How to Do Forward Roll in Cheerleading

Video Transcript

"I'm Mandy Butler on behalf of Expert Village and we're going to talk about tumble track warm ups today. Next, we're going to do a forward roll. A forward roll is a very basic tumbling skill, so a lot of people over look it. It's important that you master this skill first before you move on to more advanced skills, because then your technique won't be where it should be and you're going to struggle. The proper technique for a forward roll is to start with your legs together, arms up, and notice that I'm in a standing position. A lot of people try to start their forward roll already in a squat, which is a lot harder and it doesn't lend itself to progression very easily. In order to move on to more advanced skills, you're going to have to start standing up. I'm going to teach you from a standing position, arms above my head. I’m going to bend down, bend my knees in a squat position, and put my hand flat on the ground in front of me. Notice my hands are not to the side because that's not the correct body position. I'm going to have a hard time pushing with my hands out here. I'm going to put my hands down in front in a squat position. I'm going to bend forward and look for my bellybutton. A nice way to tell your little ones to do this is to put glue on their chin. Tuck their chin down into their chest, look for their bellybutton and roll. Notice when I finish my roll, I'm going to leave my hands forward in front of me and stand up rather than leaving them behind me. I'll show you what I mean in just a second. I'm going to put my hands down in front, look for my bellybutton, and roll. What I meant about the landing is a lot of people like to leave their hands behind them and push up. Notice how slow that is. What you want to do is rock and roll with your hands reaching in front and standing up. That takes a nice tight tummy and nice squeezed bottom. Make sure you do that because it doesn't look as good if your body is nice and loose and use your hands to stand up. One more time, I'm going to show you the correct body position and technique for a forward roll. Arms up. I'm going to stretch nice and tall, hands go down in front of me, I'm going to squat, I look for my bellybutton, and stand. That's the forward roll."