Author: xReality Group Ltd

School is back in session! And with it, the endless choice of kid excursion possibilities. We’ve got the ‘Top 10 reasons’ why an iFLY Indoor Skydiving school excursion rocks, ticks all those pesky boxes, and (you already know this one) will have them excited all term, and beyond!

1. Caters to every size group
Do you run a small classroom of 15-20 kids, no worries, an iFLY indoor skydiving school excursion has you covered with customized support to match whatever needs you have. On the other hand, we easily cater to larger groups of 260+ students! Our facilities have several rooms that serve as classrooms, while the action takes place in an open space, right next to our wind tunnel.

2. Indoor Skydiving covers all subjects!
The concepts behind indoor skydiving can be used to cover Math, Science, physics, engineering & PDHPE! Thea, iFLY’s lead educator, easily draws on a classes previous experience with core subjects, then adds her own presenting flair with visual props (not to mention live experiments!).

“This experience aligns with the year 7 Australian Curriculum. The student’s experience has been hands-on and the knowledge they have gained will help them complete their Stellar Extension Program. Thanks!!” – Michelle Flynn, Teacher

3. Activities while the kids aren’t flying
Think that your class will be sitting around doing nothing while they wait?! Think again! Our lesson plans are tailored to the number in your class; meaning that kids are always either learning something or being entertained. And if they find a spare moment, we find everyone loves watching their friends fly, and are captivated taking plenty of pictures.

4. ticks all the boxes
All iFLY excursions are all curriculum aligned. You just need to sit back while we provide all the material backing up what you’ve been teaching. We partner with teachers to make sure everything on the day matches what they have been learning in the classroom. We reinforce all the theory with real-life examples!

“I really liked how encouraging and supportive the instructor was and all the staff were really organised and professional.  great experience!” – Julia, Teacher

5. an easy sell to the principle
Our packages are very cost-effective compared to other out-of-school trips. The excursion package that we offer is a mere $39 per student, vs $50 – $85 by other excursion companies. Most of the time these are cut and paste packages – a ‘one size fits all’ mentality.

6. Run, created, and continuously updated by former teachers.
Katelyn based at iFLY Downunder is a former teacher while Thea is a former children’s TV host and educator! Both bring with them years of experience working with children as well as an insiders understanding to what it’s like being a teacher and organizing an excursion.

7. Interactive fun experiments
After arriving at iFLY and marvelling at our wind tunnel, the students head in for a 45-minute interactive lesson covering; gravity, force & drag. We experiment with different sized balls & vortexes to test how they react in the tunnel. We also review footage of real skydiving vs. flying in the facility to show how these principles apply in everyday life, which is a criterion that all teachers need covering.

8. We customize everything to your course
We send teachers the lesson plan early, so they can prepare and incorporate our program into their lessons in the classroom. There is always room to go deeper and get more involved, and we’re here to help with that every step of the way.

9. Used by other educational institutions
Scouts & their troop leaders are filling up our vertical wind tunnels right across Australia – All in the name of science!

Scout troupes are earning their Science Proficiency Badges at iFLY. The course they use was specially adapted to fit into the scout’s badge system! Check out their story here.

On top of this, we are often used by corporate groups for team-building. The Wrigley Company, a Mars Subsidiary, came to iFLY Downunder for a team building day with a twist.

Check out how a multinational company’s exec board used indoor skydiving to improve performance and foster bonding here.

10. It’s indoor skydiving!
Kids love indoor skydiving, and nothing gets them so excited than hearing that their next excursion will be an iFLY Indoor Skydiving! WATCH the video below to see how FUN our wind tunnel is to kids of all ages!

How can a teacher find out more information?

More information can be found on our website here. You can also email us at [email protected] or call iFLY Downunder educational package organiser, Katelyn Sultana, to discuss directly on 0456061671. If you are based in Perth or the Gold Coast call: 1300 366 364 to have an information booklet emailed to you.

Team iFLY Downunder is set to take on the World at the Indoor Skydiving World Championships in Canada this October – and iFLY Indoor Skydiving will be following their journey every step of the way!

