Cheerleading is a fun sport where you do cool moves, like flipping, jumping, and lifting your friends in the air. Sometimes you do these moves on the ground, and sometimes you do them on a bouncy floor. When you do these moves, you need to know some things about how things move and how you can make them move faster or slower, higher or lower, or spin around.
One thing you need to know is called impulse. Impulse is when you push or pull something for a certain time. For example, when you jump on a trampoline, you push the trampoline down with your feet for a short time. This gives you an impulse that makes you go up in the air. The harder you push and the longer you push, the bigger the impulse and the higher you go.
The equation for impulse is:
J = F ⋅ t
where J is the impulse, F is the force, and t is the time.
Another thing you need to know is called momentum. Momentum is how much something is moving and in what direction. For example, when you throw a ball, it has momentum because it is moving forward. The heavier the ball and the faster it goes, the more momentum it has.
The equation for momentum is:
p = m · v
where p is the momentum, m is the mass, and v is the velocity.
Impulse and momentum are connected by a rule that says: impulse equals change in momentum. This means that when you give something an impulse, you change its momentum. For example, when you catch a ball, you give it an impulse that makes it stop moving. This changes its momentum from forward to zero.
The equation for the impulse-momentum theorem is:
J = Δp = m · Δv
where Δp is the change in momentum, and Δv is the change in velocity.
In cheerleading, impulse and momentum help you do amazing moves, like tumbling and stunting. Tumbling is when you do flips, rolls, twists, and jumps on the ground or on a bouncy floor. Stunting is when you lift, throw, catch, and balance your friends in the air with the help of other friends.
In tumbling, impulse and momentum help you get height, speed, and rotation. For example, when you do a round-off back handspring back tuck (a move where you run, turn sideways, flip backwards with your hands on the ground, and then flip backwards again without your hands), you need to give yourself a big impulse by pushing the ground hard with your feet for a short time. This changes your momentum from sideways to up, so you can go high enough for the second flip. You also need to give yourself a twist by turning your arms and hips in the air. This changes your spin momentum (how fast and which way you spin), so you can spin backwards for the second flip.
In stunting, impulse and momentum help you do lifts, tosses, catches, and transitions. For example, when a boy and a girl do a full-up extension (a move where the boy lifts the girl from his waist to above his head with a twist), they need to give the girl a big impulse by pushing her feet hard with his hands for a short time. This changes her momentum from zero to up and sideways, so she can reach his head level with a twist. The boy also needs to give the girl a twist by turning his wrists in sync with her hips. This changes her spin momentum, so she can complete the twist.
Impulse and momentum also help you land safely and smoothly in both tumbling and stunting. To make the landing softer and easier on your body, you need to make the time of contact longer with the ground or your friends. This makes the impulse smaller and therefore the change in momentum smaller. For example, when the girl lands from the toss, she needs to bend her knees and hips slightly and let her legs take some of the force. This makes the time of contact longer with the boy’s hands and makes the impulse smaller. Similarly, when you land from a flip, you need to bend your knees and hips slightly and roll forward or backward. This makes the time of contact longer with the ground and makes the impulse smaller.
As you can see, impulse and momentum are very important for doing tumbling and stunting moves in cheerleading. By using these ideas, cheerleaders can do better moves with more power, accuracy, and safety.
