Is being a gymnast or competitive diver help while skydiving

[DiverMike 5]

I was a competitive diver in college. In 1980, I had the same list a Greg Louganis (he just did his dives much better). The hardest thing for me to get used to was continuing to arch when approaching 90 degrees to the planet if I left the plane head down. All my diving training convinced my body to just tuck up and forward somersault to get stable. I did that a couple times during AFF and got chewed out for it.

For the same reason I jump off a perfectly good diving board.

[zoobrothertom 5]

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FWIW I think discussing manoeuvres when you haven't jumped, is like discussing your favourite sexual position with a virgin.

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I once dated a skydiving lady with gymnastic experience. She could reach over her shoulders in freefall and grab her toes. Now let your mind think dirty thoughts....

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I'm back in the USA!!

[Remster 24]

What really makes you a better skydiver is actually jumping. Just saying.

Remster

[rehmwa 2]

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It helps in terms of giving a jumper better body awareness, specifically better awareness of where your feet are.

It helps in terms of general conditioning and flexibility. Flexible people generally do better in AFF.

yes, yes, and yes

gymnasts, dancers, martial artist, divers, etc - have an 'initial' advantage. IMO, they have more experience in being aware of what their body is doing - especially any part lower than their ribcage.

general fitness is also an advantage. In teaching, this has paid off time and time again. In general, the success rate with a good athlete (from a sport that emphasizes body awareness) is amazingly better than your average student - lately, average = couch potato

Of course, if the uber-athlete is a dumbass with a bad attitude, then it really doesn't matter much either.


Of course - if the student is avid in golf, hunting, fishing, driving, motorcycling, or baseball, then that also puts them square in the 'average' bucket . Claims of being an athlete in these cases should be met with a quiet smile and a pat on the head.

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[GLIDEANGLE 1]

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Is it that hard really to balance sitting?

I am NOT a free flyer. However, I do have an opinion related to this. If a jumper is sit-flying on the same load as me, I don't care if they are stable. I care A LOT that they fall straight down. They must not not slide under or over other groups exiting on the same jump run. That can ruin everyone's day in a huge hurry. A collision between a freefalling jumper and a deploying or deployed jumper can be maximally ugly.

Novice sit-flyers often have trouble falling straight down. They can cover a large distance horizontally without realizing it.

So, as with most of your questions.... there is a WHOLE lot more to it!

The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

[OHCHUTE 0]

Lots of good info here. Thanks. Cheryl Starnes shure blew the theory about only one stable position. She is quite adept at dealing with the wind. Thanks for posting the vid. Yes, stability, smoothness are important. The only reason I've asked this is to determine how I might help the learning curve. Which might be a good thing starting out in any sport. I can't imagine, as big as the sky is, that I'd only do belly down flying as when I was a boy, looking down at the water from the board, I knew there was a lot fun between the board and splashdown. Yes, I think the only fear I'd have is collisions. I'll be last out before any practice runs. Thanks for the input.