Progressing In Stunting

[brynnmerrill93]

I have been coaching a youth team for a few months now. Almost all of them have back handsprings now and I'm really hoping we can be level 2 for this season. However, I'm having trouble with them progressing in stunting. It seems like when they're stunting they lose focus and we aren't able to get very far. They can do level one stunts and their technique is pretty good. One of the reasons I think they are unable to perform harder stunts is because the top girls and the bases are all close to the same size. I need some tips on how to help their stunting progress. Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[Meganl]

-Try playing PIG (one group dose a stint if a group can't do it the get a P when they have the word PIG they are out) I find this works well as they will want to nail harder stunts to win.
- With the size issue it shouldn't affect to much on my squad we are all the same size and have flyers bigger than bases, you just have to have flyers with good body control and technique and it should be fine.

 

[cheer25mom]

IMO, size seems to have much more of an effect at the mini/youth level than with older teams. That effect is intensified when they are inexperienced. I do think it plays a part in how difficult it is to progress stunts. I am watching that play out in CP's team right now. Her stunt group is struggling a little more than the others because she has brand new bases that are the same size as their flyer. She is the back spot and is a head taller than everyone else. If their back spot was the same size, I highly doubt they would be successful at this point.

OP, I am just a parent, but based on watching 4 seasons of my CP on mini and youth teams, it seems to me that repetition with correction is the best teacher for stunts. I know that's not what coaches necessarily want to hear, but the teams CP has been in that were most successful with stunts were the ones where the coaches did things as many times as it took to fix the technique and make everyone comfortable in their jobs.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[WinstonsGirl]

Give your kids goals. We tell our kids that we're running different routines throughout the year, with our "A" routine as our final goal. Obviously, we can't start there, so we begin with our "C" routine, with waters down stunts (prep to sponge instead of cradle, for example). Kids know that they can't move on to the next harder routine until they hit the current one clean. It pushes them to master the basics and focus on hitting clean before they get the harder stuff.

Most years, my kids do more than I originally planned for by the end of the year cos they want the harder skills and end up working through good technique to et those skills. The first half of the year moves at a snails pace (we're a school elementary team, so different rules), but it took us until Christmas to even try preps. Everything was at knee level. By March they were hitting preps, cradles, extended straddle sits, things I never would have thought they could have done that year.

Give them goals and keep focusing on that beginning technique and the harder stunts will come much faster in the end.

 

[brynnmerrill93]

Thank you! We worked a lot of repetition tonight on the basics. I'm seeing some improvements. I guess I felt like if they couldn't do level 2 right now, then how would they compete in that level in just a few months? But I think they will get there. Thanks for the advice!

 

[retiredl5cheer]

Thank you! We worked a lot of repetition tonight on the basics. I'm seeing some improvements. I guess I felt like if they couldn't do level 2 right now, then how would they compete in that level in just a few months? But I think they will get there. Thanks for the advice!

It takes time! Remember, they don't need to be competing their hardest L2 stunts at the beginning of the season. My kids always start with a watered down version of their stunt sequence, and we build on it over the course of the season.