phcheer
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varsity cheerleader
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« on: 05/19/09, 10:02 am » |
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hey everyone.
so we just had try-outs for our high school squad. 13 girls all together. the one problem we noticed was splits! our girls stink at doing the splits! [also pretty much noone has any tumbling of any kind not even a cartwheel but thats beside the point.] anyways. i was wondering if anyone had any ideas on how to get our girls to get better splits. it would mean a lot to all of us. thank you so much in advance.
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:.:.hold my poms while i stunt with your boyfriend.:.:
:.:.when people you dont even hate you... then you know youre the best.:.:
:.:.if you date a cheerleader- rasie your hand... if you dont rasie your standards-
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LightningForever
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« Reply #1 on: 05/19/09, 11:49 am » |
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All I can tell you is to have your kids stretch well often, as the splits are all about flexibility. Try having them hold their splits for a long increment of time (we usually do 2 minutes), stretch again, and then go back into their splits for a shorter amount of time(20-30 seconds). Encourage stretching and practicing the splits at home as well, and your kids should be able to eventually do them with no problem at all. Practice practice practice!  |
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SoCalCheerCoach2
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« Reply #2 on: 05/19/09, 12:20 pm » |
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I use to have my girls show their splits during tryouts, but I don't anymore as we don't ever do the splits in performances, games, etc. I can see their flexibility through their jumps. I don't specifically try to get them to do the splits throughout the year, but we do stretches that certainly work them. Hopefully this will help.
They start by laying flat on their back and bringing one knee into their chest, while the other leg stays flat on the ground. The knee that's into the chest should be making a 90 degree angle with the foot. I have them hold that for 30 seconds. Then they straighten the leg up holding it by the ankle (or the knee/thigh area if they can't reach their ankle yet) and hold it for 45 seconds. They bring the knee back in and hold for 30 seconds. Then straighten the leg again and hold for 1 minute. Then they roll over into their splits. They hold sitting up straight for 30 seconds, lean over onto their elbows (or as far as they can go) for 30 seconds, and leaning/arching back for 30 seconds. Then they grab their ankle and roll back onto their back with the leg straight holding for 30 seconds. After that, they switch to the other leg.
Something else you might be interested is normally used by gymnasts but work for cheer. Having them sit in their splits and having a partner (or you) lift up their front leg a bit. You can also have them put the front leg up on a cheer mat (anything between 1 inch and 1 3/4 inch wil work fine).
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phcheer
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varsity cheerleader
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« Reply #3 on: 05/20/09, 12:43 pm » |
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thank you so much for the help. it really means a lot to me that there are so many other people out there willing to help out just one squad of 13 girls. you are all seriously amazing. thanks again. you dont know how grateful i am.
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:.:.hold my poms while i stunt with your boyfriend.:.:
:.:.when people you dont even hate you... then you know youre the best.:.:
:.:.if you date a cheerleader- rasie your hand... if you dont rasie your standards-
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ACEDAD
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« Reply #4 on: 06/04/09, 05:40 pm » |
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Debbie Love was teaching a tumbling class for the ACE coaches last Saturday and was showing stretching exercises. Someone asked her about doing the splits to increase flexibility. I was pretty surprised when she said that splits were a waste of time for flexibility improvement.
Just an FYI.
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jandotcom
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« Reply #5 on: 06/04/09, 07:07 pm » |
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Debbie Love was teaching a tumbling class for the ACE coaches last Saturday and was showing stretching exercises. Someone asked her about doing the splits to increase flexibility. I was pretty surprised when she said that splits were a waste of time for flexibility improvement.
Just an FYI.
Just from my own personal experience as a cheerleader and tumbler, I would have to disagree with that. I don't think that splits are completely SUFFICIENT, in that you need flexibility in places other than just the areas that are stretched during splits....but I do think that they were helpful to me. |
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Jen H
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« Reply #6 on: 06/04/09, 07:54 pm » |
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Just from my own personal experience as a cheerleader and tumbler, I would have to disagree with that. I don't think that splits are completely SUFFICIENT, in that you need flexibility in places other than just the areas that are stretched during splits....but I do think that they were helpful to me.
I agree. Aside from flyers needing them, I have noticed my kids with splits have better front hurdlers and cartwheels. |
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Adams School, K-8 with 55 students: "A little small but best of all!"
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ACEDAD
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« Reply #7 on: 06/05/09, 06:13 pm » |
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As I mentioned I thought it was odd, but I can't make the case for or against. I've emailed Debbie to see if she can send me a summary of her position. I'll post it when I get it.
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ACEDAD
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« Reply #8 on: 06/05/09, 07:21 pm » |
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Here is Debbie's response:
It is not necessarily a good way to improve flexibility for our sport because what we have to be able to do is be strong enough and flexible enough to lift the leg on your own so passive splits are not a dynamic exercise great for our stunting. They are a good tool for flexibility just not for the dynamic stunting we do. They are not bad just not the stretch of choice for our flyers. The isometric exercises and band resistance exercises are more dynamic in nature and simulate the actual stunting we do. We all know kids who can get all their splits down and cannot stunt because they have built no strength with that flexibility. They are good for doing at the end of practice to keep you from being sore the next day and just to stretch the muscles after a hard practice. Hope this helps.
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Kong
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« Reply #9 on: 06/06/09, 08:24 am » |
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Actually, that makes perfect sense to me.
Kong
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coachamie
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« Reply #10 on: 06/07/09, 07:45 pm » |
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I agree that does make perfect sense. Does anyone know some great ways to improve flyer flexibility? We do a lot of the typical stuff and there were some good stretches in the last American Cheerleader, but some of our flyers are still not getting where they need to be. Some of our groups would be ready to move onto heel stretches if they flyer could pull one.
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phcheer
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« Reply #11 on: 10/02/09, 10:56 am » |
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we have that same problem...
its sad that our bases are more flexible than our flyers...
many of our bases can hit heel stretches [and i can even do a bow-and-arrow]...
but some of our flyers cant even keep balance in a lib...
any help would be appreciated.
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Logged
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:.:.hold my poms while i stunt with your boyfriend.:.:
:.:.when people you dont even hate you... then you know youre the best.:.:
:.:.if you date a cheerleader- rasie your hand... if you dont rasie your standards-
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jandotcom
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« Reply #12 on: 10/02/09, 01:18 pm » |
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we have that same problem...
its sad that our bases are more flexible than our flyers...
many of our bases can hit heel stretches [and i can even do a bow-and-arrow]...
but some of our flyers cant even keep balance in a lib...
any help would be appreciated.
Ummmm...can your bases be flyers? |
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phcheer
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varsity cheerleader
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« Reply #13 on: 10/05/09, 08:32 am » |
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well we could.
but most of our flyers refuse to be bases.
which is where we come into some delimas.
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:.:.hold my poms while i stunt with your boyfriend.:.:
:.:.when people you dont even hate you... then you know youre the best.:.:
:.:.if you date a cheerleader- rasie your hand... if you dont rasie your standards-
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