When working to ensure that your routine is as sharp as it possibly can be, there comes a point where the smallest of details are focused on.
With the mindset that judges will also focus on these tiniest of details, and the importance of which will become magnified when your competition is at its highest levels, these types of items are what typically separate the “best” from everyone else.
One of these such pieces is the concept of “flexed feet”.
It is not unusual for me to be working on a project in my office and hear a coach call out flexed feet being seen somewhere in a routine which is being run through in the gym, usually by an athlete that with normal effort, is quite capable of not flexing their feet.
So, what are flexed feet?
Flexed feet would definitely fall under the category of something that the passive All Star cheer fan may not immediately pick up on but will stick out like a sore thumb to a judge at competition.
Furthermore, flexed feet would fall under the “cringeworthy” category by the most obsessive of cheer coaches as they work to perfect their team’s routine’s ahead of them getting picked apart by judges at competition.
The best way I can describe a “flexed foot” is if you were to envision someone flexing their biceps and transferring that image to that of a foot of an athlete throwing a skill in any given part of the routine.
Not very pretty, but one of the most commonly seen occurrences which drive cheer coaches batty in gyms all over the world on a daily basis.
The best way to combat this is to have the athlete work through exercises in which they practice properly pointing their toes.
Properly pointing one’s foot involves stretching one’s foot through the ankle, the foot’s arch, and continued down through the toes.
Correctly pointed toes will enhance the visual appeal of every skill that they can possibly be utilized in.
Unfortunately, as much as properly pointed feet can help in leading to super clean routines, the more flexed feet scattered throughout a routine, the less enjoyable a routine can be for a judge to watch and the impact on one’s scoresheet will truly be felt.
Especially when a division is super tight at competition, the difference between a flexed foot noticed by a judge can be the difference between winning and losing.
A number of years ago, we had a team come in 2nd at CHEERSPORT Atlanta by 0.0001 of a point.
Think about that.
Although the rubrics across all verticals of competitive cheer may at times seem like a constantly moving target, one thing is for certain, the slightest loss of a portion of a point in a division as intensely contested as this one was absolutely can make the difference between coming in 1st and coming in 2nd.
To have something as simple as pointing one’s toes be able to push one to the Champions Circle at any given major competition, is certainly a reason for cheer coaches everywhere to center on the crispness pointed toes bring to a routine and the pleasant feeling a judges eyes experience when seeing them in a competition performance.
