Mike Roman - Virginia Tech

Age: 21

# of Jumps: 142+

Gear: Javelin , Sabre 190

Favorite Discipline: RW, especially 4-way

College: Virginia Tech - 2009

Major: Civil Engineering, water resources engineering

Favorite Jump Plane: Otter, fast with a big door

What was your most memborable jump thus far?

Helicopter jump at Zhills for my 100th, 6pt 8-way with free fly exit organized by a world team member where I was the only one under 40 years old and with less 1000 jumps- I had never been so nervous in my life but it ended up great!

What first brought you to the sport of skydiving?

A friend saw a club poster on campus and dragged me to go to an interest meeting with him. He did not end up signing up for a jump but I did and I made a tandem, loved it and the rest is history. I am still trying to get him to come out and make a tandem, 3 years later.

Do you have goals for achieving ratings (Coach, AFF, Tandem, Rigger, etc.) and if so, which ones?

I would like to get my coach's rating when I have about 200 jumps, so hopefully sometime this year. The other ones will likely come after college when I can get more jumps in. I want to do it all eventually.

If you had to choose between travelling the world for one year but not being able to skydive, or travelling around the U.S. and skydiving at every drop zone, which one would you choose?

Travel the US and go to every DZ, hands down!

If you could give a shout out to another collegiate skydiver, who would it be and why?

Jonathan "Wooly" Charleton because his friendliness and encouragement convinced me not to give up on the sport when I had to take a 5 month break between tandem and AFF training due to being a broke college kid.