AMY WATSON: INDOOR SKYDIVING AUSTRALIAN YOUNG STAR

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Amy Watson: Indoor Skydiving Young Star

It’s not every day that you hear of an 11-year-old skydiver

Credit Daily Telegraph Australia | Photo Lauri Aapro | Wind Tunnel Flyspot | 17 Oct 2016

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Amy Watson celebrated by bronze medalist Aleksandra Soltyk during WCIS 2016 awards ceremony

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Flyspot, Warsaw: World Cup of Indoor Skydiving 2016

It’s not every day that you hear of an 11-year-old skydiver.

Dean Park’s Amy Watson is not only the Australian Champion for Junior FreeStyle in the sport of indoor skydiving, but was also selected to represent Australia in the World Cup of Indoor Skydiving held in Poland.

The young star is flying high. “I feel free in the tunnel,” Amy said. “No one can tell me what to do; I just have fun in there. It kind of blocks my mind out of everything.’’

What started as a fun experience quickly grew to a serious sport once coaches spotted Amy’s talent. After trying out indoor skydiving at iFLY in Penrith, she started taking private lessons. Parents Allan and Muay Watson are Amy’s biggest supporters.

 

Amy Watson with Kyra Poh, FreeStyle Junior World Cup 2016 Winner, before a flying session

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“It is physically demanding — it is a 220km/h wind tunnel. A hurricane is 190km/h,” Mr Watson said.

“Amy is a head down flyer, meaning she can fly on her head. When you learn the sport, you first learn to fly on belly, then back, then head down. For most people it takes eight to 12 hours to learn, but Amy learned it in 5.5 hours.”

Training with Inka

Amy has been training with reigning Open Freestyle world champion Inka Tiitto in Singapore and Sydney this year. Tiitto, 29, of Finland, became the first ever Indoor Skydiving World Champion in freestyle at the first championships in Prague last year.

“Most people train about 10-20 minutes a day,” Mr Watson said. “When Amy trains with Inka, it is for about two hours a day and can do up to 120 sky dives in one day.” But Amy, who has been sporty since she was five years old, doesn’t let anything deter her. Amy felt a little bit nervous about Poland but she felt she could at least pull off top 5. Amy’s desire is to show everybody that little kids can fly. And so it was … Amy placed 4th in the FreeStyle Junior event.

Competitors in FreeStyle are judged in moves, degree of difficulty of the moves, performance and position over seven rounds.

Amy is a Junior Sports Star nominee. The awards are sponsored by Rebel. Nominate a young athlete at juniorsportsstar.com.au

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Amy performing in Round 6 of Indoor Skydiving World Cup 2016

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