So your flyer already spends 8-10 hours per week at the gym between team practices, tumbling and stunting classes. Sadly though, it’s not enough for flyers to only work skills, body positions and technique at the gym. 

Because flyers make up a small portion of the team, they typically get less individualized work during regular practices. Unless your athlete is in a flyer or stunt training class, they may not be getting enough focused practice on flyer skills. 

This is why it is so important to train at home throughout the week. It should go without saying that ALL cheerleaders should be stretching on a daily basis. Though, flyers should be doing intensive stretching every day. 

After stretching well, a flyer MUST practice body positions on each leg. A well-rounded flyer can pull body positions on each leg.

And lastly, a flyer should be conditioning core, leg and hip muscles in order to more easily execute skills and body positions. 

Though, the questions isn’t what your flyer should be doing at home, it’s how do you get them motivated to do so.

Try these five motivational tips to get your flyer working hard at home. Especially during COVID-19 times, this is more important than ever. Making sure that your flyer is keeping muscles conditioned and not falling into bad techniques and habits is essential. 

Tip #1: Take photos of each of your flyers body positions and archive the pictures in order to track progress. 

Being able to visually see their body positions really help the athletes know what to fix. Review the images and develop a plan to have better body positions the next time you take pictures. I would suggest trying this weekly.

Tip #2: Have your athlete teach a friend their body positions

You would be surprised how quickly these athletes know what corrections to make when it isn’t them having to make them. By allowing your athlete to “teach” another child body positions, you are allowing your child to review their own knowledge of the skills. 

Tip #3: Give your athlete a task of creating a “stunt sequence” and require a certain number of body positions

ALL flyers love to perform, so if you give the opportunity, they will surprise you. But don’t allow the flyer to be sloppy. Try to count for them. Make them show facials and try it to music. 

Tip #4: Get family involved

As a coach, I love getting videos of parents or siblings stunting their flyers. Of course, make sure to practice safely. These cheerleaders love getting the chance to be in the air. Get some family or friends involved and teach them how to do safe, fun stunts.

Tip #5: Timed-Challenges

Cheerleaders are very competitive and never shy away from a challenge. Have your athlete hold a body position for as long as they possibly can. Time them and see if she can beat that time. This is great conditioning and can be very fun at the same time. 

So there you have. Some of my ideas for keeping your flyers motivated at home. It’s imperative for flyers to work more than just flexibility at home. They will not get the time needed during practice to improve their skills. 

As a parent, it’s so important for you to keep them motivated to continue progressing and to be the best athlete possible. A wonderful tool to keep them working on their skills is our Stunt Trainer™️. Your cheerleader can use this to work on their flying skills by training with our balance technology that mimics real life stunting. You can grab one for your flyer here.  💗