After working constantly at 4-way all his skydiving life (since 1995), Roy Janssen finally achieved his dream of becoming a World Champion with Belgian team Hayabusa. Roy has just made the shock announcement that he’s leaving the team.

The big question Roy, why are you leaving?

Being part of a competitive team for 12 years takes its toll. It’s been such a long journey with Hayabusa, from starting in 2002 being nobody, till 2014 becoming World Champions. The path has been very intense and there was never any space left for anything but 4-way. A lot of sacrifices along the way, and that’s also the only way to become a World Champion of course. It has been brilliant and I’ve learned so much, as a skydiver and as human. Looking back, it was all totally worth it. But right now I just need some space, some time out from 4-way training. Not living with a suitcase all the time, and sharing my life only with the guys ☺. It’s time to recharge my batteries, to refresh. Find pleasure in simple things again and enjoy the things I haven’t been able to do for such a long time. I want to focus on other sports and hobbies that I love, catching up with my social life, which I had to sacrifice a lot to become a World Champion. My mind really needs to get stimulated again with new impulses, find inspiration and motivation, be passionate and hungry again.

How long have you been feeling like this?

I never ever thought about stopping until a few months ago. Every team has their own problems and we are no exception. Put 5 real competitors together for so many months each year, let them share the same apartment, put them always together in the same van, the same plane, the same tunnel, let them share a big part of their social life, put always pressure on them to perform and for sure don’t give them privacy and a lot of time off… Well, that is an ideal cocktail to create problems! ☺ I know this sounds hard core, but it’s reality. In the beginning it is all fun and laughing, but after many years it starts weighing on everyone’s mind. Don’t get me wrong; we also had a lot of fun together!! But the more I thought about it, the more obvious it became that I needed a change for my own health and happiness.

Was it an easy decision?

No. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done! The decision to leave was very hard. And I’m still not 100% happy with it. Even this morning when I was driving to the Army to fill out the paperwork I thought to myself, “What the fuck am I doing?!” I found myself thinking, it’s not too late, I could still change my mind… it was like that, right until the very last minute. But it is a battle between wanting to keep the good parts of being with Hayabusa, and at the same time knowing also very well the sacrifices I have to do, and knowing what you will get in return when you leave the team. Being on top of your game, being a new crowned World Champion, still enjoying the sport and especially competing, makes a call like this very hard. Having a fantastic team like Hayabusa, it’s hard to imagine flying that hard-core and with other people in the future. But in the end I don’t want to stay there and take it just like a ‘job’. It would be very easy just to stay in the team, having won all the competitions you can win, and just see how it goes and get every month a salary from the Army, but I choose differently. When I commit myself to something like this, I only want to do it when I feel 100% motivated and passionate about it. I had to be honest with my teammates, and myself and I knew I needed a break so I decided to stop.

In a way I am proud to take the hard route. It would have been so easy to stay, because I know what I had. The future doesn’t give guarantees and maybe I will regret things later, but I accept the risk and I just move on. It doesn’t make sense to look back, that’s the past; I am looking forward, that’s where it’s at!

So what happens now?

Well I came to an agreement with the Belgian Army that I will take a sabbatical for one year, which I can extend till maximum three years. During this time I am not paid, but I’m still officially in the Army. That means that if I want to go back to the Army within those three years, doing a regular Army job, or even in theory going back to Hayabusa, it is possible. Meanwhile I start working as a full time coach.

It all feels strange. For the last 12 years I’ve been chasing this goal. Every day I’d wake up, and think, ‘I want to be a World Champion’. Now I wake up and think – oh! I’m not quite sure what to do today, what is my objective? In many ways it’s good to be free and to enjoy life, but in some ways I need a new goal. But I’m already looking for new challenges; they are never far away for me! For example, in this moment I am speaking with some friends and brainstorming about a tunnel team, what our possibilities are and who can be involved. Of course coming back with a strong and experienced team is like giving candy to a child! If we can put together a really good tunnel team then I can still do what I love so much. As you already can understand, flying and competing is just who I am ☺.

Also I am looking forward to the challenge of being the best coach I can be. I love sharing my knowledge and passion for our sport, teaching individuals and teams to make them better. Besides coaching, I really enjoy writing articles to the best of my ability. Helping other people with questions, sharing my experience is a pleasure, and it feels rewarding. The mental aspects are the most interesting side. Everyone can give some technical information, but getting the best out of people, or finding a way to resolve conflict, that is the real challenge.

What’s happening with the rest of the team?

Dave, Andy and Dennis are all continuing, together with Danny, still flying camera. They are bringing Bob back into the team. Bob was the alternate for Hayabusa for many years. He’s gonna have to work very hard to catch up with the World Champs and even try to push the guys to new limits. He has a big challenge ahead of him and I wish all of them the best of luck.

How do you feel?

I feel sad and excited at the same time. At this moment I am mainly seeing the things that I will be losing, but I’m also very aware of the freedom that I now have and the new challenges that lie ahead of me. The last 12 years has been so much energy focused into Hayabusa, it’s like nurturing a baby; it’s very hard to give it to someone else. I can’t imagine not holding the baby any more but I must let it go. It’s like closing doors behind you, but at the same time new ones will open.

So now you have time for fun jumps & events

Time yes, but jumping without a goal means nothing to me. I’m not that interested in formation skydiving myself right now. I’ve been doing it for so long, and only being focused on that specific goal, it’s good to do something different. However, I am open-minded and if there are good opportunities for building a new team, I am always interested to listen. Right now I’m more excited to do new things like freeflying, I really enjoyed flying dynamic. I also love to be in the mountains – I haven’t been climbing for so long so I am excited to pick that sport up again.

What will you do now?

I’ll find challenges in new projects, new stuff to train for. Riding enduro really excites me; I love it. Maybe I can see myself competing in that discipline. Though don’t get me wrong, for sure I am not going to be a World Champion in any other sport now. But there will be challenges I can achieve; racing, and improving, and winning. Competing is something that’s in my blood. I can’t do without it. To always push myself is in my nature.

I am interested to be a motivational speaker in future. This would be a very big personal challenge; it would be difficult but it’s something I’d like to try. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about my whole experience, going from zero all the way to World Champion, working as a small team to achieve our goal. This is very valuable information in every walk of life. But this is a long term plan… More then ever, I realize that having fun and enjoying the things you’re doing is more important than anything else!

First interview, 30 August 2014

You can contact Roy Janssen by email on Roy.fscoaching-at-gmail.com, or check his FS Coaching Facebook page