Stamford Teen Will Represent U.S. In Indoor Skydiving World Cup

STAMFORD, CT — When Stamford resident Jill Knutson, 16, lived in Illinois about five years ago, she went to IFly, an indoor skydiving facility, for a day of family fun.

She was immediately hooked.

"It was so cool. It felt like I was dreaming. It felt like I was in the sky actually flying. If I closed my eyes, I felt like I was a bird just soaring through the air. It was really, really cool," Knutson recalled. "I remember it being like nothing else I had ever felt in my entire life."

Knutson kept going back, and eventually met professional skydiving coach Mike Wittenburg and his two children, who were training for indoor skydiving competitions.

"I didn't know there was a sports side to flying. I became really interested in it," Knutson said.

Wittenburg became her coach, and helped her train for competitions around the United States.

Fast forward to 2022, and Knutson is part of the Dynamic four-way all-girl Team Volare, which competed in the national championships in El Paso, Texas, on Nov. 13, 2021, and brought home the silver medal.

Knutson also received a bronze medal in the Dynamic two-way competition on Team Rosewater at the national tournament.

Knutson is now part of the first all-girls team to represent the U.S. in the World Cup of Indoor Skydiving in Belgium in April.

About 50 countries will be represented in total.

Team Volare consists of Knutson; Bella Capra, of Oregon; Gianna Keuer, who is from Illinois; and Kianna Adamson, of Colorado.

"I am ecstatic. This is a dream come true for me. When I started flying, I thought I'd never get to this point. I know that through my hard work and all of my perseverance and working with my team and my coaches, it's definitely very rewarding and very satisfying," Knutson said. "I can't wait to represent the USA and young women."

During indoor skydiving competitions, flyers go into state-of-the-art wind tunnels where wind speeds can reach up to 130 mph. There are different disciplines within the sport, such as Dynamic and Freestyle.

In Dynamic, teammates reach speeds near 30 mph, and have to complete a series of controlled movements through the air in sync with each other.

"It's a little like follow the leader, but there's certain positions that each team member has to fill," Knutson explained. "The goal is to complete this series of movements or lines in the shortest amount of time possible without making a mistake."

Judges focus on different areas and then come together to determine the final time and performance.

For Knutson, the hardest part about competitive indoor skydiving is the body control that's needed to perform at a high level.

"The hardest thing is probably learning how to fly with others in a controlled environment. In four-way, we have to learn how to be one and be together. You really have to know your place and respect others in the tunnel," she said.

To that end, Knutson takes part in training camps about once per month that last roughly a week. During the rest of the month, she focuses on supplementary exercises, stretching and strategizing with her teammates on how to attack the tunnel.

Since Knutson's teammates and coaches are scattered around the country, she's often traveling to different IFly facilities that are in convenient locations.

Knutson has been enrolled in Laurel Springs School since 7th grade. Laurel Springs is an accredited leader in online K–12 and postgraduate education. The school allows her to train and compete in competitions, while she gets a tailored, full educational experience. She currently has a 4.0 GPA, and is in the school's gifted and talented program, Laurel Springs Academy.

"They've definitely helped so much with my flying journey. They've helped me succeed in that and also to succeed in receiving the education I want," Knutson said. "At a certain point in my flying journey, I realized that I wasn't able to adequately balance my education and my flying, and I wasn't able to put in the work I wanted in both. That's when we started looking for alternative schooling plans."

Knutson's mother, Giselle, said Laurel Springs gives Jill flexibility, but also challenges her academically.

Giselle added that her family is "very, very proud" that Jill has found something she's passionate about.

"This is a sport where they make it look easy, but it takes hours and hours of trying to do one move," Giselle said, adding that she surprisingly doesn't get nervous watching Jill in action. "The fact that she's never gotten frustrated has a lot to do with how fast she has advanced. We are amazed that they can go to [the World Cup]."

Knutson is an IFly Ambassador. She hopes to start a nonprofit with her mother to help more kids get involved in the sport of indoor skydiving.

With college on the horizon, Knutson said she wants to keep indoor skydiving as a part of her life. She'd like to pursue coaching, or a higher leadership position in the sport to help people learn more about it and how to fly.

But for now, Knutson is enjoying the journey she's been on with her teammates.

"I've found my place with my team," she said. "With all of that comes a bond that's really quite deep and unbreakable and I really enjoy the fact we have this bond through the sport."