Jumping out of an airplane is crazy. Jumping out of a plane 15,000 feet in the air is crazier. Training, preparing and competing in sky diving is the craziest. Unless you’re Lisa Delambert.
Delambert is the coach of the Oregon sky diving club. But to have a club, you need to have members — and this team is looking for them. Currently, only one Oregon student is a member of the club. That person is also the coach.
One reason for the low participation is because the club has been around only four years.
Former coach Lewie Pettit, also the founder of the club, understands the difficulty of organizing and overseeing a sky diving club.
“I was stressed every year to keep the club going,” Pettit said. “A lot of people think about jumping or joining the club, but they don’t take that first step.”
That first step is a huge step. But once that step is made, a lot of students get hooked.

“Everyone seeks something different to learn,” Pettit said. “We teach them to fly. We literally fly, that is the goal.”
Learning to fly, however, takes more than just your basic Duck wings.
“The problem with the club is that you need 20 to 30 jumps to qualify to sky dive for Oregon,” Pettit said. “But what comes with those jumps is your own license to sky dive.”
A license and a thrill that can be revisited every weekend, which is what draw most jumpers.
Discounted prices for Oregon students, along with fundraising, help make the sport more financially feasible for interested students. For the club to get off the ground, so to speak, it needs a desire and a commitment from students to learn to jump.
“However much you want to do within the club is entirely up to the student,” said Pettit. “The club is your choice, your time and your commitment.”
Currently Pettit works as a jump instructor for Wright Bros. Skydiving, a Creswell-based company where sky diving is offered to everyone, including students. Along with Eugene Skydivers, another Creswell-based company, Wright Bros. is trying to do everything it can to advance the University club.
“We need to open it up for students to learn to sky dive,” Delambert said. “We need to have people make a decision to see if they want to get involved.”
Once students show interest and learn to jump, a team can be formed and competition can commence.
“We need people to be able to compete,” Delambert said. “Competing may not happen, but it’s always good to have a goal.”
The possibility of becoming a licensed sky diver is one benefit of joining the club.
“Our goal is for every student who comes through the door — whether it’s an Oregon or Oregon State student — to get a license,” Wright Bros. owner Dave Wright said.
While interest is increasing, getting the word out about the club to potential skydivers can be difficult. Delambert has scheduled a tentative meeting for interested students on Oct. 30, with the time to be announced. Anyone interested in learning more can e-mail her at [email protected].
In the meantime, instruction and jumps are being completed every day — the question is whether enough people will make that first step and prove that Ducks really can fly.