Cheer

Three girls are working together to lift a girl in the air at a football game. Can you think of what I am talking about' If you are thinking stunting, then you are correct. Stunting is defined as building performances in cheerleading. In previous years, stunting has been referred to as building pyramids. Now days, stunts range from two legged stunts to one leg and basket tosses. Stunting is often used to show the talent and ability of the cheerleaders and also to help pump up the crowd. People usually underestimate stunting in cheerleading if they have never tried it before. While I have had stunting experience in cheerleading for 5 years, I know quite well that stunting can be very difficult. Stunting takes a lot of trust from each girl in the stunt. It takes teamwork to build a stunt the right way and make it stick every time. Today, in this speech, I will discuss what hard work is needed from the flyers, bases, and back spots to hit the perfect stunt. Let’s begin by talking about the flyers. Flyers are the girls in the stunt that are either lifted or tossed in the air. Flyers can also be referred to as the top girl. The main job of a flyer is to keep their body tight the entire time. They must have body control. First, in a stunt, a flyer must keep their feet together in the loading position. SLIDE. The loading position is when the flyer either steps or jumps into the bases hands to get ready for the stunt. After the loading position, the flyer then pushes off of the bases shoulders while still keeping their feet as close as they can and squeezing everything to stay tight. Once the flyer is in the air, they must stay tight. Staying tight helps hold their own weight so they aren’t dead weight. Besides body control, flyers should be flexible and have good balance in the air to hold the different positions. It is important for the flyer to be stretched to hold the position in the air for a period of time. The different positions include the lib, heel stretch, and scorpion. Now let’s talk about the bases. The bases are the two side girls in the stunt. There is a main base and a secondary base. The bases job is to lift the flyer into the air. One thing a base needs is strong legs. Being girls, most of the power comes from using your legs. While using their arms too, the strong legs help get the flyer in the air in a fast fluid motion. Both of the bases need good timing together. They need to catch and lift the feet at the same time. Otherwise, the stunt will most likely not hit. The bases must work together on the same counts while building the stunt as well as dismounting, which is when the flyer comes down from a stunt. Next are the back spots. A back spot is the girl in the back of the stunt. Back spots really help the flyers out. The back spot helps the flyer get in the air by starting out with their hands on the flyer’s waist for a two legged stunt and then pushing the seat straight in the air and for a one leg stunt they put hand on the ankle and the other hand on the flyer’s seat. The back spot then pushes straight up as the bases are lifting the feet into the air. Back spots also help the bases out once the flyer is in the air. The back spot then lifts up on the flyer’s ankles to take some of the weight. One important job for the back spot is to call “one, two” for the dismount. Once they call the dismount the back spot then catches under the flyer’s arms while the bases catch the back and legs. As you can see, each girl in a stunt group has their own job they need to do and concentrate on. You have learned what is needed from flyers, bases, and back spots to build a stunt. While trusting each other and having good team work, the group is able to hit the stunt and show their talent to pump up the crowd.