Collegiate Nationals

[dmathews1960 5]

Collegiate Nationals Edit | Delete | Quote | Reply |
Without exception, every collegiate sport is comprised of competitors
that have spent much of their youth in the sport. As I read the April
Gearing Up discussion in Parachutist magazine regarding the dwindling participation in the collegiate national skydiving competitions, I was struck by the fact
that this observation was missing. If one wanted to ensure the
demise of any college sport, one would prohibit participation in that
sport before age 18. My oldest son is 17 and has his A license. He
will be the last of group for whom this was a reality. The USPA
Board's regrettable decision to prohibit participation by those under
18 needs to be reversed. If they do not reverse this, at least they
should honestly admit when collegiate nationals finally go away that
it was not just some regrettable external factors such as those listed
in the article, but the logical consequences of their own actions.

David M. Mathews, Ph.D.
C-17804

[jumpsalot-2 2]

If all of the participants started to skydive at 18 years old, and decided to compete, they would all be on equal ground. The question then would be who would go out of their way to be the best competitor. Who's natural talent or hard earned talent would shine thru.

Life is short ... jump often.

[jimmytavino 16]

just because there exists, a College Nationals Championship, that is not an indication that Skydiving is a "college sport"...In the past, there WERE many universities who "sponsored" a college club, or whose Student recreation dept, allowed for such clubs, much like they would allow skiing clubs, and intramural programs... But In Todays, "nervous & jerky " world of paranoia over "potential litigation", they seem to have faded...

I was a happy participant at the national College Parachuting Championships in 1974 at DeLand Florida.

I was 21 and a full time student... The league simply recognizes Jumpers who happen to BE college kids. While the various Military Academies Always boasted the largest, best equipped and best trained teams. Many Colleges are/were represented by Sole jumpers, or a pair of jumpers, who happen to Be students there...

I don't think it was EVER intended to BE a nationwide endorsement for Skydiving teams for all types of general subject universities...
Is your son, who is 17, a college student?? is he Full time?? if yes, then I would think he is qualified to enter the meet. I entered, 40 years ago, with Just an A License... A3914.
today SOME disciplines might require a higher license, might not..
The College Nationals are a good things. If attendance numbers are down... maybe just a bit More in the way of notification ABOUT the annual event, and publicity about the benefits of entering, need to be circulated among those College kids, for whom the meet IS intended..
I know I had a Great time and met Many Fine Folks,( Mike Truffer in particular ) when I had the opportunity to Enter..
And so I would encourage any and all participants....
jmy A 3914 D12122

[LyraM45 0]

I was about to ask the same questions as Jimmy-- is your son in college? If yes, then I agree with him that he should be able to compete with the rest of the collegiates.

I too was a collegiate competitor. I started the skydiving club at my school, which was an enormous task. It took me about 1.5 years of jumping through hoops and red tape to finally allow the school to recognize us as a club. I got to compete in 2006, and like Jimmy, it was really a race to see who could be first behind any of the army or airforce collegians. So, it's tough to get a club going (for lots of reasons, including the insurance hassle and everything else), then it's tough to fund the club. College kids are poor. At today's collegiates, you are not going to even compare to the students from the army and air force academy's who get their gear, jumps, training, and wind tunnel time covered. Sometimes that can be a bummer to some of the other competitors knowing that you are just no match, but I looked at it as going out and having fun anyway.

There are a lot of forces at play for the dwindling numbers at collegiates. Question is, how do you fix that?

Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)

[MakeItHappen 15]

dmathews1960

Collegiate Nationals Edit | Delete | Quote | Reply |
Without exception, every collegiate sport is comprised of competitors
that have spent much of their youth in the sport. As I read the April
Gearing Up discussion in Parachutist magazine regarding the dwindling participation in the collegiate national skydiving competitions, I was struck by the fact
that this observation was missing. If one wanted to ensure the
demise of any college sport, one would prohibit participation in that
sport before age 18. My oldest son is 17 and has his A license. He
will be the last of group for whom this was a reality. The USPA
Board's regrettable decision to prohibit participation by those under
18 needs to be reversed. If they do not reverse this, at least they
should honestly admit when collegiate nationals finally go away that
it was not just some regrettable external factors such as those listed
in the article, but the logical consequences of their own actions.

