Five years ago, Fatemeh and five other young women who enjoyed paragliding created a group on the social network called the “Society of Iranian Paragliders”. The enthusiasts shared photos and videos, attracting new supporters in the country to this sport.
Since then the group has managed to attract more women interested in pursuing paragliding.
However, for Fatemeh paragliding is more than just a recreational activity. She was brought up in a family with sporting traditions.
Sweet sensation of the first flight
“My parents go for sports during vacations and from the age of four I was introduced to swimming. I always imagined flying in the sky and was even flying in my dreams. I started practicing equestrian sport, because riding gives the feeling of flying. In the pool, too, there is a feeling of weightlessness, which also gives the idea of flying,” Fatemeh told Sputnik.
In 2007, she saw an advertisement for paragliding classes and since then she has spent the last ten years practicing the sport.
“The sensation of the first flight remains in your memory forever, among other flights, it is the most beloved. But gradually the sweet feeling of the first meeting with the sky is replaced by professional skills: a new experience, a meaningful look at the flights as the new beautiful horizons are revealed,” Fatemeh said.
However, despite all the beauty of a flight, she warns that paragliding has a lot of dangerous moments to it.
Dangers of paragliding
The technical imperfections and shortcomings of training make this sport a particularly dangerous one and “only after two years of paragliding, I realized how serious it is,” Fatemeh said.
She explained that before that she was in a state of euphoria from flying and did not notice these dangerous features. “I was lucky, no accidents happened to me. But one day I saw a real accident and realized what kind of sport I was engaged in and what danger might be awaiting me,” Fatemeh said.
Her younger brother broke his leg while landing during one of their flights and that incident prompted Fatemeh to go to Turkey to study a safety course in paragliding.
“Now in Iran the level of training has become more professional, and with every newcomer there are more experienced pilots,” she said.
Society of Iranian paragliders
From the first days of training on various air courses, Fatemeh noted that the number of women were limited. “Of course, there are complexities in this sport, and the material side plays a role. But usually these women were independent, educated and strong-willed. I try as much as possible to fight for their rights. Thus, the Society of Iranian Paragliders was founded,” she said.
Now there are around 100 professional pilots living in different parts of Iran, who didn’t even know about each other before the society was formed.
“I also had times when my male colleagues did not take me seriously. That was until I met trainer Mohammad Semnani, who believed in me and taught me how to distance paraglide,” she said.
Fatemeh explained that they worked on a new system, which Semnani developed himself and last year, together with other trainers, they launched a training program for women for distance paragliding
“I express my gratitude to my coach and all the participants of this project. Women began showing better results, and I am sure that bright futures await them now,” Fatemeh said.
