Nichols hopes to soar at championships

A contingent of approximately 60 skydivers will travel to Dubai, United Arab Emirates in Dec. to compete in the World Parachuting Championships. One of the competitors is Rowlett native Angela Nichols, a member of the U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team.

“I started jumping on my 18th birthday when my dad bought me a tandem jump,” Nichols said.

Nichols said she was hooked after her first jump and immediately signed up to get her certification. While stationed at Ft. Hood with the Army she put in a packet to try out for the Golden Knights and she made the team on her first attempt.

“I put my packet in and was sent to Ft. Bragg for six to eight weeks for a tryout. I did a lot of jumps during that time,” Nichols said. “I was lucky enough to make the team my first time. I was very excited. The Golden Knights is such an elite group of people. They are all driven in their fields and committed to parachuting.”

Nichol’s all-female team won the women’s class of the 4-way formation skydiving event at the 2011 U.S. Parachute Association National Skydiving Championships last November which gave them a spot on the U.S. Parachute Team.

“We were able to seal the spot on the team with the victory,” Nichols said.

The U.S. Parachute Team will compete against the best skydivers from around the world in multiple events for the title of world champion.

“We are competing for proud and the honor of winning for the U.S. army,” Nichols said.

In 4-way formation skydiving, the team leaps from an aircraft more than two miles above the ground and then races against the clock to form prescribed geometric formations in freefall while falling at speeds upward of 120 mph before opening their parachutes. The group has 35 seconds to complete their sequence of formations.

“Our videographer records the formations and they are judged on the ground,” Nichols said. “

Nichols said that team chemistry plays an important part in the success the team has enjoyed.

“We are doing something potentially dangerous. You have to have teamwork down to qualify for the top spot,” Nichols said. “You get to where you can read facial expressions and body language because you are around each other so much.”

She said the team tries to jump every day in preparation for the world championships.

“Sometimes weather or Army duties prevent us from jumping but we try and jump an average of eight to 12 times per day,” Nichols said.

Nichols has completed 9,500 skydives and has been jumping since 1994. She is currently stationed in North Carolina where she trains with the Golden Knights. She is a medic and is working toward her Bachelor’s degree in psychology. When not jumping from planes, she enjoys golfing, hiking and visiting her family in Texas.

For information on the U.S Parachute team, visit www.usparachuteteam.org. For information on skydiving and to find a USPA Group Member skydiving center near you, visit www.uspa.org.

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