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My kids have been at three gyms over the course of 8 years and that's the only way I've ever seen it done. Mine are both back spots and the T gives them a place to catch securely under their arms, it also stops their rotation so they aren't still spinning when they're caught.


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Last year my cp (back spot) dropped a girl because the flyer had her arms tight by her side when she came down, and it made my cp really upset because it scared her. She'd never dropped anyone before. She told the flyer, don't EVER come down like that again. Thankfully the flyer didn't get hurt.
 
We always catch in the T in my high school. We were practicing double downs a couple years ago and my flyer would have to wrap up or else she'd bust everyone in the face. I was so mortified of that way of cradling I actually cried and had nightmares of my flyer falling through my hands and smacking her neck/head off the floor. Luckily for me I had beast bases that could catch her without me there so it eased the pain a little bit. Glad I'm not the only one who felt like that!
 
I've always had flyers catch themselves. They'll come down in a T but then wrap around the bases shoulders. I like it, especially for flipping baskets. When the flyers catch themselves it helps them stop rotating, instead of using me, the back, to stop the rotating. Which can hurt really badly! It also helps for when we would do two man stunts and you cradle without a back and the flyer wouldn't have them there to support them. I'm curious to know what coed teams use.


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I've always had flyers catch themselves. They'll come down in a T but then wrap around the bases shoulders. I like it, especially for flipping baskets. When the flyers catch themselves it helps them stop rotating, instead of using me, the back, to stop the rotating. Which can hurt really badly! It also helps for when we would do two man stunts and you cradle without a back and the flyer wouldn't have them there to support them. I'm curious to know what coed teams use.


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I have always caught just how you described, catching around the bases shoulders. You said you were curious what coed teams use, at my college (which is coed) we still catch that same way, for any type of cradle stunt or basket.
 
I think the "T catch" looks really good - it looks safe and clean. I also love to catch it as a backspot, but I've only had one flyer doing the T...
 
I've seen gyms where the flyer keeps her arms in with hands on her thighs through to the cradle. But last season I also saw the flyer go straight through the bases arms that here standing too far apart.

My god daughter (crazy talented kid) actually switched gyms because the one she was at started teaching it that way and it freaked her out. She'd never done anything but the T and felt completely unsafe. She switched to a T gym and that was her primary reason for the move.


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I've tried both techniques with my kids and since switching to T catch we have not had any injuries or incidents involving the flyer falling through to the floor etc I will never go back to the other way of doing it I find it to be easier for kids to handle and much safer.
 
Thanks for the input, I like the T but we also do the basic catch the bases back/neck area to hold their own weight. I have a girl who cheers for my middle school team and she went to a top gun camp for 3 days and was cradling with her hands around her thighs and her stunt group at middle school cheer was like omg what are you doing ?! Unfortunately for her now she has to learn when to separate our way of cradling and the way she is supposed to do it at all starts now :/

I think for our routine we will try the T for the twist down section of our routine and the regular way for the other parts. Thanks ! Didn't mean to hi jack the thread just something Ive always wondered about CEA.
 
Just have to be careful with the T. I had my face busted because my flyer decided to pull down with her elbow cause she was scared she wouldn't make it around to catch herself. My cheekbone wasn't happy.

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Uhhh yeah, at my old gym, I did stunt group individuals, granted I was 10 double downing out of everything, doing kick doubles and all that stuff...my back spot at the time had braces, and everytime I would do a kick double I would lock one arm straight out in the air by my ear, let's just say, I made her cry alot :( but I couldn't help it and I felt sooo bad, but she was a beast and took it like a champ :)
 
I agree with that, when ever I flew and back spotted, I always either had my arms out in a T or was catching the flyer in a T motion....much easier and "secure" feeling to both the flyer and bases/back spot. IMO...wonder what other gym does this? @BlueCat @king
Top Gun teaches to keep your arms tight by your side. As a base, I love this. I don't get my face all busted up from my flyer opening up in double downs. We learn to catch as close together as possible and as high as possible, and the backspots are taught to catch shoulders, standing to one side to avoid head to head collisions. I have been at Top Gun for 4 years and have never had a problem with this technique.
 
This freaks me out. I've also seen where the back spot turns and is beside either the main base or the side base and catches the side of the neck/head/back. That scares me, I feel like the flyer is going to roll out on the side the back isn't on.

We go to the side of the side base and catch the upper back. I feel like catching the neck would be dangerous lol.
 
Top Gun teaches to keep your arms tight by your side. As a base, I love this. I don't get my face all busted up from my flyer opening up in double downs. We learn to catch as close together as possible and as high as possible, and the backspots are taught to catch shoulders, standing to one side to avoid head to head collisions. I have been at Top Gun for 4 years and have never had a problem with this technique.

This is how I've always been taught lol. At all 3 gyms and even high school this is how we did it. I couldn't imagine doing it another way.
 
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