Skydiving is easily one of the most feared extreme sports in existence. The practice of skydiving involves jumping from a very high altitude, usually from an airplane, and free falling onto the ground below. At a certain time, a parachute is pulled, so that the falling individual does not impact the ground with a critical force. The fact that parachutes always have a very small chance of not working has made the sport widely feared.

There are many types of skydiving, from competition skydiving, group skydiving, and individual skydiving. First time skydivers will have to take a small class and training session to familiarize themselves with the procedures involved. This almost always includes a test skydive with the instructor attached to the student in some shape or form. After the basics are learned, skydivers are free to skydive by themselves.

Parachutes donÕt always deploy, and other fatal accidents occur. These account for about 30 deaths a year in the United States. This is a very low number, yet it still is enough to scare many people away from the sport. Today, there are common tools and checks in place to make sure nothing goes wrong. Reserve parachutes, and parachutes that automatically deploy at certain levels, give skydivers an extra sense of security.

For skydivers, the thrill comes from the rush of free falling to the ground at high velocities- the record is at around 700 miles per hour. This type of freedom and weightlessness is truly a one in a life time opportunity, as few other sports can deliver the amount of adrenaline that skydiving can. To make things continually interesting, different types of games or objectives can be played- even drinking games have come into play for skydivers. Drinking and skydiving is strongly discouraged, however, as it makes the act much more dangerous.

For the more outgoing skydivers, riskier jumps can be attempted. One of such jumps is the night jump- which lets the skydiver do so at night. Extra equipment and training is needed, but the rush is much different than that of a day jump. Different types of commercials have displayed the ÒstuffÓ jump, in which an item is thrown out of the airplane for the skydiver or skydivers to play with while free falling. This may come in the form of a vehicle, toy, or even a blow-up doll. Whatever the case, the object should be let go of at a certain altitude to prevent injuries or collisions with the skydiver while reaching the ground.

Skydiving will easily give a head rush to even the most seasoned extreme sports junkies. The rush of falling possibly hundreds of miles an hour towards the Earth can be hardly duplicated through other extreme sports. The amount of risk involved only adds to the adrenaline- although the actual risk is fairly low if the proper requirements are met. Newcomers will most likely be scared away from the sport, but the veterans can tell you that if the precautions are observed, skydiving can be a very rewarding experience.