A Champion's Journey

Send us Fan Mail Few comeback stories are as awe-inspiring as Mike Brewer's journey from a hospital bed to the elite Red Bull Air Force team. After a devastating accident that left him weighing just 120 pounds on his 6'1" frame with a traumatic brain injury, Mike transformed his recovery into a relentless pursuit of excellence that ultimately caught the attention of one of the most...

Send us Fan Mail Ever wonder what it takes to become a world-class athlete before you can even drive? Emma Johnson and Gabriel Heller, the silver medalists at the Fifth FAI World Indoor Skydiving Championships in Belgium, reveal exactly how they pulled it off at just 14 and 12 years old. These extraordinary young competitors take us into the exhilarating world of dynamic two-way indoor skydiving,...

Send us Fan Mail Join us for an inspiring journey with Kurt Isenbarger, a renowned skydiver and former member of the Golden Knights, who takes us through his life filled with daring adventures and significant lessons. In this episode, Kurt shares his incredible experiences, from entrepreneurial beginnings as a young guy fishing for golf balls to rising through the ranks of elite skydivers. His eng...

Send us Fan Mail Christopher "Ace" Acevedo. U.S. Army Parachute Team Veteran, National Skydiving Champion, Musician and Actor This was a wonderful conversation with my great friend and former teammate where we cover a lot of ground including his deployment to Iraq during the Global War on Terror, how he dealt with the transition of coming back to the U.S., his time on the Army Golden Kni...

Send us Fan Mail Ken Breeden, CW5 (Retired), is one of the most highly experienced aviators on the U.S. Army Parachute Team, "The Golden Knights."  With over 40 years of experience as an Army aviator, Ken has logged over 12,000 hours of flight time in various rotary-wing and fixed-wing aircraft and currently serves as a pilot and Chief Maintenance Officer for the Golden Knights.  It was...

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Send us Fan Mail My next guests are nothing short of awe-inspiring. I was finally able to sit down and have a conversation with the incredibly talented Freestyle Skydiving team, XP Ascend. Using the term, “talented” however, would actually be somewhat misleading because Jason Brigmon and Jake Carlton, the dynamic duo who’ve turned XP Ascend into the international powerhouse it has become, have wor...

Send us Fan Mail My next guest is Scott Festa. Scott is a former U.S. Army Green Beret Colonel, current business owner, Physician’s Assistant and adventure-philanthropist who creates intensive physical and mental endurance challenges  to raise money and awareness for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.  In this episode you’ll learn how Scott prepares physically and psychologically to take on th...

Send us Fan Mail 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 1...

Send us Fan Mail 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 Sc...

Send us Fan Mail 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. Nava...

Send us Fan Mail 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 th...

Send us Fan Mail 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 aviati...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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, ful...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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,...

Send us Fan Mail 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 skydivi...

Send us Fan Mail This past December marked the 60th anniversary of the US Army Parachute Team, “The Golden Knights.” During the team’s biennial reunion celebration, I had the great honor of spending a day and having a conversation with one of the original members of the Golden Knights, the legendary, Gerald Bourquin. Jerry’s incredible military career includes service in the Korean War as an Engin...

Send us Fan Mail The air is filled with excitement here at Skydive Arizona. The drop zone is buzzing with activity as teams from all across the globe finish up last minute preparations for the upcoming World Cup of Formation Skydiving and Artistic Events. During a break in training with Arizona Airspeed, I was able to sit down and have a conversation with legendary free fall photographer and video...

Send us Fan Mail I recently had the great opportunity to have a conversation with the most well known and highest achieving power couple in the sport of formation skydiving today. Together with their team, Arizona Airspeed, Craig Girard and Eliana Rodriguez have won multiple U.S. National and World Championship titles in 4-way and 8-way Formation Skydiving.  In this podcast, Craig and Eliana revea...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to episode 5 of, A Champion’s Journey. I recently had the unforeseen and incredible opportunity to have a conversation with one of my heroes, Dan Brodsky-Chenfeld.  Dan B.C. is a six-time World Champion skydiver and co-founder of the highly successful skydiving team, Arizona Airspeed.  While training for competition in 1992, Dan survived a catastrophic plane crash which ki...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to this special addition of A Champion’s Journey podcast coming to you from Skydive Arizona where I’m currently training with Arizona Airspeed 4-way Formation Skydiving Team.  Airspeed is a team with a rich legacy dating back to the early 1990’s. Over that time, they’ve been a formidable powerhouse on the National and International stages, winning Championship titles sever...