The biggest tip is that they all have to go for it, if anyone hesitates it will not work.
When I taught this to a squad completely new to the skill, I took the best flyer on experienced coaches and taught her. From there I switched my best stunt group in one at a time. So a few times with 3 coaches underneath, then once with 2 coaches and the kid backing, then again with a kid backing, a kid basing, and still one coach in it, then finally with a full kid group. From there I trained EVERY flyer on this group. Once the flyers were good enough at it we put them on their own base group. I teach prone falls (supermans) prior to this and if the group isn't good at catching those, they don't move on! Another tip is that I have 4 kids in the corners spotting these during learning, ready to put hands under during the catch. I also stand in the front of the group and as the flyer folds, I put my hand behind her head and follow her into the catch. Just a added layer of protection with my hand on the flyer if need be.
For the bases its just a good high throw, release and big catch. I stress to catch close together with their biceps and absorb. If they aren't catching well enough they do pushups every time as a reminder of how which muscles are used to catch. They don't want to catch too far back on the neck, it will hurt the flyer, they're looking for shoulder blades and hips.
Backs lift up. We personally don't teach backs to pull backwards, because we want the flyer to stay controlled and to not move from where the bases just tossed her. (for prone falls we do teach the back to pull back some though) The back tosses up with the group and then continues to lift up through ankles on the fall. She wants her arms extended as much as possible, the lower she is, the lower the group will probably catch. She doesn't let go of ankles until the flyer is caught.
Flyers have to go for it. If they aren't flexible enough to fold in half fast standing on the ground, then I don't let them do it until they are. We taught to hug the back of the knees with your elbows. The reason for that was so that they hug tighter. Some will barely fold and just touch their leg with their hands, making them hug at the elbow joint ensured a nice tight fold. Another tip is that we teach them to initiate the fold on a count faster than what you would normally think. So if bases dipped 1 and we were doing a full down cradle, then we tell the flyer to wrap 3. For the suicide, we tell them initiate the fold on 2. A lot of times if they wait for 3 they don't have enough time to fold. Other tip is for them to really squeeze their core and keep their knees locked. With a lose core the can go crooked. We had one girl who would always have a slight bend in her knee during the fold which resulted in a concussion from hitting her head on her knees on the way down.
we call it a waterfall. one major tip for the bases is to catch the flyer in middle of their back, as the impact from catching on or near the neck can cause injury. I was also taught that the bases should hold on to the foot (heel) and just catch with their front arms, and the backspot helps catch the upper body. not sure why we do it this way as it seems like most other people have the bases let go, I assume it gives the flyer something to stand on so they can wait until the very top before they fold so they don't fold over too early
It's a little different of a stunt. Usually in waterfalls the flyer will also catch herself on the bases, so the bases keeping the back hand on the stunt changes it a little. In the suicide (pancake) the flyer is falling in a folded position, not catching herself, so bases need both hands free to safely catch. It wouldn't work if they held onto the feet.
