All About that Base: Morehead’s Kayla Rucker

…as a base you’re trusted to control and execute the stunt. You become the unsung hero of a stunt group.

My name is Kayla Rucker and I’m a backspot at Morehead State University. When working camps with UCA in the summer I often go from main base, to side base, then back to backspot. When you’re a base, it’s important to be versatile and step in where you’re needed. I started cheering when I was 5 years old and fell in love with it immediately.

My love for cheer grew when I started learning stunts; this portion of cheerleading quickly become my favorite part. In the beginning, when I first learned to stunt I was a top girl. My first two years of middle school I remained a top until my eighth grade year – I switched roles to take on basing. It was at that point I truly understood how special being a base was. As a top girl, yes your job is hard, but as a base, you’re trusted to control and execute the stunt. You become the unsung hero of a stunt – you control what happens to that top girl everyone is watching, and you’re expected to do it perfectly. Once I joined all stars and started learning more elite skills I started to see why being a base was such an important part of a stunt group.

Photo by Darrin Spencer Photography

Cheering at Morehead has really expanded my knowledge of basing and helped me perfect my talent. College stunts are even more difficult and they keep progressing every day; there’s always a new stunt to learn. For me, bettering my skills is working with my stunt group every day to increase my talent and knowledge. When thinking about where I want to go with cheerleading when I’m no longer an athlete myself, I would love to coach somewhere, traveling and teaching the new stunts and what different ways to base, whether it be maining, siding, or backspotting. Being a backspot is one of the biggest foundations of the stunt. It allows you to see what the bases are doing as well as the top girl, and you are in control, especially in most college level skills. You’re a support system for the main and side base so they don’t feel the full weight of the top girl, being that person is very rewarding in knowing you hold a big importance as to why a stunt hits and works best.

Also, working for UCA has been one of the best opportunities I’ve ever been given. When kids have questions in stunt class about what is the best way to base a stunt, I get to share my knowledge and show my passion for this special position in cheerleading.

I have many memories of competing. One memory that sticks out in my mind is at 2016 college nationals. After we performed our cheer, our stunt was a back handspring full-up, and as a back-spot in this particular stunt it’s really important I stay low, dropping my legs and letting my top girl’s weight get over top of me to allow her to stand up and for me to throw her to the top of the stunt from an inverted position while spinning. During our semi performance I didn’t stay low long enough for my top girl, so our stunt didn’t go as planned. I felt really disappointed in myself, feeling like I had let my team down. That is one of the worst feelings in the world. I knew for our finals performance I had to do my job and be even more focused than normal when we go to that part of the routine.

Finals rolled around and I became even more nervous when we got backstage. The beginning of the routine my nerves went away but once we got in the middle of the cheer my nerves started creeping back up. It was time for the back handspring full-up, I remember telling myself over and over “stay low Kayla, stay low.” Our stunt hit right to the top and I was overjoyed with excitement, I knew this stunt was a lot of pressure on me but I knew I could overcome that pressure and do great things! Being a base is one of the most rewarding positions and I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. Ya know how they say a job you love isn’t really a job. That’s definitely what basing is for me!

Watch more talented athletes, like Kayla, chase their dreams to victory in Going for Gold!

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