World Powered Paragliding Association WPPGA New President!
The WPPGA Has a NEW President & Vice President!
My Wife and I have done some really exciting things in our lives up to this point. The constant in everything we have done is that we are always involved activities which change people’s lives. We have ran some of the most successful Kenpo Karate schools in Northern California, produced several registered service dogs (including Search & Rescue), managed several fitness clubs and more! There is NOTHING more important to us than service to others, and NOTHING more exhilarating than being a part of changing someone’s life. It simply comes down to what we call “the house rules.” If you have a gift than can benefit others, there is a DUTY to share that knowledge.
Conquering the sky and touching clouds has always been a mutual dream for my Wife and I. When the shift in our countries economic state began, we scaled down our karate school chains and began our next great adventure. This of course was Powered Paragliding! The first step involved researching the sport and trying to find the best training possible. This was a much greater challenge than we anticipated. In fact, it reminded us of what it was like to find a good karate school years ago. Everyone offering instruction claimed to be the best, but at the same time, they spoke so negatively about everyone else out there teaching. From personal experience in the martial art world, the only people who talked negatively about others were extremely insecure about their own capabilities. My wife and I NEVER had to bring down another schools in order to convince a student to join ours. We simply let our actions speak for themselves, and let potential students make their decision based on what THEY personally felt was good for them.
We set out traveling the States in search for a Powered Paragliding school that possessed the same values we would look for in choosing a karate school. The common denominator in Powered Paragliding and karate schools is that your life could depend on choosing the right one. We attended many of the Powered Paragliding fly-in events, and read just about everything we could find online. We found countless self-taught instructors out there, and so-called “crash courses” claiming that they could train students in 2 to 3 days. Relating back to our karate experience, there are countless karate instructors out there who learned from books or videos, and claim that their students can achieve a black belt in 1-2 years. Think about this….. If you were looking for a good doctor, would you choose one who learned from a video and is offering 10 min. surgery, or would you choose one that went to Harvard and takes their time performing their work? It’s devastating that so many people out there are choosing these “fast-food” schools because of today’s “gotta get it now” mentality. Again, if your life depends on choosing the proper instruction, shortcuts are just not an option. We finally made the well-informed choice to go with the WPPGA National Training Center on the Pacific coast. All of the CERTIFIED WPPGA Master Instructors take their time to teach and develop each student until they reach their full-potential. The WPPGA was also the only school in the world to provide equipment insurance while training. This alone made a huge statement. The WPPGA is so confident with their instruction that they do not need to worry about a student breaking their equipment. I can’t imagine how expensive training would be if I broke a machine while in training (especially if it was poor training) and had to pay for it. $12,000 for lessons is a little steep!
As time went by, we decided to become more & more involved with the WPPGA. We wanted to support the WPPGA’s quest to provide people with the safest and most thorough training in the sport. My Wife and I never thought that one day we would be heading up this amazing organization. It has become just as rewarding for us as getting a student up to the level of Black Belt!
All that being said, we will continue to grow, learn, and change lives… One flight at a time!