There are moments in your life that stay with you. You have the classic moments such as your wedding day or the birth of children, but as a member of the skydive team HayaBusa we experience even more such moments. We can feel the stress building up to the most important event of the year...
Voss - Norway: It is Tuesday August 22nd 07.30 am when we are back ready to compete against our direct competitors after a long time. A whole year of training has preceded, building up to this one moment. The best teams in the world gather, and everyone will start from the same level. 35 seconds to prove yourself and give the best of yourself. As an individual, but also as a team. We are getting ready to make the jump for the first round of the Skydiving World Cup.
the competition stress is visible...
All the preparations we could possibly make for this round have been made. We are waiting with 3 teams for our taxi that will take us to an altitude of 3200 meters. Airspeed, the best team in the USA and reigning world champion, the French team with their young and talented line-up and myself with the legendary longstanding team HayaBusa. I look my competitors in the eye and wish them good luck for the jump. Here and there the competition stress is visible on some faces.
The tension is palpable when boarding the plane, and after take-off it is remarkably quiet. Everyone mentally goes through the sequence we need to perform: 3 G N 19. Visualizing how we're going to jump off and the first few seconds of the free fall. All movements are thought through down to the last detail. I look outside and see the beautiful landscape of Norway pass me by. Rivers, mountains and the most beautiful nature to dream away. Although the competition takes place in one of the most beautiful drop zones in the world, I quickly bring the focus back to myself, and the jump. I'm on the plane with borrowed material, and I've only slept so so. A late briefing and an early start to the competition took me out of my normal rhythm. It is also still very cold at this early hour, and the frigid air is pouring into the back of the plane. As for my equipment, my black trolley unfortunately didn't make it on our 2nd flight to Bergen, and is now lonely awaiting a pick up in Oslo. Sitting inside of it my parachute, helmet and most important piece of equipment, a custom made jump suit.
At 1000m, a third of the height at which we will soon be jumping, I want to use all these things as an excuse or subterfuge to be able to fail later. I feel a lump in my throat from the stress, or is it that strap of the borrowed helmet that is tight? No! We rarely get the chance in life to decide for ourselves how to handle stressful situations. I don't want to use all the distractions that come to mind as an excuse. I make the conscious and clear decision to put aside all things such as cold, fatigue and doubt about the jump suit. I mentally make the switch and put myself on the edge. I let the nerves circulate in my body and enjoy the feeling. A year of training comes together here and now and I have to be 100% there.
Although many things are and feel different in competition compared to training, the most crucial elements remain the same. The door of the plane is just like in training, my teammates with whom I have already trained hundreds of jumps this year, and the free fall. Everything else is distraction and if it doesn't help me to perform better, I don't focus on it. We do our team routine, and 1 minute before exit we tap our helmets together. We're ready and it's time to enjoy the moment and the pressure! The pilot gives us the green light, my teammates line up in the door. When the visor of my helmet closes, everything around me disappears. All that remains is the familiar doorway and the exit grips feel as they should in my hands. There is only the here and now, only this moment. I exhale one last time and then... shake shake - ready - set - ...
We joke that those first rounds on big competitions take a year from your life, but it's moments like this that make you feel most alive!
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