Am I ready to stunt? Why this is may be a better way to determine if someone is ready to progress with your team.
High school cheerleading tryouts will start in MA on February 22 this year for the “fall 2” season. The rules for building are very different this year which can lead to a big challenge as coaches and cheerleaders prepare themselves for tryouts. Most high school cheerleaders haven’t been in a cheer program in a year. This means their skills are likely to be rusty. If they’ve continued to work out, or even better, been in another sport, they probably have maintained or even built on their strengths, which will set them up for success. If they h aven’t done the work in the off season they’ll need to play catch up. By means of injury prevention, the best thing a coach can do is to assess their athlete’s preparedness.
When I was coaching my tryouts involved an 8–8 count dance, 1–2 sideline cheers, a longer cheer with a jump and/or standing tumbling, multiple jumps, running tumbling, and a single stunt plus a stunt transition. Tryouts usually lasted 3 days for learning with the 4th day the actual tryout. For new team members coming in, this was a lot to ask. The cheer and dance portions were taught and mostly practiced on their own. They were given time to practice the tumbling they already had, but we weren’t teaching tumbling. And then they had to learn to stunt. If I were coaching now, I would look at stunting differently. (I’d actually look at the whole process differently now..but this article is about being prepared for stunting 😊 )
I now think it’s more important to look at more important to look at movement patterns to see what someone’s capabilities are to be able to stunt. I recently talked about the functional movement screen (Cook, 2010) to assess if someone is ready to perform (jump, tumble, stunt). This screen involves 7 movement patterns that have been shown to determine if someone may be at risk for an injury. They are an overhead squat, an inline lunge, a hurdle step, an active straight leg raise, shoulder mobility, rotary stability and a trunk stability push up. I also recommend checking an anterior and posterior pelvic tilt as well as a forward bend. In looking at whether an athlete is prepared to stunt, there are 3 patterns that are crucial to look at. These are overhead squat, single leg stance and trunk stability push up.
The overhead squat determines if someone has bilateral symmetrical mobility and stability of the shoulders and spine, while also looking at the mobility of their hips, knees, and ankles. To do correctly, stand with feet shoulder distance apart without any foot turn out. The athlete will hold a stick/dowel overhead while descending into the deepest squat possible. They must keep their heels down, and head and chest facing forward. A perfect score (based on a scale of 0–3, where 3 is perfect), is given if they can squat below parallel while maintaining form. If they can’t maintain form, they stand on a 2x4 height board and retest. If this allows full mobility, (a 2 on the scale) they have the mobility and strength to participate in stunting. If they’re legs move in, or their trunk and head fall forward, or if they have pain, they are not ready to stunt. (Cook, 2010)
While the hurdle test is part of the full FMS screen, assessing single leg stance test is a good indicator of balance, and stability. Start with feet together and have the athlete lift one knee to hip height. You can use the same stick/dowel behind their neck to give an idea of their stability. To score a 3 they need to lift their leg to hip height, while keeping shoulders and hips still and in a straight line. If they lean slightly forward or turn their lifted leg to the side, they score a 2. If they cannot perform without tipping to the side or without lifting their leg high enough, they are not ready to stunt. They may need work on improving their stance leg stability either due to hip or ankle dysfunction, or they may need mobility work on their moving leg.
The trunk stability push up is the third movement pattern I would assess to determine if someone is ready to progress with stunting. It will help determine core stability and upper body strength. And they may have limited hip or spine mobility that effects performance as well. The athlete starts lying face down on the floor, toes tucked up toward shins and hands in line with their forehead for males and chin for females. To achieve a 3 they must push up to a full push up in one motion. If they can’t do that, lower the hands to chin height for males/shoulder height for females, and then repeat. If they compensate with pushing their chest before their stomach, or their butt moves first, they would score a 1 and are not ready to progress.
These 3 positions are important to bases, fliers and back spots. If they don’t score at least a 2, they likely won’t have the control to perform a half safely. The squat will demonstrate a load in position for a flier and base. The ability to generate strength and power from the legs and core for transitional stunts stems from their ability to move in this pattern efficiently. For a flier to hold herself in the air, she needs her core centered with the trunk in a straight line. To perform a lib, she needs to stand on one foot with hip and core stability. To move with a flier, the base and back squat will need to control their single leg stance and keep their core stabile at the same time.
Because the high school and college cheer teams have been out of practice for a year, using these movement patterns vs trying to teach them to stunt on the first day will be helpful in determining the longevity and safety for your team. It will also allow you to see how someone moves so you can determine if they are ready to advance to the next skill level. This is easy to do on the first day of tryouts. If you use this as part of your scoring to make the team, you can then focus on building the basics and meeting your athlete where they are at, and then taking them further thru the season.
The best thing about using a movement screen to determine is someone is ready to participate, is there are exercises to help correct the patterns. These not only will decrease their risk of injury but will also help them to progress faster.
To learn more about the Functional Movement Screen, I recommend the book Movement by Gray Cook which you can find at Amazon (https://images.app.goo.gl/jLRS7ppEp9nTyj9Y6) or any of your favorite book sellers. You can also learn more on the FMS website https://www.functionalmovement.com/
And to read my presentation about cheerleading injuries and the FMS, check out https://www.northeastern.edu/rise/presentations/cheerleading-injuries-can-the-risk-be-reduced-via-movement-screening-and-appropriate-exercise/