Good flyers aren’t born at the top of a stunt. They’re built through progressions, strength work and a team culture where they feel safe to speak up. This guide is for coaches (and captains helping them) who want to develop flyers across a squad. If you’re a flyer working on your own technique, start with our flyer technique guide.

Choose Flyers for Technique, Not Just Size

It’s tempting to put the smallest athlete on top. Varsity’s stunting basics point out that a top person with more weight but great technique is often easier to stunt with than a lighter person with poor technique. Look for athletes who can stay tight, hold their own weight on their arms, balance on one leg, and stay calm.

Be careful with how you talk about body size. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says cheer athletes have sometimes felt pressure to look a certain way, which can lead to poor body image and not eating enough. The AAP recommends avoiding language that suggests athletes should fit a specific body type. Nemours KidsHealth also advises coaches and parents to promote healthy eating and know the warning signs of eating disorders.

Build a Progression, Then Stick to It

USA Cheer’s college rules say programs should qualify cheerleaders through accepted teaching progressions, use spotting until athletes show mastery, and not press athletes to perform skills until they’re safely prepared. Varsity’s example of a progression is simple: to master an extension, first master an elevator to shoulders, because the technique is the same.

A typical flyer path looks like this, adjusted to your rule set and your athletes:

1. Ground work: body positions, tight holds and balance on the floor.
2. Prep-level stunts: elevator to shoulders (prep) with a cradle or step-down dismount the group has practiced.
3. Extended stunts: only once the prep is consistent.
4. Single-leg stunts: such as a liberty. Varsity suggests that while a flyer is learning a ground-up liberty, the coach can place a solid prep-level stunt beside it for the flyer to use as a brace, then remove it as the flyer gets used to the balance.
5. Body positions in the air: heel stretch, arabesque, scorpion and others, each with the spotting your rules require.

Skills that haven’t been mastered belong in supervised practice only. KidsHealth advises that cheerleaders never try a stunt at a game or competition that hasn’t been practiced many times.

Ground Drills for Flyers

Much flyer work can happen on the floor, at practice, before anyone leaves the ground:

• Position holds: liberty, heel stretch and other positions held on one leg with a locked standing knee.
• Hands-free holds: Varsity suggests kicking a heel stretch up without hands and holding the leg as high as possible, to build the strength to control flexibility.
• Core strength: Varsity recommends planks and V-ups, noting that the tighter a flyer is, the easier the stunt.
• Hang drills: Varsity recommends these to build the core and upper-body strength flyers need to hold themselves up.
• Balance training: single-leg work that gets gradually harder. See our balance training guide.
• Flexibility: daily stretching on both sides evenly, per Varsity’s top girl tips. Our split and scorpion stretching guides have routines.

Train the Whole Stunt Group

A flyer can only be as consistent as the people under them. When a flyer struggles, check the whole group:

• Bases: Varsity says power should come from the legs and finish with locked arms. If bases are curling the flyer up with their arms, the flyer will feel the stunt wobble.
• Backspot: Varsity calls the backspot “the glue” of the stunt. They watch the flyer’s hips, since that’s the center of gravity, to judge whether the stunt is centered.
• Flyer: Varsity says the flyer should hop off the ground, put their weight into locked arms, follow the momentum and climb lightly.

Our guides on basing and fixing inconsistent stunts go deeper.

Know the Spotting Rules for Your Level

Rules depend on where your team cheers: high school teams follow the NFHS/USA Cheer Spirit Rules, college teams follow USA Cheer’s college rules, and all-star teams follow USASF rules. As an example, USA Cheer’s 2026-27 college rules require a spotter for one-arm stunts other than a single cupie or basic liberty, listing heel stretch, arabesque, high torch, scorpion and bow and arrow among the examples. The same rules say a required spotter must stay focused on the top person’s head, neck and shoulders and can’t hold objects.

The AAP’s 2024 recommendations add that coaches should be trained and certified in safety techniques, especially spotting, and that new skills should match athletes’ age and skill level.

Make It Safe to Say No

Flyers often feel the most fear, and fear is information. KidsHealth advises cheerleaders to tell their coach when they’re uncomfortable with a stunt, and to go to a parent or administrator if the coach isn’t supportive. Coaches can make this easier:

• Agree on calls for “ready” and “down” so anyone can stop a stunt.
• Step back a level when a flyer loses confidence, rather than pushing through.
• Build rest into stunt sessions, and stop when the group’s technique starts to slip.
• Praise good technique and good decisions, not just hits.

Plan for Injuries

KidsHealth notes flyers are particularly at risk of injury. A U.S. high school injury study published in Pediatrics (2016) found that over half of cheer injuries happened during stunts, and concussion was the most common injury. The AAP recommends:

• A written emergency action plan that every coach, athlete and family knows.
• Learning the signs and symptoms of concussion.
• Keeping athletes with a concussion or serious injury out until a medical professional clears them.
• Practicing on safe surfaces, never on concrete, asphalt, dirt, vinyl or wet or uneven floors.

Coach’s Checklist

• Pick flyers for technique and attitude, and avoid body-type language.
• Write down your progression and don’t skip steps.
• Drill positions, balance, core and hang strength on the ground.
• Coach the bases and backspot as hard as the flyer.
• Know your rule set’s spotting requirements.
• Give every athlete a way to stop a stunt.
• Have an emergency action plan and a concussion plan.

Sources: USA Cheer, 2026-27 College Cheer Rules and Cheerleading Rules; Varsity, Stunting Basics, Elite Stunts, Top Girl Training Tips and 3 Top Girl Tips; American Academy of Pediatrics, Cheerleading Safety (HealthyChildren.org) and Safety in Cheerleading policy statement (2024); Nemours KidsHealth, Safety Tips: Cheerleading; Currie et al., Cheerleading Injuries in United States High Schools (Pediatrics, 2016). Last checked October 1, 2026.