An Interview with the Winners of the National Kids Competition

Coralie & Yannick of Team Flashpoint took the National Kids Competition by storm, scoring an impressive 228 points over 6 rounds. Here they give us a sneak peek into their lives in and outside of the tunnel.

1. When did you start flying in the tunnel? How long ago?

• Coralie – exactly 1 year
• Yannick – 1st time was in 2008 (age 7).

1. How old are you now?

• Coralie – I just turned 12
• Yannick – 14

1. About how much tunnel time have you accumulated?

• Coralie – At the time of the competition, about 6 hours. By now, I have about 8 1/2.
• Yannick – 33 hours

1. You participate in a kid’s tunnel league, correct? What is that like?

• Coralie – Not yet, we are still waiting for it to start in Montreal.
• Yannick – no, there is not enough kids flying at our tunnel to do a kid’s league unfortunately.

1. Are your parent’s skydivers/flyers? Are they your tunnel coaches?

• Coralie – Both my parents started skydiving/tunneling a year ago.
• Yannick – Yes my father is a skydiver and has been my coach for a long time, and my sister started at the same time as I did and she is currently a member of the Women National Team (Fuzion).

1. What other sports do you participate in?

• Coralie – I just earned my black belt in kickboxing, I am a PADI open water certified SCUBA diver, and with my cheerleading team last April we won Nationals. Now, however, all of my focus and dedication is toward the tunnel.
• Yannick – Soccer, Hockey, skiing, mountain biking, tennis.

1. What is your favorite thing to do in the tunnel?

• Coralie – Both FS and Freefly.
• Yannick -  Anything as long as it’s fun.

1. What other tunnel competitions have you competed in?

• Coralie – None. This was my first, but not my last if everything goes well J
• Yannick –

2013 Canadian indoor skydiving Nationals (4 way FS intermediate – gold)
2014 Canadian indoor skydiving Nationals (4 way FS advanced – gold)
2014 World Challenge (UK) (4 way AA – 4th place)
2015 Canadian indoor skydiving Nationals (4 way FS open –silver 20.1 avg)

1. What was the hardest thing about the National Kids Competition? Not getting to see who you were up against? Or something else?

• Coralie - The fact that it was my first tunnel competition and didn’t know what to look for.
• Yannick – Not being able to see where you are standing…  not knowing if you need to go faster or if you’re doing well with your current pace.

1. What was your favorite thing about the National Kids Competition?

• Coralie – I loved the dives and the competition itself but really enjoyed the coaching Katie Woods gave us to get us there.
• Yannick – Winning 5 hours of tunnel time!   And flying with Coralie was also a lot of fun!

1. How did you prepare for the National Kids Competition?

• Coralie – I had 2 hours of tunnel with no experience in FS so in the month before the competition, I did an hour a week of flying coached by Katie.
• Yannick – We flew together 3 weeks prior to the competition and did about 2 hours together.  We were coached by Katie Woods (awesome coach!)

1. Where do you see yourself going in the future of indoor skydiving? Eventual world champions? Skydiving?

• Coralie – I would like to compete again, be a tunnel coach someday, and eventually compete in skydiving as well.
• Yannick – I want to be the best in FS, I want to continue my Head Down training and want to start skydiving as soon as possible.

1. Finally… if you could fly with anyone in the world, living or not, who would it be and why?

• Coralie – I would like to fly with my brother, mother, and father all together.
• Yannick -  I’m very lucky to have already flown with Evolution members (Katie, Ben, Martin, Vincent, Michel, JC)

 

 

Above: Team Flashpoint, flashing points!

Below: Videos from all 6 rounds can be found on TheIBAChannel on YouTube.