There’s simply no doubt that one of the most valuable encounters anyone can ever have is with a talented teacher. A good teacher or instructor isn’t simply someone who is able to convey facts and figures, hand out lesson plans or grade exams. It’s someone who has not only the ability to see how to reach their students but finds ways to inspire them, regardless of the subject.
As with learning anything new, being provided the information you’ll need to succeed is incredibly important, and skydiving is no exception. Yet more so than any other sport or activity we can think of, learning to safely jump out of an airplane requires a connection and level of trust with your instructor way beyond simply understanding they know what’s up.
No matter who you are, what your background is or how well you handle stressful situations, learning to skydive can be an intense arena to enter. You’re given what can be a daunting amount of information to not simply take in, but to truly understand. You’re introduced to an environment and equipment that may be completely alien to you, and then you’re given very specific tasks to perform, all while working very consciously at keeping your…stuff together. And it’s right there, at that exact moment that the ‘connection’ with your instructor makes all the difference in the world. There is simply nothing more reassuring in the world than looking into the grinning eyes of your instructor as they help guide you on your way to completing that first jump, or graduating, or learning a new skill or discipline. It’s, dare we say, magical.
The best skydiving instructors started at jump number one. The best skydiving instructors have felt fear. The best skydiving instructors have made mistakes. They’ve learned from both the bad and the good, and many years and many jumps later, have dedicated themselves to passing those lessons on to you. It is without a doubt the greatest classroom in the world!
But (and we’ll totally deny this if you tell anyone…), skydiving isn’t that difficult! It’s just not. Gravity does the majority of the work for you, and the systems used in modern skydiving are so advanced and user friendly that the mechanics of the sport all boil down to a relatively short list of things you need to know and do. The rest is finesse. It’s style. It’s… FUN! But it’s fun that’s sometimes hidden behind a wall built of the unknown, of fear, or of apprehension, and that’s exactly what a good skydiving instructor is there to teach you. How to get over that wall.
And here’s another secret we’re happy to share… we love it! As instructors we absolutely feed off your successes. Watching that lightbulb light up for our students is almost as awesome for us as it is for them, and looking into a student’s eyes the moment they realize they know how to FLY is practically as good as when it happened to us. It’s a huge part of why we do this. That, and if we’re being completely honest, we love teaching people to skydive because at the end of the day, it means more people to have fun in the sky with!
Interested in becoming a licensed skydiver? Come and meet our amazing instructors at CSC FreeFall University!
