The Secrets Behind Stunting

This stunt is called a bench



Stunting in cheer is one of my personal favorite aspects of the sport. It requires teamwork, concentration, muscle power, timing, a little bit of thought, and mostly fearlessness. Everyone’s job within the stunt group is equally as important to make sure no one gets hurt. A stunt group usually consists of 4 people. There is the flyer, who is the person in the air. There are the bases, the two people who face each other and are in essence the floor for the flyer while she is in the air. And there is the backspot, the person monitoring the stunt and trying to alleviate as much weight off of the bases as possible. Sometimes there is also a front spot, who supports the stunt by helping to alleviate the weight as well.



These are our 1st year bases who have picked it up (literally!) so fast!



I am usually a base so I will start with that position first. The bases, the two people facing each other, are the flyer’s main support. They carry the majority of the flyers weight by trying to hold as much of her shoe (foot) as possible so she feels secure. If the bases are performing their duties right she should feel as if she is standing on the ground. The bases have to master their timing when picking up the flyer; if the bases timing is off, the flyer could lose her balance and fall. The bases also have to transform their grip on the flyer’s shoe while the stunt is taking action and going up.



Position when setting for stunt



Position when stunt is set in place
(notice the change in hands!)



It’s not holding her up that is the hard part, it’s the getting her up there. Teamwork amongst the bases is critical to the stunt, which includes the timing, the muscle power put into getting her in the air, and the concentration.



These are two of our backspots!



Then there is the backspot, whose job is just as critical. The backspot is in essence the leader of the stunt group. She/he calls the beginning counts of the stunt, so the bases, flyer, and themselves are all together and master the timing element. The backspot is usually the tallest out of the stunt group allowing her/him to lift the weight up by pulling up on the ankle or calve of the flyer. The backspot also calls the beginning counts for the pop-cradle (the motion of getting her down from the stunt) so the cradle is timed perfectly. The cradle is probably just as difficult as getting the flyer up in the air. The bases and backspot have to time it perfectly where they all dip and toss her in the air at the same time. If any member is off, or throws to hard (over-powering another member) the flyer could fall to the ground or go flying over one of the bases heads. This control over the stunt group is given to the backspot, they are responsible for attaining the perfect timing in the group, and the safety of all members since she/he can see every member better than anyone else in the group.

These are our brave 1st year flyers!






Last but not least of the stunt group is the flyer. Although the flyer looks like they do nothing but smile in the air, they actually have to do much more than just say cheese! The flyer has to be fearless! She has to entrust her safety and well being to her group members, but she can’t depend solely on them. The flyer has to push off of the bases shoulders when the stunt is put into action, helping the bases get her in the air in a matter of seconds.

Even though she wears a pretty smile, she is squeezing every muscle!

Second, she has to lift as  much of her weight as possible by squeezing ever muscle in her body, particularly her legs, butt, and abdominal muscles. This actually, believe it or not, takes a good amount of weight off of the bases and backspot. The flyers main responsibility, besides not freaking out while going into the air, being in the air, and coming down from the air, is to be as tight as possible. By squeezing every muscle in her body she prevents any chance of hitting the floor than if she were to just be loose in the air. This is because if the stunt does happen to fall, or lose control, the bases and backspot will be able to recover quickly or catch her quickly if she is tight. If she is loose and the stunt goes wrong she can come down with arms and legs flopping everywhere, most likely knocking out her bases and backspot and leaving no one to catch her. As you can tell, the flyer has just as much responsibility as the other three girls lifting her.

This stunt is called a liberty aka lib!

(it is a one legged stunt)

By realizing everyone’s role in the stunt, you can be able to tell how hard it is to master a stunt, especially one legged stunts (harder for the flyer because they also have to control their balance!) Everyone has to put in a substantial amount of effort, power, and concentration in order to make a 30 sec. stunt look so easy and effortless.

This is our first year flyer who mastered a lib after two practices!



This work by Veronica Oviedo is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

The background of TU Cheer



Day Before Game Day!

Trinity University has many sports on campus. Of course there are the obvious ones such as football, baseball, softball, basketball, volleyball, and soccer which usually draw a crowd. And then there are the sports that don’t draw nearly as big of a crowd, but are just as important such as golf, tennis, cross country, swimming and diving, and track and field. Yet, there is a team that Trinity students forget about when listing the sports on campus and that team is made up of the cheerleaders.

Most individuals, not only at Trinity but throughout the world, disagree with the fact that cheerleading is a sport. They claim that cheerleader’s soul purpose for existing is to entertain the fans of other sports. These individuals do not realize that cheerleading IS considered a sport. A sport can be defined in many ways, although the basic principle included in the definition of a sport (which many people do agree on) is the concept that a sport is a competitive, physical activity. With this common concept, cheerleading would then be considered a sport.

The cheerleaders at Trinity University are a dynamic group of girls that bring love, commitment, understanding, cooperation, and perseverance to practices and games. Don’t be fooled by the tiny skirts, bows, smiles, and make-up, the cheerleaders practice like every other team on campus. We do entertain the crowd, lead chants and cheers, and raise the spirits of students, parents and fans at every home football and basketball game, but we do much more beyond that. We train for our sport. We practice many hours throughout the week, stunting, tumbling, jumping, and conditioning. To the fans and students the stunts and tricks we pull at the games may look effortless, but it is only because we put the time and work into getting it perfect at practice. Every other week I will give a quick breakdown of how cheerleaders pull off their effortless moves at the games, so maybe people could actually understand the difficulty of what we do, and maybe think twice before stating that cheerleading is NOT a sport. After all, ESPN (the official sport channel) airs cheerleading competitions. If cheer was not a sport, why would they air such a spectacle?

Trinity Cheer by Veronica Oviedo is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.