How to Perform a Cheerleading Line Stunt

Cheerleading has been a popular pastime in the United States and abroad for the better part of the last century. Today's cheerleaders are serious athletes, with a wide range of gymnastics, tumbling and stunt skills. When your squad is ready, there is nothing better than perfecting how to perform a cheerleading line stunt that will awe the crowd and pep up your team.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Stunt regulations

Assign Positions to Cheerleading Line Members

1. Choose your bases. These are squad members who will provide the foundation for any stunt. Bases must have superior upper body strength and be able to sustain a catch from significant heights.

2. Choose your flyers. These are squad members who will often literally "fly" in a stunt such as a helicopter toss or a basket toss. Flyers must be able to vault their bodies into the air, twist while flying and center their weight for a fluid catch.

3. Choose your squad's spotters. Spotters are the members who help the flyers into their positions, steady the bases and help to catch flyers as they descend.

Select a Stunt Routine

4. Find contemporary music that will help your squad create an exciting routine. Typically, pop songs with a driving bass beat help to synchronize line movements and stunts, so look for songs with this structure.

5. Use daring stunt movements and execution to wow the crowd. Typical impressive moves include basket tosses, helicopter tosses, triple flips, floor tumbling routines and group standing backs.

6. Use preps, extensions and liberty stands to enhance the stunt with height. Each of these stunts requires the use of a base, spotter and a flyer, so be sure to allocate your resources according to who is best at which skill.

Tips & Warnings

• To ensure the safety of your squad members, be sure to perform your line stunt on wrestling mats or soft grass until it is perfected. As a general rule, if you can't hit a stunt 3 times on grass or mats, then don't bring it to a court floor.
• Keep in mind that every state regulates which stunts are allowed to be performed at various age levels. Be sure you are in compliance with state safety rules before you perform any line stunt.
• Every level of cheerleading (junior, high school, college, professional) has rules that must be followed in order to ensure the safety of squad members. The American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Administrators, or AACCA, publishes these rules yearly.

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