Expert: Tessa Denen - 8/20/2009

Question
Hello! I'm a sophmore varsity cheerleader. This is my first time cheering and I was put on varsity. My coach wants me to be a flyer, and she has put me in halfs and fulls. However, she says I need to work on not toe-ing it, keeping my butt above my ankles when i bounce, and standing up at the right time (because I stand up too early). Do you have any suggestions for me? Also, is there a way to practice at home without actually being in a mount?

Thanks!

Answer
Hi Kristi!

First of all congratulations on making varsity your first year!  You must have a lot of natural talent!  Flying takes a lot of practice so be sure not to get frustrated with yourself.  I'll go through your coaches suggestions and try to give you pointers on how to do these successfully:

Toe-ing it:  VERY IMPORTANT!  What I tell flyers is that you need to squeeze every single muscle in your body from your head to your ankles, but leave your ankles and feet loose so that you bases can adjust your feet as necessary.  This might sound strange and impossible, but I promise you that it is possible and it helps a ton!  Especially if you ever co-ed stunt.  This is a common problem because girls squeeze so hard that their toes automatically point.  Try laying down on your bed with your feet hanging off the edge.  Squeeze everything as if you were in a stunt, except your feet/ankles.  Without letting any muscle loosen, roll your ankles in circles.  Sound dumb?  Probably, but it will help!:)

Butt above ankles, or as I like to say "Shoulders over Knees over Toes":  These three things should be stacked ontop of each other every time you jump/step into a stunt.  This easiest way to practice this is by doing a hang drill with the help of two other people.  Have them stand as if they were going to be basing you, but make sure they  are only as far about as your shoulders are wide.  Put your hands on their shoulders as if loading into your stunt.  Jump up and lock out your arms so that they are straight to your sides and you are hanging.  Once hanging bring your feet up so that the are under your shoulders and under your knees.  Don't bring your knees up like a frog as this is the exact wrong way to load into a stunt.  

Timing:  Honestly, timing just takes practice.  You have to be on the same time as the bases because believe it or not, you are helping to lift.  You should push off with your arms as hard as you can as they are starting to lift you.  It is all one motion.  You need to think to yourself that it is all up to you to get yourself up there, that the bases aren't helping.  That way you will be able to shoot up with your arms to really help the bases.  Just be sure to bend before exploding.  My suggestion would be to count it as follows:
Have the backspot call it:  In 1-2
Bend to jump in on 3-4
Feet in bases hands 5-6
Explode and stand 7-8
Maybe that way you will get used to the timing a little bit.  If you are standing too soon you are making the bases' job much harder so this is very important!


But again, flying just takes practice so give yourself a little time.  After practicing it will finally click, and then it is so much fun!!!:)

Good luck!