Fall Risk: A Skydiving Podcast

Daina Tubbs is the literal embodiment of a ray of sunshine. Truly, there's nobody on the dropzone with a better attitude and personality than her. That in and of itself is amazing given how long she's worked as a full time skydiving instructor in this incredibly stressful work environment.

This episode goes off the rails in the best way possible, as Tubbs and I get into her backstory, how she built her way to her current position, and we get into the nitty gritty of being a female skydiving instructor in a field dominated by men. Hold onto your butts, cause this one is one helluva ride filled with good times and lots of laughs.

Pairing creativity and innovation with the world of skydiving can sometimes be a tall order. It's hard to stay on top of creative projects that take ages to complete within the ever changing world of the skydiving community. No one knows this better than Leah Levy.

At 28 years old and just under a decade in the sport, Leah's flying resumes boast some very impressive feats, including Project 19's Women's Headdown World Record, and the most recently 200-way World Record attempts. And while those accomplishments are nothing short of amazing, her true mark on skydiving is made with her incredible artistic talents. From creating her own company "Levity," where she repurposes non-airworthy parachutes into hard goods, to assisting the general skydiving community in designing their rigs, to developing her camera flying skills, and to working with her partner on their collaborative production company "Flying Pig Studios," Leah has her hands in a million ongoing creative projects.

Listen in as Leah tells us how she got started in skydiving, and as she lets us take a peek behind the curtain of her creative process when it comes to skydiving.

The man, the myth, the legend: Garet Bloodworth. What else needs to be said? In this episode, Garet joins me to discuss his lengthy career in the world of flight, including his time as a tunnel instructor, a skydiving coach, and most recently, as a pilot. But don't let his megastar reputation fool you--Garet is one of the most laid back guys you'll see on the dropzone this episode as evidence to that. Listen in as we discuss some of his greatest achievements, how he got his start in the sport fourteen years ago, what his goals moving forward are, and what you'll see next from him.

On the surface, Tamara Bartlett is a bubbly, charismatic skydiver, one who is eager to engage others in conversation, go on "wahoo" skydives, and generally seems to get along with everyone. Under that exterior though, lies a determined, focused, and goal oriented attitude, one who establishes milestones, and chases relentlessly after them.

Listen into this episode, where we dive into Tam's origin story, and hear more about why she's been chasing the big way circuit for so long now, and where she's planning to take those skills moving forward.

Richo Butts is a man of many talents. The skillset he's acquired over years of skydiving and flying is seriously mindblowing.

Over the last decade, Richo has made a name for himself as one of the world's premier canopy pilots, and in recent times, has added to his skill set by fine tuning his freefly and bigway skills, as well as become a licensed pilot and pursued an aerobatic pilot career. Listen to this truly humble and well spoken skydiver about how he started in the sport, what projects he's currently pursuing, and what the future holds for his flight career.

Andy Malchiodi is a household name in skydiving. The sheer number of years he's been active in the skydiving community would astound even the most diligent and relentless skydivers of today. Over time, he's travelled the world, accumulated countless skydives of all types, and organized more camps and events than can be counted. In addition to all the aforementioned accolades, Andy has also been credited with being part of the birth of MFS as a discipline, sub-disciplines like the Echelon events, the most recent skydiver-made movie "HEX," in cinema history, and so much more.

Tune into this episode to hear about the origins of the MFS discipline, listen as we discuss his movie, and what new adventures he's got planned for the next few years.

2023 marks the first year of Koemi Valencia being on an official competitive skydiving team. Ask her yourself, this is a dream she's been chasing since she started skydiving, just a few years ago. Driven and inspired, Koemi takes us through what her journey to this stage has been like so far, and where she wants to go moving forward with her competitive goals in skydiving.

Koemi has a wonderful way of definitively expressing exactly how most of us feel in this sport, and it's a breathe of fresh air to hear it come from someone of her experience. Don't miss this well spoken and intuitive episode!

Have you ever dreamed of sharing a face meltingly awesome adventure with your partner? Surely you've dreamt of what you'd do on said adventure... the sights you'd see, the things you'd talk about, the places you'd go together, the shenanigans you'd get up to? If you've lost yourself daydreaming about this very idea, then look no further than Denise and Kory Kruzikas--these two are every skydiving couples' dream.

Denise met Kory back in 2010 after several years of their individual skydiving careers already under their belt. To say it was love at first sight, is probably an understatement. Truly, in this episode, they share the touching story of how they got together in the first place, and how Kory, quite literally, swept Denise off her feet.

Since those early days, they've come to form SDMW's local MFS team, Ballistix. Along with their camera man, Ben Shafer, this team is headed off to the 2023 USPA Nationals, for yet another run at the podium this year. Listen in as the dynamic duo fill me in on what training with your partner is like, and how it can ultimately enhance the competition experience.

Known as literally the nicest guy on the dropzone, Matt Congdon has made a name for himself through a constant pursuit of knowledge, and then passing that information onto the next generation of skydivers. Truly, there's nothing more exciting for Matt than to either be pursuing his own goals, or helping others achieve their own.

Join us as we discuss what Matt's start in skydiving was like, how he feels about competition skydiving, and what's next for him. This episode is full of laughs and hilarity, so be sure to tune in!

Remember the name Sam Stenzel. Someday, you're gonna hear it on the news or in an article or see him in a video talking about the next big adventure in space exploration. Seriously--this kid is going places.

Sam has been flying in more ways than one, since he was very young. As a gymnast, he spent more than his fair share of time in the air tackling a wide variety of aerial stunts and tricks. As a young teenager, he began tunnel flying--quickly becoming one of the most accomplished flyers at iFly Minneapolis in a few mere months. Not only that, but he also acquired his pilot's license and became a certified scuba diver shortly after. Now, at eighteen years old, Sam has checked off another box--he got his A-license.

Now, he joins Sam to talk about what that particular process was like, what he's enjoying about our community so far, and where he wants to go moving forward. You don't want to miss this episode---Sam is an incredibly bright and kind whiz kid, one with an incredibly promising future in our sport!