USIS Q & A With Indoor Skydiving Athlete Reese Willson

Representing the USA, Reese Willson finished 4th in the 2017 FAI World Championship Freestyle Open, missing out on a medal by just half a point. After taking second place at the 2018 US Nationals Freestyle Open, Willson looks to once again compete for a world title. 

Q: What first sparked your interest in indoor skydiving?

Willson: “I had a skydiving friend move back to Utah, and he wanted me to fly in the iFLY Utah tunnel. It actually sounded dumb to me, which is ironic. It sounded like fake skydiving. I eventually went and thought it was the coolest thing ever, and the rest is kind of history.”

Q: You placed 4th in open freestyle at the 2017 FAI World Championship last year. What was it like competing at a World Class event, and coming close to medaling?

Willson: “It’s rewarding just to see other flyers. It’s always good to have that opportunity to see what else is going on in the world of flying. I was a little bummed that I didn’t medal, but there’s always this year, and I’m definitely going to go for it as always.”

Q: How are you preparing yourself for the 2018 FAI World Cup of Indoor Skydiving?

Willson: “Right now I’m doing my regular thing. I’m working at my tunnel in Utah, I’m coaching a lot, and trying to fly as much as I can. I’m also a father now, so I’m doing the dad thing and finding time can be challenging.”

Q: Do you have a personal goal for the 2018 WCIS?

Willson: “I just want to play off what I did at nationals. I went into nationals trying to do a few new things and I didn’t quite get my routine as put together as I would have liked. Hopefully, I can button things down a little bit more for worlds.”

Q: Are you impressed with the youth competitors in the US? 19 junior skydivers participated in the 2017 National championship and several of them placed and held their own against the adults.

Willson: “Yeah absolutely, it’s definitely cool to see them flying at the level their flying at. They get better every year, there’s more of them every year and pretty soon they're going to take over, it’s only a matter of time. I’ve been in contact with a few of them, and because of that I’ve been able to help them on their journey, and hopefully I’ve been able to pass along some of the stuff that I’ve figured out. They figure things out in about a tenth of the time it took me.”

Q: Who’s your favorite competitor to watch aside from yourself and why?

Willson: “That’s a tough one. At Nationals it was fun to watch Austen (Crandall) fly. He’s been pushing it hard and it shows, he’s made big improvements since last year. Blake Cullen was also cool to watch fly; I had never seen him before. A big reason why I go to these events is to see other people fly because I don’t really get to see what’s going on outside of my bubble here in Utah. On the world level its fun to see Leo Volkov (gold medal winner, 2017 FAI WISC Freestyle Open) do his thing, he’s a character.”

Q: Tell us the origins of your signature move the “Ironside”. How did you come up with it and why is it named that?

Willson: “Ray (Kubiak, lead flight instructor at iFLY VA Beach) named it and I dug it. It’s a result of me trying to learn how to side-fly. Once things get easy you have to make them hard again, and once I got good at side-flying I realized one of the ways to make it harder would be to not use my arms. Now I’m known for it because at the first worlds I zipped my arms up in my suit and flew a whole round like that.”

Q: How big is the support you get from your family and friends to go out and compete?

Willson: “It’s awesome, my wife is probably my biggest supporter. She works a full-time job, and she’s still able to help me get out to these events. She helps me book plane tickets and hotels because that’s definitely something I’m not awesome at. I have to give her kudos more than anybody, but my mom and dad have always been supportive as well. I was spending a lot of money flying in the wind tunnel before I became an instructor and I asked my dad if I should put that money somewhere else and he told me no, not if you're having fun, keep doing it. I’ve always received encouragement from everyone around me, including the great staff at our tunnel. They’ve always been supportive and allowed me to take the time off to go and compete.”

Q: What’s your favorite thing about indoor skydiving?

Willson: “The unlimited freedom and space. It’s a totally blank canvas, that’s why freestyle appeals to me because it's not really defined in a lot of ways. There are no obstacles in the wind tunnel other than the door so you can do pretty much whatever you want, wherever you want. You fly to your own ability, and it's pretty cool in that way.”