Episode .1 follows the lead-up to the 2017 Aussie Indoor Championships at iFLY Downunder (Sydney West) where Tayne Farrant & Dave Hyndman did some amazing flying to defend their national title! Check out our write-up of the Champs here.

Now WATCH the latest vlog from the dynamic duo as it follows the boys ramping up their training for the indoor skydiving world championships in Montreal tomorrow!

Everyone at iFLY wishes the boys’ good luck, follow our Facebook Page for up to date info on how they do!

iFLY is proud to announce our very own, charismatic – but never too serious instructor, Jimmy Cooper, as an iFLY Indoor Skydiving Ambassador!

iFLY picks it’s Ambassadors for their involvement in the skydiving community and their drive for developing and promoting the sport. Jimmy leads in all these areas with tonnes of flying experience and a huge passion for the sport.

Jimmy has been FLYING for over five years – proving himself on the national, and international stage as a formidable competitor. He currently works as a Flight Instructor at iFLY Downunder (Sydney) and is also one of the leading coaches at the facility, training both return-flyers and skydivers through their tunnel flying progression.

The man of many talents also is heavily involved in generating and filming the Social Media videos for iFLY, and has even worked as an outside videographer – you could say the camera loves him!

WATCH some of Jimmy’s videos where he shows his cheeky side – always accompanied by amazing flying!

“For me, tunnel flying has always been a big passion, and I love seeing the progression students can make in such a short period. iFLY is a great tool for me to pass on my knowledge, passion, and experience in the sport to others and help flyers progress in a safe and controlled environment. “ – Jimmy Cooper

All of this started for Jimmy when he took his first tandem-skydive on his 18th birthday. He fell in love and has been working in indoor/outdoor skydiving ever since.

“Skydiving allows me to step outside of my comfort zone, learn new skills and share some of the most amazing experiences with both new and old friends along the way. I have over 3000+ skydives and have flown 150+ hrs in the tunnel focusing mainly on Dynamic and Freestyle flying.” – Jimmy Cooper

Working at iFLY has meant that Jimmy has been able to develop his indoor skydiving skills that have seen him compete nationally and internationally; indoors and outdoors. He represented Australia in both Canopy Piloting and Freestyle on the world stage, and just last month took 2nd at the 2017 Australian Indoor Skydiving Championships:

Dynamic 4-way: flying in a four-man team, moving in an intricate series of patterns following a leading man.

Open Freestyle: flying solo and performing a self-created routine that looks similar to a dance.

When you ask Jimmy where he sees himself in 10 years – he’ll tell you right where he is right now “teaching people how to ‘shred’ in the tunnel – and never growing up!”

Interested in getting into the growing sport of indoor skydiving? Find out more here.

Or if you’ve already flown with us before, Jimmy does coaching at iFLY Downunder, Penrith. Email [email protected] or CALL 1300 366 364 to find out more.

The 3rd annual Australian Indoor Skydive Championships was held on the 18/19 August at iFLY Downunder; Sydney. With competition fiercely fought over 2 days, it was non-stop action incl. 172 competitors running in 86 different teams over 13 categories!

Competitors came from all corners of Australia, as well as 15 from New Zealand and 8 Singaporean athletes showcasing their talents and raking in some well-deserved medals.

Kyra Poh, a stellar flyer from Singapore, proving why she is one of the worlds best flyers; entered 4 categories and took out 4 Gold medals!

This year we also introduced the new FAI dive pool for Open VFS and extended the competition to 10 rounds for both Open VFS and Open FS (AAA).

FS being the largest discipline represented overall was split into 4 categories, Rookie, A, AA and Open (AAA). The Open division was one of the tightest fought battles we’ve seen, with team “ITCHY SCRATCHY” edging out “MAHONEY MAHONEY MAHONEY” by just 1 point after 10 rounds!

The other categories of FS were also hard fought with lots of highs (and lows) for each of the teams competing. Excluding the less PC team names we may have seen, the best name would have to be Silver Medallist team (Rookie Category) “4 WINDOW LICKERS IN A BLENDER”… also seemed appropriate, complete with team t-shirts made just for the occasion… Nice one!

