The most basic cheerleading stunt is called a thigh stand. Before attempting a thigh stand, all members of a stunt group should stretch their muscles. To begin, the left and right bases should stand facing each other. The bases are in charge of lifting the flier up and catching her legs and lower back. The flier, who is the cheerleader that is lifted up, should stand between the two bases, but not completely blocking the base’s view of each other. The back spot, who is in charge of catching the flier’s upper back and head, should be standing behind the flier. The bases bend one of their knees, not letting the other knee touch the ground, in a lunge position. When the flier is on the base’s thighs, the bases should wrap their arms around her legs. The back spot grabs onto the flier’s waist and helps her to get onto the base’s thighs. The flier’s job in this stunt, and most others, is to keep her legs locked out and her core tightened. To bring the flier down, the bases lift one arm up and the flyer grabs onto them. The bases will then proceed to lower the flier to the ground. Although this is a basic stunt, cheerleaders can still get injured, so cheerleaders should make sure that they are stunting correctly and safely.
The toe-touch basket toss is a popular intermediate cheerleading stunt. Once again, it requires two bases, a flier, and a back spot. The toe-touch basket can be broken into four different steps. The first step, which is the load-in, requires each base to place her right hand on her left wrist. She must then grab the right wrist from the base across from her with her open left hand. This creates the basket, or platform, for the flyer to stand on. The basket should be loose with elbows slightly bent. The bases should be squatting with their backs straight. The flier then put her hands on the base’s shoulders and loads into the stunt on the balls of her feet, keeping her chest up. Then the back spot comes in and holds the ankles of the flier. The dip is the second step. During the dip, the bases bend their legs even more, still keeping their chests up. They also shrug their shoulders downwards. All that the flier needs to do during this step is keep her muscles tightened. The back spot dips with the bases, still grasping on to the flier’s ankles. The third part of this stunt is the throw. During the throw, the bases use their momentum from squatting down to stand up and straighten their arms all the way. The flier must push off of the base’s shoulders and immediately straighten her legs and hollow out her body. She must ride to the peak and then snap a toe touch, toes pointed, chest forward and her hands reaching for her toes. The back spot’s job during the throw is to throw the fliers ankles, with all of her strength, into the air. The catch is next. During the catch, the bases and the back spot have the same job. They must lift their arms up above their head’s and catch the flier as high as possible, to avoid injuries. The flier must sit in a cradle position and wrap her arms around the base’s necks. This stunt has a higher level of a safety risk, so it is a good idea to have multiple spotters standing next to the stunt group to help catch the flier if anything goes wrong.
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