I love this thread. My daughter used to fly (through jr 2) she's on a jr 4 now and is a fierce base. She actually prefers being underneath but I think having been up top helps her be a better base. She will keep anyone and/or anything in the air...period. If it falls, it's over her sacrificed body....literally. Her brother is the exact same way. I've seen him dive for people in practice (when his group was on the ground) that aren't even in his group.
My daughter has been kicked in the face more times than she can count (flyer learning to full/double down), had the imprint of an Nfinity shoe on her chest for three days, my son got a right hook to the eye (flyer learning a barrel roll), more bruises and blood than I can remember. Once, she got a laugh and a hug from her head coach because he was talking to her as they came off the competition floor and she ran over to the trash can, ran back and said, "Sorry! I had to spit out the blood, what were you just saying?"
But, in the end, they come to every practice, the shake off the bruises, the keep encouraging their flyers, they keep promising them that no one hits the floor unless they are under them and they keep keeping them in the air....because it's a team that gets the job done, not an individual.
And the flip side to this is that my kids don't really care for the limelight. They are far more comfortable being underneath the stunt and OUT of the spotlight (in that sense) than on top, so to them, not being recognized for their awesomeness is not really a problem for them. My son is actually dying to get into single base stunting in the routine because he loves to base (does it in practice all the time but its not in the routine yet). They like to be on the down low (which is where bases live) So it works! ;)