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For team, the sky isn’t always the limit
Submitted art
Photo
Jimmy Drummond
Two members are from the Mahoning Valley.
EAST PALESTINE — Members of the U.S. Parachute Team cite various reasons for taking up the sport that recently carried them to an international competition in Slovakia.
But there seems to be a common denominator that keeps team members grounded in their sport of choice.
“Obviously there’s the thrill and excitement, and — of course — the freedom,” explained James Hayhurst, a writer and former pilot from Pittsburgh. “It’s an amazing sense of freedom. And it’s an amazing and wonderful experience. Once you do it, you want to experience it again and again.”
Hayhurst is one of 10 members of the team that spent numerous hours earlier this month training at Skydive Rick’s in Unity Township for the World Parachute Competition in Lucenec, Slovakia.
The team, made up of five men and five women from all over the country, left for the competition July 26 and is scheduled to return Friday.
The U.S. group is competing against teams from 22 other countries for the world title.
Along with Hayhurst, the team features Drew Riffle of Salem, Jimmy Drummond of Youngstown, Bill Wenger of Colorado Springs, Stu Metcalfe of Atlanta, Cheryl Stearns of Charlotte, Mery Rose of San Francisco, and Elisa Tennyson, Angela Nichols and Karen Morrison, all of Fort Bragg, N.C.
Lindy Leach of Charlotte is team leader, and Rick Kuhns, owner of Skydive Rick’s, is team coach.
Kuhns said the world competition tests the parachuters’ skills in accuracy and style.
“We have a good team here,” he said. “There’s a lot of experience and a lot of skill. There’s also been a lot of work put into each jump, and a lot of consideration.”
Kuhns, serving as the team’s coach for the first time, explained the accuracy discipline calls for the parachuters to place their heels on a 2-cm electronic target, roughly the size of a nickel, from an altitude of 2,800 to 4,000 feet.
With the style discipline, the parachuters must jump from 7,500 feet and complete a series of six turns and loops while maintaining a straight path through the air, requiring them to control the air in the space they’re occupying, all the while descending at more than 200 mph.
“It takes a lot of skill,” Kuhns said, “and a lot of time and practice. That’s why it’s important to be as experienced as possible.”
Team members were chosen through their results at the national competition in Chicago in 2007. Stearns, Hayhurst and Tennyson are multiple overall national champions, and Stearns also has won two overall women’s world championships.
“Many of us get started because this is something we want to try and then you keep at it and become friends with people who compete,” said Drummond, a Youngstown firefighter. “Then the opportunity comes up for you to compete. It’s a community of people who love it, who love doing this. It’s not something that everyone does every day, but it’s something that keeps some of us coming back as often as we can.”
Riffle, who has his own plumbing business, said there’s also an element of always challenging yourself to get better. “You’re always trying to improve, always working at it, trying to perfect your skills,” he said. “Anybody can parachute. But to be able to get to do this, to compete at this level, is a thrill. ... You realize you have to be pretty good to get this far, and that just makes you want to get even better and take it even farther.”