Advanced Cheerleading Stunts

From LoveToKnow Cheerleading

As cheerleading becomess more competitive, competition circuits are seeing more advanced cheerleading stunts.

Toe pitch

Before You Start Advanced Cheerleading Stunts. . .

Before your squad tries any advanced stunts, there are a few important points to note:

  1. You should never try advanced cheerleading stunts without a safety certified coach.
  2. You can (and should if possible) learn advanced techniques from a gym that specializes in teaching cheerleading.
  3. If you plan to display your awesome stunts for competition, make sure you check the regulations of the competitions you are attending. Chances are that a more local or regional competition is not going to allow certain tosses or pyramid stunts.

Advanced Stunts for Cheerleaders

Remember safety first! Begin by practicing with spotters in place without building any pyramids or actually doing the tricks. This is called a "walk through". While it might seem mundane, it is really for the spotters and bases to understand where they are going to go, and this also improves the chances that the flyer will end up where she is supposed to go!

After the walk through, practice the stunt on mats with extra spotters. It's important to feel comfortable while stunting, so if something doesn't feel right - say something! If you want to avoid a "stunt gone wrong" it's important to make sure that everyone feels confident knows what they're doing.

Swedish Falls

The Swedish falls is a two-and-a-half story pyramid stunt. Generally speaking, this stunt is illegal at the high school level if you hold the Swedish Falls position, but not if you merely pass through the position.

Load

  • You need six stunt groups to pull this off. The second and fifth group should be facing front, while all other groups should face inward.
  • Load the flyers. The second and fifth group should load with a toe pitch. If your team is very advanced, the first and sixth group can load with a walkover. However, wait to try that until you hit the Swedish falls. A walkover load requires excellent timing. The remaining flyers can load by walk up or a toe pitch if you have enough spotters.

Prep the Stunt and Connect

  • Groups one and six should be facing inward. Groups two, three, four and five should connect at the shoulders.
  • It's important to watch the spacing of group one and six. The flyers from groups two and five are going to hit their arabesques next, and you don't want anyone kicked in the face!

Arabesques

  • Groups two and five should hit their arabesques. (Remember that this should be fluid - bearing weight will disqualify your team from competition.)
  • The flyer from group one supports the leg of the flyer from group two while she is doing her arabesque, and group five and six do likewise on the other end.
  • After the arabesques, the flyers should be caught in a liberty hold and the squad can dismount accordingly.

Basket Toss

The basket toss is perhaps one of the first "advanced" stunts that a squad might learn. Although it requires less people, it is just as intensive and can look very impressive when a large squad performs a "wave" of basket tosses in rapid succession or when they do synchronized basket tosses.

Prep and Lock The bases prep by forming a "basket". Each base grabs his own right arm with his left hand, and grabs the other base's left hand with his own free right hand.

Load The flyer loads, stepping squarely on the basket. Sometimes, a basket toss is used as a dismount in which case the flyer will already be loaded.

Dip and Toss The bases dip and toss the flyer as high as possible so that she in turn can do some other trick. They catch her in the basket.

Videos of Advanced Stunts

A picture is worth a thousand words. If you need help visualizing what these stunts will look like check out the following clips and pictures.

Swedish Falls

An excellent example of how to "pass through" Swedish Falls so the stunt is legal in competition.

Basket Toss With Twist

This basket toss is done by a college level cheerleader. Notice the height and the dip at the beginning before tossing her up into the air.

Advanced Partner Stunting

This advanced pair came in fourth place. Notice that several of her loads involve tumbling.

Advanced cheerleading stunts can be real crowd pleasers, but keep in mind that squad safety should always come first.

Retrieved from "http://cheerleading.lovetoknow.com/Advanced_Cheerleading_Stunts"

 


Comment on Advanced Cheerleading Stunts



(Displayed with your comment)                        (Will not be displayed)
Verification Code:   
    

Cheerleading Categories
LoveToKnow Tools
More Articles