All-Star Flying Advice

[rdavis4]

It looks like CP's gym may want her to fly this upcoming season and I am at a total loss as to how to help her at home. She just turned 7 and has based the last two years (and is a pretty darn good base in my opinion, due to the amount of muscle and strength she has). Her coach has worked with her a little bit in her last two privates to give her some basics, but they only spend the last 5 minutes working on it. This week her coach was teaching her how to do a scorpion and told her she needs to have it to be able to fly. CP and I don't care either way if she flies or not, but I'm thinking there's a reason they have put her in the air the first two tryout practices, and she doesn't want to disappoint her coach. She's definitely not the smallest on her team, but she does have decent flexibility. From what I can tell, her biggest struggle is balance. Is there a way to help her with this at home? Also, any ideas on how to help with that scorpion? Her coach told me lots of rainbow bridges. CP has attempted to pull her scorpion daily since learning, but she really struggles with even figuring out how to pull the leg up and get her hands in the right place. I have NO idea what it's supposed to look like (in regards on how to pull it) or where her hands are supposed to go either. I'm guessing the more she works on it and learns from her coach, the more smoothly that will go. I have a video of her trying to do it, if that would help. I wish our gym offered a class for fliers or even privates to work on it, but they don't. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated!!

 

[cpersichilli]

This video might help in regards to how to actually pull it. When it comes to balancing, just have her balance on the leg she is going to be flying on, and then once that gets steady, move to an elevated surface, similar to the stunt stand, and try pulling the body positions there, you just need something the size of the foot, thats elevated and that should simulate being in the air the best way, without actually going up. I hope this helped! let me know how everything goes

 

[MomMomMamaMom]

For balance they can pull positions on soup cans, or yoga blocks, or balance discs. She can stretch at home, splits, and stretching legs against doorway etc. The bridges are good for back flexibility so keep doing those. Since you don't know what a scorpion should look like, and since it is VERY hard to correct bad technique, I would stick with the stretching, balance and flexibility at home, and have the coaches teach the scorpion though.

 

[rdavis4]

For balance they can pull positions on soup cans, or yoga blocks, or balance discs. She can stretch at home, splits, and stretching legs against doorway etc. The bridges are good for back flexibility so keep doing those. Since you don't know what a scorpion should look like, and since it is VERY hard to correct bad technique, I would stick with the stretching, balance and flexibility at home, and have the coaches teach the scorpion though.

Great advice, thank you! We will definitely stick to leaving the technique to the coach! She is pulling up with the same arm, then grabbing with the other hand and pulling up more. It is very slow and messy though, not smooth at all. She also has pulled her leg to the side instead of straight back a few times. Obviously doesn't work for her haha!

 

[cheer25mom]

Core strengthening will definitely be helpful for wobbly flyers. It is crucial to the whole process. Can you get the coach to provide some kind of core workout for her? Our coaches have pre made sheets they pass out to the kids based on their needs for at home conditioning. There is a core workout specific to flyers. A balance disc or some kind of stunt stand could be helpful as well.

 

[Keep_Believing]

You aren't suppose to balance yourself. Focus on staying tight and let your bases do the balancing.

Some good resources for flyers:
Some of my favorites:

Stretching: Rubber Bands - For the Love of Tumbling

Conditioning: Flyer - For the Love of Tumbling

CEA has different stretching videos on youtube.

Cheer Extreme Instructional Series Part 2 (Segment 1 of 3) "Flyer Strength Training" - YouTube

Erica Lin is good. She has different stretching videos on youtube.

 

[Cheerfun2]

Ha! I have Summit on the brain and opened this thread thinking it was about travel itineraries!
Carry on!

 

[newbiemom]

We were told by CP's coaches not to focus on balance- the bases balance you. The flyer's job is to stay tight and pull the body positions.

My CP has gotten really flexible after doing yoga type videos

 

[SL&AM]

Given her age, I'd let her do stretching and core strength exercises at home and everything else in the gym.

 

[MomMomMamaMom]

To stand on a soup can you have to stay tight, so I'm guessing that's why it works? I don't really know, but by balance I'm pretty sure the coaches really mean center of gravity.

 

[rdavis4]

We were told by CP's coaches not to focus on balance- the bases balance you. The flyer's job is to stay tight and pull the body positions.

My CP has gotten really flexible after doing yoga type videos

So if she can't stand on the floor and pull the positions without wobbling all over, that's OK? I just see all of our older girls standing doing a whole sequence without holding on to anything. Looks so hard!

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

You don't have to balance, but you do have to keep your core tight and squeeze if that makes sense.

You staying tight lets the bases do their jobs.

If you train yourself to try to balance, the bases won't be able to keep you up because your weight will start shifting.

I'd focus on stretching at home until she has the basics. You wouldn't want her learning to balance at home because the gym then has to make her STOP.

Biggest but most simple tip for new flyers:

You look down, you will go down. So don't.

 

[rdavis4]

Thank you all for helping out this clueless mom! We will focus on stretching and some light core work until she's ready for more!

 

[MomMomMamaMom]

You don't have to balance, but you do have to keep your core tight and squeeze if that makes sense.

You staying tight lets the bases do their jobs.

If you train yourself to try to balance, the bases won't be able to keep you up because your weight will start shifting.

I'd focus on stretching at home until she has the basics. You wouldn't want her learning to balance at home because the gym then has to make her STOP.

Biggest but most simple tip for new flyers:

You look down, you will go down. So don't.

And don't step out of a stunt!

 

[randomactsofcheer]

And don't step out of a stunt!

You go down when your bases are ready to put you down.

My CP based all last year and now bases on one team and flies on another. She is not naturally flexible so we enrolled her in a flexibility and strength class at a rhythmic gymnastics gym and that has helped immensely. She also takes a private stunting lesson once a week and stretches every day at home.

At home, CP uses this to practice sometimes: Cheer Mat, Stunt Balance Trainer, Cheer practice mat - Resilite Sports Products, Inc.

We didn't buy this for her until after she had been flying for almost a year. She mostly uses it to practice her tic-toc (it's much easier to tell of her foot isn't landing in the same spot when she lands on the floor instead of the stand) and stepping into stunts in front of a mirror. It is also a good height for her to work on her over splits.

I agree with the previous posters: Strength and flexibility are best worked on at home. Actual flying is best worked on at the gym.