Meet Team USA

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Kirk started skydiving in 1982 and has over 30,000 jumps.  Kirk grew up on a DZ and started jumping at 16. He became obsessed with  competitive jumping after the 1989 Nationals. After being coached by  National Champions and putting hard  work into several weekend teams he placed 3rd in  the Open division in 1991. Not long after that Arizona Airspeed was formed by Kirk, Jack Jefferies, Dan BC, Mark Kirkby, and John Leming which started the dynasty. After the 2006 World Meet Kirk came to XP and started working at the XP Tunnel, building world class teams to compete at multiple World Championships.

Brian Krause (BK) is a former member of the US Army Parachute Team “Golden Knights” where he competed in both 4 and 8 way for over 15 years.  Upon retiring from active duty, he moved into both the XP4 and XP8 lineups over the last 6 years.  Skydive Paraclete XP has been his home DZ for the last 24 years.  

Jeana started skydiving in 2014 and very soon after discovering formation skydiving, she found her passion!  Becoming obsessed would probably be an understatement for the path she chose to take.  Jeana took advantage of every coaching opportunity and attended as many 8way camps as she could to become better until 2016 when she finally earned a slot on XP8 and is now an Indoor World Champion and two time National Outdoor Champion.

Michelle Karamon started skydiving in 2010 at Skydive the Ranch and immediately went into competitive 4-way.  In 2015, she added 8-way to her resume, and was then offered a slot to try out for XP8 in 2016.  Looking forward to her fifth year on XP8, Michelle also competes on one of the top 4-way teams in the country, has become a two-time national outdoor 8way champion, and indoor world champion.

John started skydiving in 2002 and now has over 10,000 jumps.  With almost 20 years of experience of not only skydiving but also running the day to day operations of a dropzone and tunnel (Skydive ParacleteXP aka the foundation of Airspeed XP8), John has a unique perspective to offer you.  

Matt has almost 30 years of skydiving under his belt and over 22,000 skydives but this doesn't come close to summing up what he can offer as a coach!  Matt is a 3X World Cup Champion in 8way, 5X World Champion in 8way, 4way World Cup Champion, and 3X World Record breaker for points achieved during an 8way jump.  Matt  also has Style and Accuracy, Demonstration/Demo jumps, Videographer jumps, AFF, and Tandem ratings to add to his already large list of achievements.

Elliot Byrd began skydiving in 2009 in Longmont, CO before moving to North Carolina the same year. Like many, he didn’t know what he wanted to do in the sport, he only knew he wanted to be in the sky as much as possible. In 2013 he was asked to film a pick up 4 way team at US Nationals and found his passion for all forms of video flying. In 2017 Elliot and his wife Lauren moved to XP to become full time skydivers and form the US Women’s National team. Elliot has flown video for the two time 4 Way FS Open Female National Champions Phoenix XP, 4 Way FS Open National Champions SDC Rhythm XP, and XP8 the two time National 8 Way FS Open Champions.