If you want to master your cheerleading jumps, here are 4 common mistakes and solutions to get you started
1. Practicing with bad habits: Remember, if you want perfect jumps, practice is not enough. When you practice you MUST use proper skill and technique to create awesome jumps!
2. Starting with your feet apart: When you start with your feet together, you will get the most power and lift off the floor; also having your feet together looks clean when you perform jumps as a team.
3. Using a double prep: Tendencies to “double-bounce” or add an extra bend of the knees before taking the big dip is a big disadvantage to your success. When you do this, you are cutting off momentum, wasting energy, and your timing will be off with the rest of your team.
4. Flexing your feet: For ALL of your jumps, please keep your toes pointed! Whether your are doing jumps at tryouts, a game or during a competition, jumping with pointed toes ALWAYS looks better and will get you higher marks!