Expert: Kimmi - 10/28/2008

Question
Dear Kimmi,
  Thank you so much for listening to my question. I am in a cheerleading squad that needs a lot of help. I was wondering where you could hire a cheerleading coach that does not cost to much and how much the fee would be to help with splits stunts and ect. I live on Cape Cod and go to a catholic school grades 5-8. At our school everyone is excepted in the squad. All of our cheerleaders get along quite well and are very sweet and nice. If you know anyone in the area who would be willing to do such a thing that would be great! I am an 7th grader and I have a great chance of being cheerleading captain. I want to show that I will work hard as captain by learning some new things. The tryouts are nextweek if not earlier and the captains basically run the program. I want to learn to do a split and I need to quick. I was wondering if you knew any excersizes that would effectively stretch your hamstrings fast so you could do at least close to a full split. As I said befpre are team isn't the best and I also wanted ot know if your knew any easy cheerleading stunts that are easy but look cool for example this:
http://aescougarcheer.com/images/favorites/HitchPyramid.jpg
Thank you so much please get back to me as soon as you can, thanks again!
Sincerely,
Sabina

Answer
Hi Sabina,

   I am glad to hear that you are trying so hard to help your program succeed. Unfortunately, I am in Illinois and I do not know of any coaches in your area who are for hire. I also do not know how much anyone who charge.
   As to your question about the splits - there is no way to rush it. The only safe way to get the splits without injuring yourself is to stretch all the time, whenever possible.
   Easy stunts to look up would be
         Stars
         Angels
         Thigh Stand
         L Stand
         Straddle Lift
         Shoulder sits
         Preps
  You can search all this for pictures. Also check out the book "The Ultimate Guide to Cheerleading" by Leslie M. Wilson. It's got TONS of results for stunting stuff.
   Also, a quick note about what you said about the captains running the team. I'm not sure if I'm misunderstanding you, but it sounds like you don't have a coach? Even if you have a small squad in a small school you should still have a safety certified coach with you guys at all times. Learning to stunt should be taught by someone with the proper training. So, if you don't have someone like that, mention it to your parents, teacher, or principal that you need someone trained in safety to run your program. Good luck to you. Let me know how it goes.
Happy Cheering,
Kimmi