Open VFS was taken out for the third year in a row by Australia’s premier team “FOCUS”, who also set an indoor competition record of 38 points in round 3. The two remaining team FOCUS flyers also managed to pull together a second scratch team just before rego closed, and scored a respectable 9.6pt average with no training at all.

2-way VFS featured 20 teams across intermediate and open categories and everyone charged hard with the Perth (Brazilian) connection medalling in both categories. It will be great to see these flyers develop even further towards 4-way VFS for next years Champs.

Dynamic flying was just awe inspiring, to watch the precision and speed at which this discipline runs. It was a solid competition with multiple teams in both 2-way and 4-way, with the Singaporean girls of team ‘Firefly’ taking Gold and showing total professionalism for their age. They joined forces with our own team ‘iFLY Downunder’ to take the 4-way Gold. Every team in these disciplines were exceptional to watch, including the iFLY CEO Wayne Jones himself, showing us how the “OLD DOGS” run.

Freestyle was great to see some more of the lower speed flowing style of all round flying mixed in with spectacular tricks and individual expression, as well as our beloved Johnny Townsager competing again in his favourite discipline for the first time since an accident that kept him out of the wind for a long time. So happy to have you back Johnny!

But the one that never fails to put smiles on the entire crowd was, of course, the kids. Growing in numbers again from last year, due primarily to the graduates of our Junior iFLYER kids club, we had a total of 17 kids over 2 Freestyle categories. Not a single person in the crowd, including the judges, were immune to the cuteness of some of the smallest and youngest flyers we have. Seeing their faces when they nail that double barrel roll that they had been training so hard to achieve.

Their own iFLY Coaches found it very difficult to hide their smiles seeing their young proteges take everything they had learnt into practice and make them proud. Awesome work guys!

RED BULL was a major supporter of the event this year, again providing the DJ and free cans of Red Bull over both days, as well as one of the major prizes that money can’t buy – a flight in the Red Bull Air Race stunt plane!!!

Aussie Red Bull Pro-Skater, Mikey Mendosa, also came through on Saturday to watch the action and being a tunnel flyer himself, looks forward to getting into a team and competing next year.

Saturday progressed into the afternoon when 1000 KRISPY CRÈME DOUGHNUTS arrived to keep the energy levels high for the tail end of the comp, and people were kept suitably limber with regular trips to the SPINAL & SPORTS CARE massage team on site providing a choice of pleasure or pain for a gold coin donation.

As the final rounds of comp were winding up on Saturday, the place became a sea of pizza before the presentations and awards ceremonies and last live broadcast. Then the doors were locked for the private huck-jam and party.

From all the comments and feedback that we have received is summed up in these words: Well done iFLY, well done!

Check out some of the photos we uploaded onto Facebook right on the night of the Champs here.

Download all the results here.

And stay tuned for the FULL video of all the action (COMING SOON) – Here is the teaser to keep satisfied for now!

ISA Group is pleased to announce that our iFLY Perth facility has won the MASTER BUILDERS-BANKWEST EXCELLENCE IN CONSTRUCTION AWARDS, Best Public Use Building (Under $20million)!

This award is particularly important to us as the definition of good public space encapsulates everything that we represent as an organisation.

Including; building a community, providing a supportive space for events, and in general, to inspire and attract indoor skydiving enthusiasts to come together. All of which we have accomplished with a range of successful events held at the facility!

Our Family Open Day, held in December 2016, drew in over 400 parents, kids and grown-ups! While our recent ‘Superhero Training Days’, held during the July 2017 holiday, inspired kids to FLY like their favourite superheroes. Check out the photos here from the event.

Additionally, all our iFLY facilities (incl. iFLY Perth) are designed to be accessible by wheelchair, as well as our restrooms and entrances. FSG Australia, who offers an innovative range of disability, mental health and aged care services came and declared iFLY to be ‘accessibly ready’! Check out the stories of those who FLY without limitation here.

Congratulations to our builder Metrowest Constructions for their work and winning this award!

Check out all the 2017 awards and their winners here.