Skydiving. It’s something that most people want to tick off their ‘bucket list’, but probably never get round to doing.
What has struck me is how accessible skydiving is at York. Since its creation 15 years ago, the club has risen to new heights, and what they offer sets it aside from other clubs.
Although throwing yourself out of a plane at 10,000 feet may be some people’s idea of hell, for those who live life on the edge it really is rewarding.
The president Krystian Groom agreed to give me some words about the club, and I have to admit that my Jeremy Kyle-watching, chicken kiev eating life now seems distinctly average.
“I’ve been involved with UYSC since my freshers week and I’ve never looked back. The main thing that we seem to do is let students know that it actually is possible to get into this epic sport! A lot of people would think that skydiving’s pretty inaccessible, but through our close links with Skydive Hibaldstow, we introduce people to this community who love jumping out of planes, and will teach you how to too.
“We also make skydiving a lot cheaper that it would be outside of university. So for beginners we provide an access point for skydiving, support you through your time skydiving with us, and make it as cheap as possible. We’re a club that will help any student who’s even vaguely interested in skydiving, from the people looking to do the one-off jump, through to the students with jump numbers getting into the hundreds.
“At the more experienced side of the club spectrum, we have people entering the UK National Skydiving Championships every year, with at least 4 members entering this year. Mostly this will be people entering the four-way formation skydiving competition, and the club will help them out in whatever way we can, including subsidising their practice time in the wind tunnel (which is also great fun by the way).”
“From a personal point of view, and even though it’s a cliché, university would not be the same for me without skydiving, and without UYSC.”
I hope this article has increased not only your awareness of the club, but the activity itself. The rush as you jump out of plane can probably never be put into words and for some it almost seems addictive.
If you were the child who went on the biggest rides at theme parks and ridiculed those who chose to hold the bags, this is something you have to do.