Who remembers when...

Who remembers when College Skydiving was just trying to get a start? It was a while ago, way back in 2006! You know, before...well...OK, so we're only 4 years old, so what! It's been a long progressive road to get to this point and we're still moving forward. This has been the first localized place online for college clubs to congregate since the internet started getting regular use, so there has been some trial and error, but many clubs have benefited greatly from being able to share information.

Pretty crazy to mention the "dawn of the internet" as a landmark in the sport of skydiving, but college clubs have been competing since the 1950's. Since then some events have changed, equipment is drastically different, and society's take on the sport has grown increasingly cautious. Funny how procedures, rules, regulations, and equipment have all become incredibly more safe than what our predecessors were brought up on, but we're facing the political issues now. That's what comes along with a society that relies on laws of people not being responsible for themselves, instead you're responsible for everyone around you. Enough politics...what's the point of this article already...

The first website developed from a late night conversation of collegiate skydivers at the 2006 USPA Collegiate Competition. We found that the sport of skydiving was often misinterpreted by our peers and overlooked by most students as a real form of competition. Beyond these observations, we also noticed that the overall attitude of the competition was not only to improve our own team's skills, but to improve every individual skydiver's skills. Competing teams were helping each other!

It was soon discovered that the sport of skydiving, especially at the collegiate level, was bigger than any one team. Teams were not only sharing tips and pointers, they were sharing equipment! If someone forgot their gloves, another pair was offered by their competitor, full-face helmets were offered up for 4-way contestants who couldn't afford them, and colleges fortunate enough to have AFF instructors were assisting others in acheiving their A-license in time to compete (Thank you Virginia Tech and Jamie Sides).

A true and pure moment of competition was discovered in the attitude and actions of collegiate skydivers from around the nation. Give up all your secrets, all your tricks, level the playing field, then compete...then learn from your performance. What better display of pure competition could ever be experienced.

After rises and falls of the number of competitors had been experienced over years past, a discussion was brought to the competitors for an open forum between the competitors and the USPA (who sponsors and runs the competition). The bottom line of frustration was unbalanced funding for clubs, largely between the military teams and the civilian teams. Who can compete with a team that has 3 of their own Otters flying loads daily? The goal of the competitors attending the meeting quickly became focused on acheiving more funding per school attending. This was yet another goal of the website. The overwhelming focus of all competitors present was to increase funding for struggling clubs and not to curb any funding of well-to-do clubs.

It's pretty crazy to talk about how things have changed over the last 4 years, but some clubs involved from that point are now receiving $10,000 more per year from their school and have athletes planning on this years upcoming collegiate competition. There's something to be said for sticking with a goal that is pure at heart, as well as being of true competitive nature. Don't win by means of a strategic secret, win by means of a level playing field. This "rule of thumb" not only progresses the individual athlete, but progresses the sport.

This site is dedicated to a group of individuals that sees the sport as something larger than themselves. Who knows where the sport can go if only others can adopt the same attitude. Others in the past have gained an inch and have called that progress, the goal of this site is to grow by leaps and bounds and not limit progress to being any measure of improvement, no matter how small. We aim to progress significantly in safety, numbers, experience, and innovation. College Skydiving will not become complacent.

On that note, check out some of our screenshots from the very beginning...