Washington State Cheer-Sheet Analysis

This photo is of a Washington State Cheerleader performing a full basket. To perform this stunt, 3 or 4 bases interlock their arms while the flyer stands crouched down on their arms. The bases dip down then quickly raise their interlocked arms, which are a platform for the flyer, and throw the flyer as high as they can into the air in a straight line as the flyer stands up. She performs a skill when she feels weightless at the top of the throw. In this photo, you can see that she is twisting her body on two different axes, but I will only be talking about her twisting on the vertical axis. The picture was taken after she was tossed into the air, during her rotation. The bases at the bottom have their arms up throughout the whole stunt to catch her. This photo was taken at Washington State University by Paul Twibell during a football game in Fall 2017.

In this case, I will be talking about basket tosses. Extreme care needs to be taken for this stunt to be completed safely and successfully, meaning there are many rules and regulations set in place (AACCA, 2016). In fact, some competitions discourage them in routines due to the high rate of serious injury. The physics concepts that I will be explaining will involve the whole execution of the skill from the time the flyer is in their hands to the time that she is caught by her bases in a cradle. Concepts such as Newton’s first law will explain how they get her into the air. The use of torque will explain her rotation along with angular momentum. Finally, gravity explains her descent back towards the earth and the impulse momentum theorem describes the most critical part, the