Hey you! This post is about teaching and being an adult in classes. I do not and will not teach children (COOTIES). Now, back to our regularly scheduled blog.

If you’ve ever been a beginner in one of my aerial classes here in New York City, you may have noticed something – after your first day, you don’t get a whole lot of spots. What gives? Do I not love you? Do you have BO? Do I not care about your circus wellbeing and want you to succeed? Oh, Dear Dangler, if only you knew! Of COURSE I love you, no you do not have BO, and I absolutely care about your wellbeing and want you to succeed. I just want you to do that on your own. Without kicking me in the face.

Why We Might Spot

There are several reasons we might trot out our spotting magic.

• To avoid face smashing. Beginners especially do *creative* things, so a carefully placed hand may prevent some very bad choices. Example: a hand hovering above Jericho’s ankles when they’re doing their first knee hang reminds them to not straighten their legs and fall on their head.
• To boost confidence. Sometimes, you just need to know your coach is there because you’re having ALL the feelings. Example: standing in front of Morgan and encouraging him as he whirls into a new tinkle-inducing drop.
• To guide movement. “Tap my hand. Tap my hand. Tap my hand.” If a student is having trouble with a new movement pattern, I may use the Follow My Hand method. Example: Becky is completely mystified about how her leg is supposed to get from behind her head to between the silks. Tap and follow my hand with your foot, Becky.

The Trend of Over-Spotting

So often, the thinking goes: if a little bit of spotting is a good thing, then a whole LOT of spotting must be better! Right? Not so fast, sparkle panties. While it’s essential to have a big ole bag of tricks when it comes to keeping students safe, hands-on spotting isn’t always the way to go. Consider:

• As a coach, I am more likely to be injured while spotting. Every teacher who’s ever gotten a kick to the face, raise your hand!
• If your instructor has to person-handle all your body weight through a move, well, that’s just not a good use of anyone’s time! Do you need to be stronger before attempting that triple spinny salto thingy? Does the coach need to break it down into smaller, more manageable steps? Let’s take a moment for some real talk. I am not 22, and you are not 8 years old and 65 lbs. If you cannot manage a move under 90% of your own steam, we’re not ready to go there.
• If your coach is locked into one on one with you, they’re not able to give their attention to anyone else in the class. Once in a while, this is completely appropriate! If it happens every 5 minutes, it is monopolizing the teacher’s time and attention; it makes your fellow students have stabby feelings – don’t do it.
• Spotting can short-circuit a student’s perception of what’s happening, how it should feel, how much effort it takes, etc. We take in tons of input through our feel-y bits. As students, we need to be able to feel the parameters of a move. For example, if I simply hold you in a knee hang, you get absolutely no sense of how that knee hang might ever happen on your own; if I hover a hand over your ankles or allow you to use a mat to support some of your body weight, your muscles have to do some work, and you have a much better understanding of how one might hang by their knees.
• This one is actually the main reason I limit hands-on spotting: self-efficacy. Spotting is a transference of ownership. When I am being spotted, I’m handing over a portion of my responsibility for completing a move over to my coach. This may be a great thing, this may not be a great thing – it depends on the move, the student, the apparatus, and the day. That said, a HUGE part of my teaching philosophy is that students thrive when they participate in their own learning. Enter: SELF-EFFICACY. When we cannot move without our instructor practically right on top of us, that’s a problem now and forever. But, when we take appropriate ownership of our safety, our bodies, and our understanding of the work, magic happens! Allowing and encouraging ownership = everyone wins.

So, If I’m Not Spotting, What Am I Supposed To Do?

Save your bodies, teachers! There are oodles of alternatives to hands-on spotting we can consider. Here are a few of my favorites, and I’m sure you have some of your own (leave ’em in the comments!).

• Break it down now! Baby steps baby steps baby steps. Break that move down into the next teensy tiny step that the student can safely complete on their OWN.
• Floorials! Ain’t no shame in doing something near or on the floor! I do it all.the.time. It’s a fabulous way to get up close and personal with a movement pattern, but without the wedgies. WIN!
• These moves are made for walkin’. Learning to walk down drops or other moves means you’ve got the power! Basically, you spot your own darned self.

Know what I’m NOT a fan of? Students spotting other students. Ever. Are they trained to do that? No. Did they sign up to be responsible for another student’s safety? No. Will your insurance cover an accident that happens between students? Probably not. Just say no.

The main takeaway is this: is that hands-on spot really necessary? Is it really? If the answer is no, then explore other options. If the answer is yes, Bad Things may happen without a spot, then spot away! There are some apparatus that are naturally safety line or spot heavy (swinging trap, I’m looking at you), and some that should require very little (aerial silks in the house!). You do you! Be safe, have fun, don’t smash your face (or smash your coach’s face). Love and pull-ups, Laura