David M. Mathews, Ph.D.
C-17804

Underage collegiate competitors can ask for a waiver to the age BSR.
To my knowledge, these waivers are always granted by the BOD and the hosting DZ.
What you are complaining about is a non-issue.

.

.
Make It Happen
Parachute History
DiveMaker

[skyjumpenfool 2]

Although the OP's question may well be a "non issue", I think this speaks to a larger issue. What can we do to support the Collegiate Nationals. True, as stated above, Universities are more hesitant to support teams. Thus, we're seeing the nationals turned into a "military" Collegiate (for lack of a better descriptor).

I've traveled to several Collegiates recently to do video. My experience has been absolutely positive. But, lately, it's been mostly Army, Navy, Air force, etc. So, is this something USPA can continue to support?

Regardless of any age restrictions, USPA members need to have this on their radar. Maybe, it just is what it is and we continue to support it. However, It'd be nice to find a way to bring back the Universities at large.

Birdshit & Fools Productions

"Son, only two things fall from the sky."

[PhreeZone 14]

I attended my first Collegiate Nationals in 2002 and even then it was just the Military teams and then everyone else far back in the standings as it had been for years before I attended. The only major exception was the years of Georgia Tech. This was back when Freefly was still new and they had the idea just to let two people that had never met before go out and try to freefly together with 50 jumps each.

I think its pretty much a given that the college teams that get sponsored either directly via their institution or via a wealthy supporter are going to do a lot better than the kids that are still renting gear since they do not have enough money to buy even a basic rig and are hitting their 100th jump at the event. I know that I only bothered to attend a single year despite traveling every winter break in college to jump since I was looking at either putting my limited funds into trying to find a throw together team at the DZ that at best was going to finish 4th or I could spend my money on going to another boogie and the other events started winning out every year. With travel costs to get to FL and to AZ both fairly high on a college budget I know its hard to justify spending hundreds on plane tickets or days driving to get to some of these events. Last group I had talked to that went a few years ago basically went out to AZ it but decided to just attend the DZ's regular boogie instead since they had no chance of competing against others that had dozens of hours of tunnel time together and had been getting coaching from jump 1. They had a great time at the DZ but they would have had the same thing even if the College event was not occurring then.

One thing I had brought up a while ago was to have the event in the middle or the end of the summer instead of on winter break. For a lot of students up north they were heading to the events fairly uncurrent since some had barely jumped since school had started and DZ's shut down for the winter. It avoids the whole having to blow the family off the moment Christmas is over since the event typically starts on the 28th and for people driving from the midwest/northeast to FL or AZ that was meaning they needed to leave on the 26th at the latest to get there in time. Putting it in the Summer also opens up DZ selection to DZ's other than FL/AZ. It would let the event move around and make it more accessible to students whose schools do not provide a transportation budget.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[GAskygirl 31]

I think this is a very good point; I have said the same thing in the past. I attended Collegiates once (1998, I think) and helped start a club at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. We had a GREAT time with that club and introduced a lot of people to the sport, but Collegiates was a tough sell on those dates. I think we only had people go twice in several years.

I understand that the challenge in summer is different schools doing different start/stop times, but the upside is not having the same family obligation that pretty much everyone has at the holidays. And your point about currency over winter is a very good one. Lastly: Weather is likely to be more of an issue over the holidays just about everywhere in the northern hemisphere, so that might be a factor to consider as well.

Blue Skies!
-=Christy=-
D-21464

[Deisel 35]

Good point, but the midshipmen and cadets have summer training requirements that are non negotiable. Take them out of the mix and the event goes away all together. It looks like poor choices all around.

D

The brave may not live forever, but the timid never live at all.