iFLY Gold Coast is proud to be sponsoring, 13-year-old, indoor skydiving athlete, Sarah Yates!
Sarah had her first taste of indoor skydiving at iFLY Downunder (Sydney West) in 2013 which sparked her love of FLYING! When Indoor Skydive Australia Group announced that a facility would be opening in Sarah’s home turf on the Gold Coast, Sarah couldn’t wait to get back in the wind and follow her passion for flying.
All it took was an iFLY Fast Track course before Sarah joined the Junior iFLYER Club, and from there, quickly progress to being coached by iFLY Instructor, Matt Boag.
August 2016 saw Sarah competing in the Australian National Indoor Skydiving Championships at iFLY Downunder (Sydney West), where she came 4th in the Junior Freestyle competition after only six months of training! At the same competition, Sarah teamed up with Amy Watson, 11 year old junior indoor skydiving champion from Sydney, with the pair competing together in Two Way VFS (Vertical Formation Skydiving). The girls had loads of fun flying together and took out the trophy for “People’s Choice Award”.
In December 2016, Sarah went to compete in the Battle of the Blades competition in Seattle USA, where she also placed 4th in the Junior Freestyle. She teamed up with a Seattle local flyer, Huntar McKim, and competed again in the Two Way VFS against adults, again coming in 4th – a fantastic achievement for someone so new to the sport.
Sarah has quite an inspiring story, suffering from a medical condition known as CRMO (Chronic Recurrent Multifocal Osteomyelitis) which involves painful inflammation in the bones and can limit her from certain activities. Indoor skydiving has been a fantastic exercise program and sport for her as it is gentle on her joints. Sarah said she loves flying because it gives her a sense of freedom.
Check out Sarah’s interview from Queensland Weekender’s Liz Cantor, during their visit to iFLY Gold Coast.
Sarah is determined to improve her placings in each competition she enters and dreams of being able to compete in more international competitions in the future.
Along with her love of indoor skydiving, Sarah also loves to sing, act and has appeared in several TV commercials, short films, television series and even music videos!
We look forward to seeing Sarah continually progress with this fantastic sport and will be cheering her along every step of the way.
Check out the Junior iFLYER Programme to see how your kids can get involved in indoor skydiving at iFLY!