Ilyan started Gymnastics at the age of 4 at Bondi Waverley Gymnastics, and quickly found a lifelong love. By the age of 9 Ilyan was accepted into the Elite Stream at the State Sports Centre in Homebush, where the kids trained up to 36 hours per week.
She received a 3-month scholarship at the AIS in Canberra and trained with some of the top coaches in the country.
Before transitioning out of Elite Gymnastics by 12 after a lot of disappointments and harsh conditions.
When Ilyan was 6 her aftercare went to Paddington PCYC to train on Trampolines with John Hendry, he spotted Ilyan for her first front and back tucks up on top of the trampoline with her making sure she was safe. Straight away she knew this sport and this coach were something special.
John Hendry also ran Ryde RSL Trampoline so her mother and she began training there whenever possible around her busy Gymnastics Schedule. Ilyan wasn't immediately the most promising trampolinist and stopped for a couple of years while Elite Gym took over her life, at 12 years she resumed trampolining with the Hendry’s at Ryde RSL now under John's Daughter Belinda Hendry, who took her under her wing and helped her overcome her fear of learning new skills. Suddenly it all clicked, with a clear headspace after leaving the pressures of intensive Elite she could suddenly fly, and worked hard to get to State and then National age level competitions in DMT, Trampolining, Synchronised (and in the beginning Tumbling.)
She auditioned for Newtown High School of the Performing arts and got accepted as a Dancer, she also started Sports Acrobatics around this time with Agi Sagjal and Ben Moroney.
Ben got her tumbling on a rodded ski floor for the first time and helped her develop her love of tumbling. Agi showed her how to perform and combine skills with artistry in a women’s Trio at a competitive level.
At Sports-Acro Ilyan was lucky to be Training with her best friends, who are still friends to this day, and quickly progressed to a State and National Level in a Level 6 and Level 7 Women's Trio under Agi and Bens expert guidance, with a Silver and Bronze medal overall finish at Nationals from 2001-2002.
Trampoline was Ilyan's Strongest event, so in order to train with the exceptional National Coach Nikolay Zhuravlev and his wife Nataliya Zhikhareva she had to travel to Gosford Several times a week after school on the train, then back to late evening training at Ryde and again at both on Saturdays. Days in between these gruelling sessions were dedicated to training as a Senior Dance Company member at Newtown High School of the Performing arts then more training and hopefully some homework during commutes. Ilyan was still also training as a Level 8 Gymnast at Fivedock Leisure Centre during Year 7.
School holidays were never holidays, they were national Squad Training Camps or competitions.
From 9-16 years her longest time off would have been a couple of weeks.
Ilyan travelled the circuit with her Ryde Teammates winning many State and National Medals over 3 years in Trampolining and Synchronised and even two Bronze medals in her First international Comp, the Australian International Challenge on the GoldCoast in 2002.
Ilyan was on the State Teams in Trampolining from 2001-2003, a National Squad member and was twice awarded NSW athlete of the Year (2002-2003)
Ilyan finally got to travel and Represent Australia overseas in the Flower Cup in Holland in 2003 and culminated her competitive career with a strong finish at the World Age Games in Hannover in 2003. Getting through the last year was tough, and physically painful due to some long-term injuries and mental health issues. She was struggling with an undiagnosed eating disorder over her last year of training and competition, so she set the goal to finish strong at Worlds and finally quit and attempt to have a normal life.
While this should have been the start of the next phase of her competitive life, Ilyan was completely exhausted and over it. Mentally drained and now suffering greatly from the eating disorder brought on by years of being told her body needed to be this way or that way, weighed as a young gymnast daily and told in every way possible that she was not good enough as a Gymnast or as a person.
Brilliant and caring coaches had helped her gain her confidence from the age of 12, but the damage had already been done, while no one coach is to blame, Gym sports were a very tough and very difficult environment to be raised in.
Coaching Part-time without being a part of a club or competitive environment was very key to Ilyan's recovery and eventual career. Acrobatics became a way to channel all of the best parts of her training experiences, the friendships, the thrill of successfully completing a skill, the feeling of flight when performing an aerial, the hard work, determination and focus required to achieve one's goals. She felt let down by Gymnastics Australia who offered no support when she quit even after reaching out, and wanted no part of club environments, even with the overall positive experiences in Trampolining and Sports Acrobatics.
A part-time job quickly became a full-time career teaching Acrobatics and Dance studios across Sydney.
In 2019 AcroPals was born, Ilyan put her savings into purchasing equipment and starting in a small Yoga Studio in Marrickville run by an ex-student. Acropals quickly grew and currently runs in aftercare at Newtown Public School, at St Peters Anglican Church and Amera's Palace Marrickville.
The focus has always been quality classes over quantity, with consistently full classes and a family-friendly environment with parents watching and even participating in some classes. AcroPals most advanced students are training to be teachers through the Teacher Training Program and AcroPals students are proud to be a part of a family that appreciated them no matter where they are on their Acro Journey.
They know that everybody is an acro body, and everybody has the chance to be an Acropals Acrobat and develop their love of Acrobatics away from the rigours of competitive training and damage it can cause.
AcroPals proudly teaches kids that their accomplishments big and small matter, and that while humility and discipline are required, they can achieve much with little training, have great fun and create lasting friendships along the way.