Elite athletes are used to working out among record holders and medal winners at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, but when the Leap Frogs soared through the air and landed on the field beside them they were speechless. And the employees at OTC were just as flabbergasted to see the jumpers land in their own back yard after a free fall. "Seeing a group as well-known as the Navy Leap Frogs up close and personal really felt like a special experience here at the OTC, " says Joe Wagstaffe, operations coordinator at the complex.
The U.S Navy Parachute Team also known as the Leap Frogs is a fifteen-man team comprised entirely of U.S. Navy SEAL Special Warfare Combatant-Craft (SWCC) commandos. The Training Center became their training ground for a day when the super jumpers took over the field for a day. The team was formed in 1969 to perform at weekend air shows. A typical Leap Frogs performance consists of fourteenjumpers leaping out of an aircraft at an altitude of 12, 500 feet according to the U.S. Navy . They can reach speeds of 120 mph during their free fall from an airplane and after deploying their chutes, fly their canopies together in dramatic formations.
"As for me, it was exciting to see a different kind of sport training at the complex! They landed on the field right in front of a field hockey practice, " says Kristin Alexy, OTC Operations Director. Both athletes and Training Center employees were amazed at the precision and how it must be just the coolest job to get paid to jump out of an airplane for a few years added Alexy.
