Adrenaline junkie poised to jump

   She doesn't just leap across the soccer field. She leaps out of airplanes, too.

   Val Sobol has a rather daring pastime: skydiving.

   The 19-year-old sophomore business marketing major from Forsyth, Ill. travels to Lake Elsinore, about 40 minutes away from Chapman, on weekends to skydive simply for fun. Soccer takes precedent over skydiving, which is why she has jumped only a few times this semester. During the offseason, however, she goes every weekend.

   Sobol did her first tandem jump when she was 14 and instantly fell in love. She has dived more than 240 times.

   "The coaches think I'm nuts," said Sobol. "I'm obsessed with extreme sports."

   Sobol made a deal with Head Coach Courtney Calderon: if Sobol scores 40 goals in her career, then Calderon will skydive with her.

   "I told her I'd bench her at 39," Calderon said. "I think she's crazy."

   Sobol, a forward and outside midfielder, finished her season with four goals and one assist, including a game winner. She was named to the All-Independents second team with 11 goals and four assists as a freshman.

   "Soccer takes priority during season, and I fit skydiving in on the weekends," Sobol said.

   Her teammates and coach may not understand her passion, but they do know that Sobol loves her diving.  

   "I'm really supportive of their dreams and passions," Calderon said. "If that's what she wants to do, then that's what she wants to do – as long as she doesn't get hurt."

   Sobol usually goes by herself because none of her teammates or friends at school skydive.

   "My friends are just annoyed by it because I never stop talking about it and my family just thinks I'm crazy," Sobol said.

   She became a licensed skydiver and completed her first solo jump last June. To become a licensed skydiver, one must complete six hours of on-ground training and 25 tandem jumps of varying skill levels, as well as be approved by a licensed instructor.

   Jumps start no fewer than 12,500 feet above the ground. The average free fall reaches speeds of 200 feet per second and lasts about a minute. But Sobol doesn't get anxious.   

   "The nervousness fades after the first or second jump," she said.

   Kathleen Doll, sophomore political science and psychology major and Sobol's roommate, thinks skydiving is a fitting hobby for Sobol's personality.

   "She's so full of life," Doll said. "She's super out there and just loves her life."    

   Sobol enters competitions and recently started to wingsuit. Wingsuit flying requires flyers to wear a special jumpsuit called a wingsuit, which gives them significant lift during flight. It allows flyers to perform aerial acrobatics and descend at speeds slower than a typical skydive.

   "It's the atmosphere of skydiving I love, and the people who do it, too. It takes a certain type of person to [jump]," Sobol said.

   Although skydiving is only a recreational pastime for Sobol, she's not against the idea of continuing to dive after she graduates.

   "Right now, it's just a hobby," Sobol said. "We'll see where my future takes me."

   Sobol will return to play soccer next season. The women's soccer season ended Oct 26. with a 3-0 victory over University of La Verne.