Tamara Koyn

Tamara is a world class freestylist achieving terrific results despite her limited budget for training.

A dancer with an Arts degree,  her choreography is very fluid, gymnastic  and beautiful.

How old are you Tamara and do you have any family?
I am 29 and single.

What do you do for a living?
At the moment, I am instructing freestyle and documenting Movement Science information I have learned while studying for my BA in Teaching Methods for Dance. This takes the form of actual freestyle courses, videos, books, magazine articles, etc. applying Movement Science to learning freestyle skydiving.

How long have you been in the sport and what are your qualifications?
I have been jumping since 1983 and freestyling since 1985, so this July was my 10th anniversary in freestyle. In December 1993 I started also to learn vRW (Vertical RW - which can also fall under the names of chute assis, sit flying). I graduated from Webster University in 1991 with a BA in Teaching Methods for Dance and a BA in Media Communications: Video/Film Production.

How many jumps do you have and what kit do you use
About 1900 jumps, mostly freestyle. In RW, I have maybe 50-75 jumps. However, I have discovered a new discipline - vertical RW. Philippe Vallaud explained to me some very basic techniques back in December of 1993. Since then, I've acquired around 150 vRW jumps and have begun to write about it.

For my kit, I use a Vector II and will soon be using a Vector III because that rig is very well designed for freestyle skydivers. Both of my canopies are made by Precision Aerodynamics. I jump a Monarch 120, and a Micro Raven Reserve. I also have a Cypres system and a Dytter. I find it a very good idea to use a Dytter, especially when I change the nature of my dive in freefall, compared to my original plan.

What is your competition experience?
I joined my teammate and camera flyer, Jamie Paul, at the 1991 World Freestyle Competition held in Vero Beach Florida. Our first jump together as a 'Skyblazin' team was our competition dive in Vero Beach. It was amazing that we placed only one point behind the lead, and took the silver with our first jump together. Since then, we've jumped as a team in the '92, '93, and '94 World Skyblazin Competition, taking the gold in '92, and a silver in '93 and a bronze medal in '94. Preparing for competition is a real science of planning and dive engineering. Every team has certain skills, financial conditions, work schedule, and climate within which they must work. Whilst only being financially able to make about 200 solo training jumps and 20-35 jumps with Jamie Paul each year, I have thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of keeping up with top competitors who make over 600 training jumps with video each year.

What is your favourite DZ?
Every DZ is a new experience with different people to meet - I enjoy them all for different and special reasons. However, there are two DZs that I found to be among the most beautiful. In Croatia, I enjoyed the brilliant turquoise sea as we jumped over the coastline, performing freestyle for an Italian film. In Australia, at Newcastle Sport Parachute Centre which is situated in the hills, it was a treat to watch the relief of the landscape develop from the flat aerial view of the DZ to a 3D image while descending under canopy. Then, again, my home DZ, West Tennessee Skydiving, is a high performance DZ. There, Mullin's King Air climbs to 14,000ft in 7 minutes and you pay $99 for all your jumps over a weekend. On a good weekend, I'll make 20 jumps and learn a great deal.

Do you have an ambition?
My ambition has two parts. Firstly, I want to share with others any information that may help our sport to grow. Secondly, I aim to develop my flying skills using all three dimensions.

When not skydiving what do you do?
I enjoy dancing. I also, of all things a skydiver can do, enjoy collecting postage stamps and coins from around the world! Another area of great fascination for me and possibly a future career is the area of desktop publishing, video and multimedia production.

If there is one person in the sport who has influenced you, who would it be?
I look for influence everywhere, whether from a science museum, a friend, or dance. The history of dance encourages me to continue through disheartening times. A friend pointed out to me that sometimes as a pioneer, one can end up falling off the leading edge, which can be the case when new ideas are initially refused. I've heard stories about how the first relative workers would be kicked off DZs because people thought it was dangerous. The rebellious RWers made it through this period in determination to continue and today, RW is the most popular element of our sport. Freestyle may well prove to follow the same pattern.

Who do you admire?
I have always had respect for the best divers in their respective disciplines and the various pioneers in our sport. However, I have only recently adopted idols. They include Philippe Vallaud and Olav Zipser. I endeavour to one day fly vRW with the skill that they do and I challenge myself to do so!

Where do you see the sport going, what would you like to see?
There will always be amazing things and surprises coming into our sport and I hold my arms wide open in glee to see them happen. I would like to see changes being more welcomed by others in the future. For example, we are now faced with the controversial issue of the hook turn. I've seen wonderful documentation on how to safely learn hook turns and to judge when not to do a hook turn. Unfortunately, at the moment, the documentation is almost unheard-of and there is the group of people who simply say "ban hook turns". People will still do them anyway. In fact, this is the most dangerous way to promote hook turns! I believe that people should welcome the hook turn's existence as a new aspect of our sport and assist in making instructional documents available for experienced jumpers to safely learn and perform hook turns.

What about your personal future?
I would like to take on new directions as well. I would like to learn what I call rhythmic freestyle to make interesting and creative moves and routines while using a hoop, or using streamers. In 1991, I became the first competitor to use props in competition when I made freestyle rotating around and through pink wind streamers held in my hands. I also would like to continue with vRW and then perform 2-way freestyle.

What advice do you have for up and coming skydivers?
To enjoy skydiving and to always keep with you the initial joy of freefall that you experienced in the beginning. Be free but be sure to stay as safe as possible too.