Young Reporter - Sky Diving
Do you ever dream about flying? Hasn’t everyone wondered what it would be like to have wings?
“It’s hard to describe the feeling of flight…”, says Kiana Adamson. Kiana is a 15 year old competitive indoor skydiver from Denver Colorado. She flips and twists in a big glass tube at 150MPH! Kiana and her three teammates; Bella, from Portal Oregon (14) Gigi, from Chicago Illinois (15) and Jill, from New York (16) make up Team Volare. The 4 girls float and flip around each other in intricate patterns and fly as fast as they can in tight formation. Kiana has spent many hours working on technique and getting it perfect, one tweak of the wrist can spin you in circles. There are imaginary lines that the girls have to fly around and over. Crossing through can cause a ‘bust’. Which adds 5 seconds to your time. A simple mistake can be costly in competition. Back in November, Team Volare was placed second at the US Nationals. It was a big accomplishment. The quartet of teenage girls flew in 4-Way dynamic. They had practiced for over a year. Lots of blood sweat and tears, braving the glass burns and bruises. It is all worth it in the end. During the competition, they were in a race for second place.
“I was very nervous, I really wanted to win!” Says Kiana.
Team Volare did it! They had beaten the former National champions, which happened to be 4 grown men! Getting second place earned the team a bid to the World Championships in Belgium.
Team Volare will be traveling to Europe in April for some hard core practice and finally the competition. They will be competing in the junior division for the World Cup. So they have a good chance. There will be over 400 athletes contributing to the Worlds.
“It’s like the Olympics for indoor skydiving!” says Kiana.
Skydiving has been trying to get into the Olympics for a while now but it is just not popular enough yet. Skydivers are trying to grow the sport and will keep trying to get in the Olympics.
The 4 girls making it to Worlds is a big deal. They are the pioneers of the sport. Growing and sharing their story so more people can see how awesome the sport is. Competing in their brand new matching suits and helmets.
“We look so professional!” Says Team Volare.
You can root Team Volare on when the World Cup starts April 5 to the 10. If you’re old enough, you can follow Kiana’s inspiring story on her Instagram @kiki_flygirl11 and @volaregirls_
Thank you to our Young Reporter Kiana Adamson for this fantastic article.
