Sales goes Skydiving

[thadthrasher 1,692]

During the offseason, Thadius Sales decided to try a new adventure. Something he has never done before. Now that he’s settling down a bit, and finding himself comfortable in New York, he’s spending less time at home during his off times and more time out and about. This offseason brings about the newest adventure, skydiving.

 

Sales has never really been a big fan of heights. It wasn’t something that he enjoyed, and it really never appealed to him. Many of his friends and teammates would go out rock climbing or bungee jumping, but he never had an interest in joining them. Instead, he would often skip out and sit with everyone’s stuff. It’s not that he didn’t want to have fun, but heights weren’t his thing.

 

His fear of heights actually stemmed from a pretty traumatic even from his childhood. He was outside in the Pennsylvania woods one summer afternoon. He had been hiking around near his parent’s home when he heard a rustling in the bushes. Frightened, he climbed high up into a tree. It was a tall and sturdy hemlock. He climbed up 10 feet, then 20, then 30. As he looked down, he saw the black bear climbing up after him. The young boy knew nothing else but to climb.

 

Eventually, he could go no further and the bear kept coming up. He looked down as the tears dripped from his eyes and splashed upon the bear’s face. For what seemed like hours the bear and young Sales stared at each other, only a few feet away from one another. Sales just had to stay still and hope the bear would go away. Well, whether or not it was boredom that caused it, the bear seemed to lose interest and climb back down. Even after the bear descended, had all four paws on the ground, and had walked away, Sales was still petrified, not ready to get down.

 

After a few hours he tried to climb down, but then slipped and fell the 40 feet to the ground. What saved him from certain death was hitting every branch possible on the way down. It wasn’t a pleasant fall, but it wasn’t deadly.

Fast forward quite a few years and Sales still struggles with heights. But, this offseason would change that. He went out to Northern New York, near the Adirondacks, and contacted a local skydiving business. The cost wasn’t too bad, and the timing was just right. Sales went over to the facility, went through the safety training, geared up, and found himself high up into the sky inside the plane.

 

The whole flight he thought “why would anyone jump out of a perfectly good plane?” Despite this idea, he jumped with the guide. Strapped to the chest of the professional, Sales didn’t need to do anything but keep his eyes open and take it all in. And, that’s what he did. He fell the thousands of feet, attached to the guide and parachute, and had a pretty soft landing. Standing up, he looked up into the sky feeling as though he had conquered his greatest foe.

 

He then tweeted this statement immediately afterward.

 

“I’m ready to kill it in S79.”
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534 words, claiming week ending 4 July 2021

[N0HBDY 1,112]

What an epic story

[JB123 728]

Review: Good read. It’s cool how this was more creative than the typical article about the league. It’s interesting to read about what VHL players do in the offseason. Very descriptive article, lots of effort put in. 10/10