Episode 6: World Champion Power Couple, Craig Girard and Eliana Rodriguez

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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 reveal many valuable tools and techniques which are applicable for high achievement in any endeavor. We’ll learn about mental preparations for peak performance, focused visualization techniques, mental approaches for different competition scenarios, tricks for avoiding brain locks, how to better position yourself for opportunities, and so much more!

Before they met to become the force of nature they are today, Craig and Eliana accumulated impressive lists of individual accomplishments. Before joining Arizona Airspeed, Craig was a member of The U.S. Army Parachute Team’s, “Golden Knights,” from 1986 to 1995. He has won an incredible 18 U.S. National Championship 8-way titles, is an eight-time 4-way National Champion, five-time 8-way World Cup Champion, five-time 8-way World Champion, two-time 4-way World Champion, holds three records for the world’s largest free fall formations, has accumulated in excess of 38,000 jumps, AND is a 2012 Skydiving Hall of Fame inductee. His mind boggling list of achievements and accolades defy comprehension and are simply too numerous to continue mentioning here.

Eliana is well known not only for her contagious and illuminating smile, but also for being a shining beacon of inspiration who has blazed a path as a modern day pioneer for women across our sport. She became the first and only female competitor in Arizona Airspeed’s 25 year history AND is the first woman to win an 8-way World Championship as a formation flyer!

Eliana started her skydiving career shortly after completing her military service in the U.S. Army. She became Women’s World Cup 4-way Champion in 2000 and hasn’t looked back. Since then, she’s become Women’s 4-way World Champion, 4-way Open class World Cup Champion, 8-way World Cup Champion, 8-way World Champion and 4-way Open class World Champion, an achievement widely regarded as the pinnacle of success in Formation Skydiving. Her incredible list of achievements doesn’t stop there. Eliana also holds World Records for three of the world’s largest free fall formations in addition to World Records for the largest free fall sequential formation, largest women’s free fall formation, and largest women’s vertical head down formation. And these are just SOME of the incredible things she’s achieved!

It is my GREAT pleasure to introduce this awesome couple! Please welcome, Craig Girard and Eliana Rodriguez.