Principles of Spotting
-Practice "moving floorwards" [1]
-Fall big (make yourself catchable) [2]
-Twist with your upper body, move across the floor with your legs, adjust your height by bending or straightening your legs (dynamic stance)
-Positioning: Really close or really far (NOT in the danger zone)
-Spot the large joints using the large joints
-Dynamic spotting: move with the flow
-Utilize the base and exploit the structure of both flyer and base to redirect, stall, or prevent a fall – assist the flyer in falling towards a safe spot
-Decrease the impact of the flyer hitting the ground, especially with standing acrobatics. Help the flyer land softly - this can be done either by connection with the torso, or the thighs. [3]
Pitfalls:
-“Goddess pose” is too static
-Putting one’s arms out in a “cage spot” is not very helpful. This may work for spotters with more mass but is not efficient for smaller people
-Do not grab extremities in a way that increases net injury (ex. a flyer might pike to find the ground with their feet, so don't grab their legs on the way down. Caveats exist, as with many of these "pitfalls": for a standing trick, a spotter might grasp the thigh on the way down to offload the fall so the flyer is placed on the ground with very little force. You can also do this by grabbing around the torso.) [3]
-Avoid the landing zone – keep out of the way of the flyer’s feet finding the ground.
-Fall big (make yourself catchable) [2]
-Twist with your upper body, move across the floor with your legs, adjust your height by bending or straightening your legs (dynamic stance)
-Positioning: Really close or really far (NOT in the danger zone)
-Spot the large joints using the large joints
-Dynamic spotting: move with the flow
-Utilize the base and exploit the structure of both flyer and base to redirect, stall, or prevent a fall – assist the flyer in falling towards a safe spot
-Decrease the impact of the flyer hitting the ground, especially with standing acrobatics. Help the flyer land softly - this can be done either by connection with the torso, or the thighs. [3]
Pitfalls:
-“Goddess pose” is too static
-Putting one’s arms out in a “cage spot” is not very helpful. This may work for spotters with more mass but is not efficient for smaller people
-Do not grab extremities in a way that increases net injury (ex. a flyer might pike to find the ground with their feet, so don't grab their legs on the way down. Caveats exist, as with many of these "pitfalls": for a standing trick, a spotter might grasp the thigh on the way down to offload the fall so the flyer is placed on the ground with very little force. You can also do this by grabbing around the torso.) [3]
-Avoid the landing zone – keep out of the way of the flyer’s feet finding the ground.
Vocabulary
Safety Spot
Primary Purpose: safety
Correctional Spot
Dual Purpose: safety and instruction/coaching
Accurate self-assessment
The ability to recognize (pre-flight) one’s ability to successfully execute a technique
Self spotting
The ability to recognize (in flight) a fall/injurious situation before/while it happens, while possessing and employing skills to mitigate disastrous effects to oneself and/or one’s partner. (C. Cox)
Primary Purpose: safety
Correctional Spot
Dual Purpose: safety and instruction/coaching
Accurate self-assessment
The ability to recognize (pre-flight) one’s ability to successfully execute a technique
Self spotting
The ability to recognize (in flight) a fall/injurious situation before/while it happens, while possessing and employing skills to mitigate disastrous effects to oneself and/or one’s partner. (C. Cox)
Questions to ask yourself
- Am I spotting in a sustainable way?
From Standing Acrobatic's spotting series [4]: - What are they asking me to spot?
- Do I fully understand what they’re attempting?
- Do they need a correctional spot or a safety spot?
- Am I clear on what I need to do?
- Can they perform the basic elements?
- What specific part do they need help with?
- Can I see a prep or timer in order to better understand what is being attempted?
- What is likely to go wrong?
- If things do go wrong, which way is the flyer most likely to fall?
- What would be the worst way for the flyer to fall?
- Can I help them fall in a better direction?
- If I’m unable to do this, how can I help them to land on their feet safely?
- Can I reach their hips from the very beginning?
- If not, can the base go lower, or can I go higher?
- If an inversion is involved, which way does the flyer half twist out of the inversion? Stand on the opposite side of their twist.
Reference Links
[1] Ezra
[2] Lux
[3] Precision Acrobatics
[4] Standing Acrobatics
[2] Lux
[3] Precision Acrobatics
[4] Standing Acrobatics