Stunting Help Or Advice Needed...

[Jenna Nicole]

hello! I am one of 3 captains on my high school team, and we have been experiencing stunting challenges with a particular team member since the beginning of our season (June). This team member is new to cheerleading, and she attended UCA camp over summer with the rest of the team to learn the basics. However, she has a bad habit of lifting or tossing with her back in every stunt. Both our coaches have tried giving her advice to correct it, the UCA staff at camp tried talking to her about it, i and the other captains and tried numerous times as well. Her fliers have confided in me that they feel unsafe basing with her and that it "feels awkward" when even going into a prep level since she lifts with her back. Please, I need advice on what to do next. Every time someone tries to correct her she just agrees with them but doesnt actually correct it. We want safety to be our priority as a team and girls do not feel safe stunting with her. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance!

 

[Official OWECheer]

hello! I am one of 3 captains on my high school team, and we have been experiencing stunting challenges with a particular team member since the beginning of our season (June). This team member is new to cheerleading, and she attended UCA camp over summer with the rest of the team to learn the basics. However, she has a bad habit of lifting or tossing with her back in every stunt. Both our coaches have tried giving her advice to correct it, the UCA staff at camp tried talking to her about it, i and the other captains and tried numerous times as well. Her fliers have confided in me that they feel unsafe basing with her and that it "feels awkward" when even going into a prep level since she lifts with her back. Please, I need advice on what to do next. Every time someone tries to correct her she just agrees with them but doesnt actually correct it. We want safety to be our priority as a team and girls do not feel safe stunting with her. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance!

Repost this in the high school forum when you can!

 

[TealShades]

@OldskoolKYcheercoach @AScheer you might be able to help.

 

[AScheer]

hello! I am one of 3 captains on my high school team, and we have been experiencing stunting challenges with a particular team member since the beginning of our season (June). This team member is new to cheerleading, and she attended UCA camp over summer with the rest of the team to learn the basics. However, she has a bad habit of lifting or tossing with her back in every stunt. Both our coaches have tried giving her advice to correct it, the UCA staff at camp tried talking to her about it, i and the other captains and tried numerous times as well. Her fliers have confided in me that they feel unsafe basing with her and that it "feels awkward" when even going into a prep level since she lifts with her back. Please, I need advice on what to do next. Every time someone tries to correct her she just agrees with them but doesnt actually correct it. We want safety to be our priority as a team and girls do not feel safe stunting with her. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance!

It's likely one of two things happening here.

1) she doesn't care to fix the problem, doesn't think it's a big deal.
Or 2) doesn't understand how to fix it or know what it should feel like.

If it's the first issue, then your coach needs to make her start at basics. Do 10 correct loads and hang drills in a row, if it's not correct, start over. After 10 good ones do 10 correct preps in a row. If 1 is wrong, go back to hang drills and start all the way over. In this scenario, having a coach that won't let you get away with anything will be the only way to fix it. She'll get on board or she'll have consequences.

It's likely the second issue though, as most people don't like to do things wrong on purpose. I would start first with video. Show her a slow-mo video of what it looks like when she is stunting so she can visually understand how it looks vs how it should look. Put her group next to a group that does it well and video again so she can see it side by side. Next, know that it's really hard to re-train bad habits. Once muscle memory sets in, you have to consciously try to do something different than what your body is used to. It will take practice and repetition. I'm not sure what advice she's been given already, but a start with how she sets. Back should be straight, butt should be under (not sticking out), and legs should be shoulder width apart. It may help her to think "suck in" because it's pretty impossible to suck in while bent over trying to lift something heavy. Next, watch where her arms/hands are. Elbows in a load should be a 90 degree angle and hands should never drop below your belly button. When your hands go lower than your belly button, it's easier to use your back and do it incorrectly.

Also make sure to watch how you're speaking to her. Many times corrections come better from a coach than a peer. It's easy for girls to get offended and defensive, even when others are just tying to help. It's especially easy for girls to shut down when it's something that keeps getting addressed. Let your coaches do the coaching. As teammates and captains make sure your encouraging and uplifting!

 

[OldskoolKYcheercoach]

hello! I am one of 3 captains on my high school team, and we have been experiencing stunting challenges with a particular team member since the beginning of our season (June). This team member is new to cheerleading, and she attended UCA camp over summer with the rest of the team to learn the basics. However, she has a bad habit of lifting or tossing with her back in every stunt. Both our coaches have tried giving her advice to correct it, the UCA staff at camp tried talking to her about it, i and the other captains and tried numerous times as well. Her fliers have confided in me that they feel unsafe basing with her and that it "feels awkward" when even going into a prep level since she lifts with her back. Please, I need advice on what to do next. Every time someone tries to correct her she just agrees with them but doesnt actually correct it. We want safety to be our priority as a team and girls do not feel safe stunting with her. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance!

I agree with everything AScheer mentioned above, but let me add some training drills to the list.

The one thing that I've found to be almost inherently true through coaching high school cheerleaders is that you are much less likely to find a new female cheerleader who knows HOW to lift. I can speak to the guys, especially football players, who join my team in common powerlifting terms and BOOM they get it. With girls, it takes some type of demonstration. Here are some suggestions from the world of strength and conditioning that might get her on the right track:

1) demonstrate to her in an "aha" moment that she is unable to lift anything, even so much as a single piece of paper, off the floor using only one muscle at a time. Her body was designed to function using multiple muscles at once, and you're about to show her how much stronger she can be by doing this.

2) Start with a few unloaded wall squats. Not the kind where you squat down and lean your back against the wall (wall sits), but have her face the wall instead. She should start by doing it with her toes about 6 inches from the wall, feet a little wider than shoulder width, and then have her squat and reach her hands to the floor in an attempt to pick up a small item off the floor. The purpose of this is twofold. She needs to feel what it's like to move through a range of motion with her shoulders, knees, and toes in alignment. Second, someone needs to see if she has the kind of knee and ankle flexibility to allow for this type of movement.

3) You can make the movement more difficult and further train her to lift correctly by having her lift heavier items (I recommend starting with a 25 pound dumbbell from your weight room) in the following ways/order:

A. Dumbbell stood up on one end and placed between her feet where she doesn't have to get as deep to pick it up
B. Dumbbell laid down on floor between her feet where she has to reach low enough to pick up the handle
C. Two Dumbbells, one at each side
D. One heavier dumbbell placed at her side (causes core to engage to maintain balance, called "suitcase deadlift")
E. A dumbbell held by it's end cupped in her hands at chest level (she can judge whether she is squatting deeply enough by her elbows touching her knees).
F. A VERY light weight held overhead with both hands (preferably something she won't drop and crack her skull with if she loses her balance, overhead lifting is hard).
G. A VERY light weight held overhead with one hand (preferably something she won't drop and crack her skull with if she loses her balance, overhead lifting is hard).

By the time she can do C above, I'd be willing to bet her lifting technique is much improved.

 

[Jenna Nicole]

Thank you so much for the responses! I will speak to my coach and see if we can figure something out.

 

[Danyo]

I'd agree that it is likely that the person just doesn't have as very good body awareness. More examples and more importantly more time might be needed to help thi athlete.

Hoping the problem has been resolved

 

[Kaitlyn.cheer]

As a base, I used to have problems with this as well. Turns out that as of right now, I do not have the ability to correct it. Could be difficult to figure out if she were to have a similar issue. But I personally have multiple musculoskeletal issues which have caused my back muscles to almost completely shut down. Just something to consider.