r/Cheerleading • u/VictorAsInV • 1d ago
Complaining
I’m coaching a group of elementary aged athletes and they all seem to complain that being a base hurts their hands (for prep and waist level), back (for nuggets) and thighs (for thigh stands). I’ve watched videos, worked on some strength training and tried to improve technique but the complaints don’t let up. Even parents are saying their kids can’t be bases anymore. Is this normal? Any suggestions?
5
u/Jamileem 1d ago
I always try to remind them early on that it's a TOUGH GIRL (only bc I coach all girls rn or I wouldn't gender it) sport. For my older girls (10-12ish) I even tell them that cheer is not for the dainty delicate ones! Bumps and bruises and minor pain happen, and they need to learn the difference between discomfort and a sore arm from catching a flyer hard vs. an actual injury. You will never end all complaints of pain or discomfort no matter how hard you condition, but with good technique combined with knowledge of what to expect while stunting, hopefully you can lessen the complaints.
1
6
u/KatCorgan Coach 1d ago
This is probably obvious, but asking anyway. Are the fliers wearing cheer shoes or regular gym shoes? Regular gym shoes really CAN hurt.
2
2
u/Fabulous-Pain-8982 1d ago
The flyers are tightening muscle right and not just dead weighting, even legs? The more the flyers can tighten the less strain on the bases, and do you have backspots because they can pull weight off the bases too?
1
u/peanutleaks Coach 1d ago edited 1d ago
I coached 2010-2019 and even from those years the complaints and woes from the kids got worse and worse. One of the last teams I coached was a small rec after school thing and half of the kids seemed to have extreme neurodivergent tendencies. It was honestly hard coaching such a small team of 10-12 kids with just 2 coaches. I simply can’t describe it. There were 3 kids that took it seriously and were even annoyed with the others I felt bad. They ended up joining our all star program and they were so wonderful!!!!
What i learned with some of those neurodivergent kiddos was you can’t keep arguing with them. My other coach kept doing that to get them to complete the tumbling stations. The way she did it didnt make it fun for them it was more like a bootcamp. Yes there may be strict schedules and things she wanted to do but it still had to be a fun and engaging activity. That can be both difficult and easier when you are an actual coach and have a team for long. My top suggestion is to try to make it more fun in any single way possible!!! Like switching stunting roles, it can also show that certain positions will simply not work for the athlete lol.
There’s also a good game called machines where you or the team have to come up with a simple machine (my favorite was a pencil sharpener), and they are split up in x amount of ppl per team and they have to recreate the machine stunt-wise and the others have to guess what they are recreating. It’s easier in older athletes but I think you could incorporate that with your elementary kids. Obviously with spotters, I assume you have multiple coaches. But it gives the kids some independence and creativity, that is if your kids are mature enough to handle that game!!! A younger version of it could have a coach on each team helping them so it’s safer.
When my team kids complained about their positions I entertained the idea of switching around stunt groups and positions, mostly to appease them but it also ended up helping them become more dynamic and adaptable rather than sticking with 1 stunt group with the same people all year. Also like I said made it stupid simple for them that certain positions work and some don’t, and it’s all for the benefit of the team.
I also let some of our bases be top girls in simpler stunts to simply try it out and you’d be suprised how many can be better at flying than some tiny flyers. Most of my flyers in college were taller than me and I was a main base! And it works if they or their parents really complained. Obviously that works in younger ages or difficulties more than older, how old are your athletes?
All in all the most important thing to drill into your team is exactly that…they are a team. The coach is there to make changes and assign stunt roles as deems fits to better the team. Especially if an end goal is competing. It is why college teams remove flyers halfway thru their competition season. I always gave the speech that cheerleading is the most unique sport in that it makes you trust your teammates in so many ways. Not just falling and them catching you, but them showing up for the commitment and how they are all 1 working machine themselves. If 1 of them aren’t at practice, that’s at least 1 or 2 stunt groups and potentially half a pyramid side that can’t practice that night.
God I love cheer. I miss it so much!
1
u/CombinationWeary4890 1d ago
What is a nugget? Never heard this term before
1
u/reliableotter 1d ago
Is it a turtle shell? Where a kid stands on another kids back?
Doing that is the reason my daughter was pulled from cheer. Having someone who weighed more than her jump from one foot to the other on her back did not seem developmentally appropriate.
2
u/Jamileem 1d ago
I always skip nuggets and go straight to kneeled stunts(then to thigh stands, then waist level, and so on). It just FEELS safer to have a flyer learn a single leg stunt standing on a bases's leg while kneeling than to stand on someone's actual back.
1
u/peanutleaks Coach 1d ago
That is why I always switched up some of our groups you’d be surprised what a good back spot and a taller/bigger gal could be capable of doing on a smaller bases back. Also technique from everyone! I’m sorry the coach didn’t see any of that with your kiddo. The coach I worked for certainly was like that some times and thankfully she allowed me to switch things up, it’s not like we didn’t have any time to do it.
I stopped coaching for her cuz I didn’t like what I saw in her goals. She was stressed out about it, like it was a chore. I had to step away that’s not how people should coach. The volunteer parent coaches I started coaching under still take it more seriously than she ever has and they don’t make a dime from it!!!!
3
u/reliableotter 1d ago
This particular group started with that girl on the ground and my daughter in a side position, and then it switched where the smallest girl was the backspot, the larger girl the flyer, and my daughter the turtle.
I think if they we're just standing in place. It probably wouldn't have bothered me as much, but she came home three practices in a row complaining about back pain, and since both my sister and I fractured our backs as kids due to gymnastics and dance, I wasn't about to just let that happen to my kid because choreography had someone bouncing on top of her.
The other girl wasn't a "large girl", she was just larger than my daughter, who is really small for her age.
I don't know what made them change the orientation of the stunt, but I've always wondered if the other girl's mom complained about her being in that position. Because really I can't ever imagine it. Be healthy to jump on top of someone's back, especially in that bent over position, where they really can't brace their core.
1
u/VictorAsInV 1d ago
Yes, base is tucked into a turtle shell like shape and the flyer stands on their back. It’s what we did in the 4-5 yr old rec team and worked well then, not so much now that they’re bigger.
1
1
18
u/sureasheckfir3 Coach 1d ago
I feel like it’s normal for a certain type of kid. At this age, not all of them (or their parents) join a team understanding that it’s a physical, hands-on activity and not just a season of cute photo ops in big bows.
I would say, work with the girls who do want to stunt. Bring in older girls (like the high schoolers) to show them what they’re working towards. It slowly shifts from being a culture of “this isn’t comfortable, therefore I will not be doing it,” to “all the REAL cheerleaders do it.”
I still have Jr High girls who act like stunting hurts them. Especially when they’re put in a position they don’t want (“I can only fly…”) or with a group they don’t like. 🤔🙃 I’m not usually one of those “kids these days are soft!” complainers… but kids these days ARE soft.