needed to earn a Private Pilot’s license, Lauren found an alternate solution: working as an office manager and mechanic’s apprentice at Long Island Aviators flight school. After achieving her goal of becoming a Private Pilot, she then earned her instrument rating and commercial pilot certificate. 

Lauren’s decision to apply to the United States Naval Academy was largely driven by a strong sense of service influenced by her father, a New York City firefighter who was a first-responder during the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks, and her mother who worked in the medical field.

In addition to her academic obligations at the Academy, Lauren learned to skydive and became a member of the Naval Academy’s Parachute Team. Lauren has as amassed over 300 free-fall jumps and was recently selected to be the Parachute Team’s Captain for her upcoming Senior year. 

Even with her academic and Parachute Team responsibilities, Lauren found the time in her schedule to successfully completed the Marine Corps Martial Arts Instructor Course and somehow, manages to make time to consistently train for competitions as a triathlete. 

Lauren’s next big goal is to become a Marine Corps fighter pilot and I have absolutely no doubt she will become one of the best. 

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Justin Blewitt is a four time World 8-way Formation Skydiving Champion currently serving as head Parachute Rigger on the U.S. Army Parachute Team. 

The conversation in this episode was a special one for me as Justin, also known as, “Bizz,” is one of my closest friends and is the teammate I worked closest with for the better part of ten years.

Justin’s journey has been anything but linear up until he attended Golden Knights Assessment and Selection in 2005. After college he served as a trumpet player in the Ohio Army National Guard before joining the Regular Army as a Parachute Rigger where he packed parachutes for the U.S. Army Airborne School in Ft. Benning, Georgia. 

Upon acceptance to the Golden Knights, Justin served three years on the demonstration team, traveling the country jumping in front of crowds at sporting events and airshows. In 2008, he tried out and was accepted to the Golden Knight’s 8-way Formation Skydiving Competition Team where he won eight National Championship titles, four World Championships, Two World Cups, and One World Air Games. 

In 2019 Justin retired from the competition team to take a position in the Golden Knight’s parachute maintenance facility where he currently serves as an FAA Master rated Parachute Rigger. 

The Army is hiring and the U.S. Army Parachute Team is always on the lookout for potential qualified candidates. If you have the desire to make skydiving your full-time profession, Justin tells you what the requisite qualifications are and how to apply in this episode. For more information go to: www.goarmy.com/events/golden-knights/join

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Mikhail Markine is a three time U.S. National 4-way Formation Skydiving Champion, World Cup Champion, and is a current member of both Arizona Airspeed and the U.S. National 8-way Formation Skydiving team. 

Several years ago, Mikhail made the difficult decision to leave a secure career with Google to relentlessly pursue his passion as a full-time Formation Skydiving Competitor, fully committing himself to accomplishing his goals of becoming National and World Champion. 

Though originally from Russia, Mikhail been a member of the U.S. Team since 2013. Earlier this year, Mikhail earned his U.S. citizenship which he says has reinforced his great pride in representing the United States of America at World level competitions. He is currently training with Team USA to face the Russians in competition on their home turf at the 2021 World Parachuting Championships.

His success has been no accident. Ten years ago, Mikhail carefully crafted a personal vision statement and since then, has accomplished almost everything he set out to achieve. With his strong work ethic and his high level of talent, drive, determination and resilience, there’s no doubt Mikhail will attain everything he’s envisioned and more.

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Tom Baker is an energetic and forward thinking skydiver, BASE jumper, professional aerial consultant and Hollywood stuntman. Tom has an infectious charisma and a positive energy which shines through in his personal interactions, in his passion for project innovation, and in his appetite for pushing the boundaries of body flight and sport parachuting. 

Tom is to skydiving what Sean White is to snowboarding. Not only does he look a lot like Sean, but he also performs like him. Tom’s achievements include two World Records for the largest vertical skydiving formations, four Gold medals in Dynamic 4-way indoor skydiving, U.S. National Bronze and Silver medals in the Freestyle and Free Fly events, and is the creator of a mind-blowing and spectacular canopy piloting trick known as the, “Ginger Flip.”

In addition to his accolades as a body flight and canopy piloting ninja, Tom is also a passionate coach and an International Body flight Association level 4 Trainer. Most recently, Tom and his group, “Momentum,” organized an event called, “Flock and Flow,” a canopy piloting skills camp held at Skydive City in Zephyrhills, Florida which culminated in an impressive series of precisely choreographed sequences involving high-performance parachutes.

Whether he’s jumping out of planes with cars, furniture, and bombs; BASE jumping off vertical rock faces, or laying plans to jump onto and off of a retired Coast Guard light station in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, Tom has crafted a kinetically charged lifestyle of stepping off the cliffs of comfort and into the vast sea of the unknown.

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Jeana Billings made her first skydive in 2013 and has been on a mission ever since. In the relatively short time she’s been in the sport, she’s taken the Formation Skydiving competition world by storm. In 2018, she won the  U.S. National Championships in the 8-way event with her team, Paraclete XP8. In 2019, she and XP8 became World Indoor Skydiving Champions and later that year, she became U.S. National Champion, earning the right to represent the United States in the 8-way Formation Skydiving event at the 2020 World Parachuting Championships in Tanay, Russia. Most recently, she and team USA8 won the U.S. National Indoor Skydiving Championships at Paraclete XP Skyventure in Raeford, North Carolina.

As if competing in one event at an elite level wasn’t demanding enough, she also competes in the 4-way FS event. Her incredible accomplishments have made her a highly sought after Formation Skydiving coach. She fills what time remains in her busy schedule mentoring skydivers and teams of all ability levels. Jeana also adroitly balances her commitments as a full time competitive athlete and coach with being a single mother of two teenage daughters. Jeana’s intense drive, determination, and all-in level of commitment is an inspiration to us all. 

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For the last ten years, the 4-way Formation Skydiving team, SDC Rhythm XP, has struggled to achieve victory at the U.S. National Skydiving Championships. A year and a half prior to competition at the 2019 U.S. Nationals, it seemed as though Rhythm’s chances for victory had slipped through their fingers once again after team member Doug Barron was involved in a catastrophic skydiving accident. In this episode, Doug shares the incredible story of how he overcame crippling and potentially career ending injuries and went on to win Nationals Gold, earning the right to represent the United States later this year at the 2020 World Parachuting Championships in Tanay, Russia.

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