Grab your own wrist and their wrist just below the wrist bones. Keep your grip loose and flexible. Too much rigidity will keep the toss from going anywhere. Adjust as necessary until you two feel comfortable.
Make yourself the height of the other base, if possible, by widening your stance (or having them widen theirs). The best pairs of bases are roughly the same height. What’s more, the taller you are, the easier it will be to hoist the flyer higher into the air – don’t compromise height if you don’t have to.
Do plenty of basket drills before you g1o up in the actual stunt. Essentially, all you do is set up the flyer and stop when her feet touch your hands. If, in that position, her hands and feet are sturdy, centered, and secure, you’re doing it right. Try to limit the time it takes to make the process as fluid as possible.
There should be no jerky movements in this stunt. You and your base partner simply bend your knees and your arms lower with the rest of your body and her to accommodate her weight. It is one giant, slingshot motion. If you are jerky, do a practice drill. Do everything up until this point, and then mimic like you’re going to throw her into the air, stopping much before you actually would. This will help all of you get the timing of it.
The more oomph you put behind this movement, the more you use your entire body, the higher she is going to fly. As you’re dipping down with the placement of her left foot, take the power from your feet and drive it upward. You can even jump a little bit, adding even more height to your basket. [5] X Research source Let’s say you’re 70 inches (177. 8 cm) tall, with a thrust of 48 inches (121. 9 cm). That’s a basket toss that’s 118 inches (299. 7 cm) high. With a jump, it becomes 122 inches (309. 9 cm) – and it all adds up! Each inch more is that much more impressive.
Of course, ideally, you throw her straight up, plant your feet, and she comes directly back down – you should barely have to move an inch. But if that doesn’t happen, adjust your positioning to catch her.
Absorb her body weight as she comes down, bending your arms and knees as she lands into your makeshift cradle. Aim for one arm around her back and one around her knees.
From your dip, simply hoist her in front of you, slightly lowering your arm around her knees and pushing your arm around her back forward. She should then be easily able to stand just in front of you. From your dip, bounce her back up to where her feet can land in your hands again, and move onto a different stunt right away – another basket toss or elevator perhaps?
Make sure you feel sturdy. If you don’t, adjust. Don’t worry about hurting or strangling the bases – you definitely won’t.
When you’re ready, the backspot will count off for you, cuing you for each movement. On cue, she will hoist you up to put your left foot on the platform, too. You will be in a crouching position.
Don’t jump. You want contact for as long as possible to rev up and gain velocity. If you do jump, odds are your jump will be slightly off the timing of the bases, which will result in a choppy, unpowerful lurch into the air. [7] X Research source
Think of how you jump. Do you jump flat-footed? Probably not. When you’re crouching on their hands, make sure the balls of your feet are where the brunt of the action is taking place, so you can lift off from there.
You should remain in this position until you reach the peak of the toss. At that point you can hit a motion or do a trick. You want it to look as clean as possible from beginning to end. Keep your legs and hands tucked in so you don’t hurt those on the ground as you go up. A flailing arm or leg can do some serious damage.
A few options other than a straight ride are a toe touch, kick-arch, pretty woman, back tuck, full tuck, and many more. The higher you get into the air, the easier a trick will be (the more time you’ll have to do it).
Ride up as high as you can then quickly pull a toe touch, keeping your back straight. When pulling back into a layout then v shape, snap down from your toe touch quickly, it will look much cleaner than slowly coming down to your final positions. You also won’t have that much time to get into your layout/v sit so snapping down will give plenty of time to land in the bases arms.
As long as you don’t flail about and stay relaxed, it will be easy to catch you. Don’t worry! At the very least, you’ll land on them and they’ll break your fall!
Once you feel yourself leaving the bases arms, start to rotate into your back flip, keep in mind most people don’t grab their knees or tuck in the back flip. Most people come around piked, this makes it a lot easier to land in a V shape when you are caught.
Or go back into a stunt. From a cradle, the bases can bend once again, and on the upward bounce you pull your feet in – they can then rest in the bases’ hands, ready for the next basket toss or elevator.
Always be a bit tighter than you think you need to be. You are not running the risk of hurting the flyer or impeding the stunt if you’re holding on tightly. In fact, that way you can give her more power.
For an eight count, “1, 2” should be the team getting into position. On “3,4” the bases bend their knees and the flyer lifts her right foot into their hands. On “5,6” the flyer loads in her left foot and the rest of her body and the team dips down. On “7,8” she is thrusted upward into the air. With everyone in position, instead, you can count, “1” for the flyer putting in her right foot. “2” for her left foot, “down” for the dip, and “up!” for throwing her into the air.
You are also the reason she can get into their hands in the first place. Without a boost from you, she won’t even be able to get off the ground. Use your legs to hoist her into position and to put you into position for throwing her upwards.
Make sure to throw her straight up so she doesn’t curve to the left, right, backwards, or forwards. Your hands guide her direction more than anyone else’s.
Follow the bases, staying slightly behind them. You’ll be catching her arms, back, and neck.
Make fists with your hands, so you don’t end up slapping or poking the flyer or the bases. Your arms should jut out in front of you as you see her coming down, but your elbows should be relaxed. No one’s body, including yours, should be rigid.
The bases will lower their arms around her legs, and she will go onto the ground. All you have to do is give her a little nudge forward with your forearms and then move out of the way. If she goes up into another stunt immediately, use your arms to hoist her up to where she can place her feet back into the bases hands. Immediately move your hands back onto her waist and send her up into another toss or an elevator.
