Expert: James - 10/26/2008

Question
I am 5' 6" and 123 lbs,I swim and cheer so most of my weight is in my leg muscles.Iam on an all girls cheer sqad, so I base but I was wondering about college cheerleading partner stunts.If I don't grow any more or gain more weight could I fly in a partner stunt?

Answer
This is a difficult question to answer just because there are so many variables so it will be kind of long. The short answer though is it depends on what college or university you go to. There are squads such as Louisville or Kentucky that just to be blunt no, they wouldnt let someone who was 5'6 and 123 fly, you would be on the all-girls squad. There are other universities where as long as they had some talented guys then yes, that size would be fine.  If you have leg strength that will help you out because your jump will be high and you'd be easy to toss.  My suggestion would be once you decide on a list of colleges/universities you are interested in go to their website and e-mail their cheerleading coaches to see if they have size requirements for flyers. Then you definitely want to stunt. At my university (we don't compete but it is a major division I university that you would know) i have had partners that ranged from 92lbs to 135lbs so as long as you aren't talking about one of the top 10 programs in the nation where all the flyers are 4'11 and 90lbs then you should have no trouble getting a fair chance at tryouts.