We talked before about injuries in acro and how to avoid them.
A big part of that is using spotters.
For those of you who are newer to acro.
A spotter is an equally important role in acroyoga.
They have the responsibility to help from the outside, by supporting, making sure the flyer and base stay safe, and giving external coaching and encouragement if needed.
For those of you who already know about spotting, lets be real for a second...
You probably think it's boring, and you don't like to do it or maybe even hate it.
Don't worry that's pretty normal, most people feel this way.
But today I want to share several reasons why spotting is an amazing skill.
Why it's something that you should learn to love.
And why if you never spot you will never progress very far in acroyoga.
Let me share one of my own quotes that I made up regarding spotting that I think gives some insight...
"Nobody ever achieved any difficult new skills or tricks in acroyoga without spotters." - Caspian Burrell
What I mean by this is the only way to safely practice difficult new tricks at any level is with spotters.
If you look at crazy circus stunts and super advanced acro skills, do you really believe that they just tried them for the first time ever without any safety measures or spotters in place?
The answer is categorically no!
Even at the highest level of performing acrobats, spotters are used to ensure they can practice the skills safely and consistently.
They use spotters until they master skills completely and are confident in their own abilities to then do the skill safely on their own.
My point is if you ever want to learn new skills in acroyoga that have any level of risk you will need spotters to do so.
So if you will always need spotters to advance further and learn more, then where do these spotters come from?
You and me and all of us need to be the spotters...
We all need to learn to love spotting.
We all need to be comfortable and skilled at it so we can all support each other to learn and grow.
That is why it is of equal importance to the other roles in acroyoga.
In case that isn't enough of a selling point on spotting, then let me add this...
When you spot someone properly.
If you help them to avoid a bad fall or injury, or sometimes you can even save someone's life from a fatal accident.
That is super empowering!
I've had a few moments in acro where someone was going to have a seriously bad fall, and I managed to safely spot them and bring them down without injury.
They have so much gratitude and thanks and it's a beautiful moment to know you really helped someone!
I've also witnessed the other side of this where spotters haven't spotted properly and someone has fallen and hurt themselves.
The spotter is super guilty, upset and feels bad that they didn't help the person properly.
It just sucks for everyone all round.
I mean if you're still not convinced then I'll add this final touch...
If you don't spot others, they will be less willing to spot you.
As a result you won't progress as much in acroyoga and it will limit your own practice.
So even from a selfish point of view, you should still learn to love spotting, haha!
I'll finish by adding that I love seeing good spotting in the acro communities.
It's this wonderful supportive, encouraging and caring nature of the communities that I love so much.
Looking around a jam and seeing people spotting and helping keep each other safe is a wonderful visual respresentation of this.
It's why this movement practice is unlike any other, and why I'm so passionate about it.
So please keep spotting and supporting each other and keep this practice safe and magical!
Cheers,
Cas
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