Inspiration can come from the most unusual and unexpected places.
For Julia Loeb, president of the Falling Gators Skydiving Club, her inspiration to jump out of airplanes came from a favorite childhood cartoon: The Power Rangers.
“In one of the Power Ranger movies the opening scene is them skydiving and ever since then I’ve really wanted to do it,” Loeb said.
About three years ago, Loeb took advantage of the Falling Gators’ Tandem Special, which is offered every semester and gives UF students the opportunity to skydive with an instructor at a discounted price. The special came at the perfect time and Loeb convinced two friends to jump with her in celebration of her nineteenth birthday.
Despite some jittery nerves, Loeb said skydiving for the first time was one of the best experiences she’s ever had.
“Overall, I was just really excited. Of course, right outside of the [plane] door I had that moment of ‘Oh my God I can’t believe I’m doing this,’ but then I enjoyed every second of it,” said Loeb, a senior majoring in psychology with a minor in chemistry.
Although Loeb does not consider herself an adrenaline junkie like many of her skydiving buddies, she knew she could not stay away after her first jump.
“The first thing I said when I reached the ground was, ‘I want to do that again’… and I was hooked,” Loeb said.
While most people have never jumped out of an airplane, since her first dive, Loeb has done a total of 135 jumps. She has also gone through the certification process to do solo jumps and even has a basic skydiving license that allows her to jump with other divers and do formations in the air.
Although Loeb has gone skydiving on so many occasions, she insists it never gets old.
“There are so many different types of skydiving and so many different things that you can do on each dive so you’re never bored,” she said.
Since becoming a member of the Falling Gators, Loeb has jumped with over 20 newly licensed skydivers. For her, diving with the newbies is one of the most rewarding parts of being in the club.
“Seeing people come down from their first jump, seeing the smile on their face and their excitement to continue and just knowing that you helped them get there means everything,” Loeb said.
With the images of happy first-timers in their minds, Loeb and the Falling Gators want to continue encouraging more people to take their first dive.
“We have a very good, successful program here and I know a lot of other schools are in the process of starting their own skydiving clubs,” Loeb said. “We want [the club] to grow and also help other schools.”
According to Loeb, anyone can skydive and enjoy the experience.
“Skydivers don’t fit a typical mold. Our club has everything from finance majors to psychology,” Loeb said. “Anyone can do it. There’s no common thread amongst skydivers minus the fact that we all love to skydive.”
When she’s not skydiving, Loeb is a typical college student enjoying time with her friends and awaiting the end of the semester.
Loeb, however, is still looking forward to her next adventure.
“I really want to scuba but I don’t have the money to have two expensive hobbies so for now I’m sticking to skydiving,” she said jokingly.
Loeb is unsure whether or not she’ll pick up other extreme hobbies, but what she does know is that skydiving will always be a part of her life.
“It’s very addicting,” Loeb said. “It’s hard to stop once you’ve started and I see myself continuing to skydive for a very long time.”