By: Nikki Russell
 As the semester ends and we move on into summer, it’s almost unbelievable to think about how much our club has done since this time last year. When we open the gear locker, we no longer see mismatched rigs and jumpsuits that look like they date back to the Civil War. When we climb onto the plane, we look like a real team now. We’ve got eight brand spankin’ new Javelin Odysseys (complete with spacer foam and other luxuries) and, not only do they match, but they all have hot new Flight Concepts canopies in them. We have everything ranging from a Manta 260 to a Sentry 170, and thrown in the mix we also have a Rage 185 so that more experienced jumpers can try out more shaped canopies before making decisions about what to purchase for their own personal gear.
In addition to the beautifully designed blue and gold containers, we now have six blue Bev Suits with gold grippers…I know you never would have guessed this would happen, but you can line us all up in a row now and we actually look like we’re from the same school and on teams together! Whether someone is just starting out in the sport or has 1000 jumps, we have gear they’d be comfortable in and proud to wear. Our gear is only the very beginning of the whirlwind of new things our club has seen this year. As many of our jumpers have been looking to form teams for competition, we held an RW Skills Camp in which world renowned skydivers Kyle Collins and Eric Taylor, who happen to be our alumni, gave lectures and provided one-on-one coaching. Being a low jump number person, the camp did a great job of showing me just how little I know about being a talented skydiver. The camp was great and gave us all insight into how to improve skills, and certainly gave us many things to look forward to. In the spring we were presented with yet another amazing opportunity when our team went down to SkyVenture Orlando for some tunnel time. We contacted another one of our famous GTSPC alumni and ended up with some incredible coaching in the tunnel. PD Factory Team member Ian Bobo spent a great deal of time helping us both inside and outside of the tunnel. He talked to us all in the classroom to give us tips and tricks and then spent time with each of us individually in the tunnel. Then he debriefed each one of us and gave us tips on what to work on and how to achieve our goals. The entire experience was invaluable. Even our members with more jumps felt like they got a ton out of Ian’s coaching in the tunnel. Every minute of time in the tunnel is definitely worth two in the air…and with coaching by Ian Bobo, every minute is worth even more. We had already learned so much over the past year and had experiences and opportunities that our club never had in the past, yet there was still more to come. In April, our club brought Scott Miller to Skydive Atlanta to do a canopy course. Not only did the club bring Scott to our front door, but we paid the cost of the course and the jumps for all six of our members who had that weekend free. The completion of this course marked the ending of a year that had been full of well-rounded and incredibly helpful training. The focus over the past year has been on more than just the four-way team: it has been on a plethora of things that would improve every aspect of the club. From making our equipment safer to drastically improving the knowledge and skills of all of our members, the past year has been the best all round year the Georgia Tech Sport Parachute Club has ever seen.
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