Seeing Double: The Amazing Baez Brothers

On any given Saturday at Skydive Tecumseh, you might find yourself seeing double! There’s no need to check your vision, it’s just two members of our beloved staff, Dominique and Josue, the Baez brothers. The nearly identical twins joined the Skydive Tecumseh team about 4 years ago, and since then, they have enriched the dropzone with their bright and engaging energy.

So, how did this dynamic duo get their skydiving start? It all begins at a dropzone roughly two hours outside of Mexico City: Skydive Mexico. 

Born in California, the Baez brothers spent the majority of their childhood and teenage years in Mexico. At 17, Dominique began working at the dropzone as a packer, and it wasn’t long after that his brother Josue followed suit. The energy of the instructors around them was contagious–they just had to be a part of the action. At 18, Dominique’s life made a complete 180. Originally, he was going to head to engineering school, but then, he made his first tandem skydive. Six months later, his brother Josue followed suit and made his first jump as well.

Josue shares: “I saw how happy my brother was and how much fun he was having. I wanted that too.”  Josue elaborates “ At the beginning, I was really nervous because it was something new, and I didn’t even know skydiving existed before I started packing! But from the first day I started packing, I knew I wanted to be like the instructors.”

Learning to skydive isn’t exactly cheap, but the brothers had the perfect system worked out: they would use the money they made packing parachutes to fund their jumps. 

After three years packing parachutes and accruing jumps, Dominique and Josue became videographers. Though their jump numbers were on the lower end to become videographers, they were dedicated to working hard, pushing themselves, and building their skills. The brothers worked tirelessly to improve their skydiving skills. All with one goal in mind: to become tandem instructors. 

Dominique shares “I did five tandems before my AFF. I don’t know why, but when I did my first jump, I really enjoyed that feeling and wanted to share it with others.” 

Josue explains “We were surrounded by instructors and videographers who were our friends, and I looked at them and saw they don’t really “work,” they were having fun, and they were changing lives. I saw that you make a big difference in the lives of the students that you take.”

So, with 700 jumps under their belt, the Baez brothers began their tandem skydiving instructor journey. That was five years ago.

Dominique derives a special type of fulfillment from being a tandem instructor. He explains:

“I really enjoy taking people in the sky for the first time. When I did my first paid tandem, I was just impressed with how you see all their feelings: their fear, their adrenaline, their excitement. I remember a lady I took on my 200th tandem. She gave me a special coin and told me that I was her angel. I really enjoy how people react on their first jump, and it’s amazing to see how they become skydivers! It’s priceless. ”

Once the journey began, the jumps added up quickly, and the brothers estimate that they averaged 1,200 jumps each a year. Incredibly, they shared that from the years 2017-2019, the boys each made a whopping 2,000 jumps a year!

For those that wonder how they were able to accrue so many skydives in such a short time, Josue explains, “We pushed ourselves to start working quickly. People question how we have so many jumps in the amount of time we’ve been jumping. We just worked hard to improve ourselves every day.  But, you have to love it, you have to love what you do, and you have to set goals. We set our goals, and we built our careers really fast.”

(As a quick aside regarding accomplishing goals outside of skydiving, we think it pertinent to mention Josue successfully earned an industrial engineering degree from Instituto Politécnico Nacional. Although, with a laugh, he tells us he much prefers his skydiving career!)

After a few years working in Mexico building their careers, the Baez brothers now call Skydive Tecumseh their home drop zone and have each amassed between 8,000-8,500 skydives each!

Much like his introduction to skydiving, Josue has Dominique to thank for joining the Skydive Tecumseh team. About four years ago, Dominique came across a skydiving jobs page with a wanted ad from Skydive Tecumseh. Looking to get out of his comfort zone, Dominique left Mexico and made his way stateside. The next year Josue joined him.

So, how do the boys like it at Skydive Tecumseh? 

Josue answers “I love the people and the energy. We also really like the community here. We are here to learn, and every day is a learning opportunity. ”

And, Dominique echoes his brother’s sentiment: “Here at Tecumseh, they give us staff jumps. We really appreciate that because it keeps us learning and allows us to improve ourselves every day. The fun jumps let us develop ourselves in the disciplines we want.”

What does the future hold for these two brothers?

Already equipped with his Federal Aviation Administration certified parachute rigger’s ticket, Dominique Baez is also working toward attaining his pilot’s license and hopes to be flying jumpers in a few years! His brother, Josue Baez, has aspirations of forming a VFS team and competing. 

No matter where their paths lead, one thing is for sure: with their drive and dedication, we know these two are destined for success!

Will you have a chance to jump with the Baez brothers!? Schedule your skydive with Skydive Tecumseh today!