What Is a Sponge in Cheerleading?

Quick answer: a sponge is a loading position in which the flyer's straight arms rest on the bases' shoulders while the bases hold the flyer's feet at roughly torso height - an intermediate stage used to move a flyer up into a stunt, and sometimes the starting position for a toss skill thrown directly from it.

What Does It Look Like?

The flyer stands close to the bases with both feet held at around torso height, arms straight and braced down on the bases' shoulders for support and control, rather than standing freely upright the way a flyer does in a held stunt position like a prep.

Who Is Involved?

A sponge is built by a small stunt group - typically a flyer and one or two bases, with the flyer's arms braced against the bases for stability during the load.

Where It Fits in a Routine

A sponge is generally a transitional stage rather than a position held and shown to judges on its own - it's most often used as an intermediate step during a load-in on the way to a higher stunt, or, in a "sponge toss," as the starting position a flyer is thrown from directly into a toss skill.

How the Term Is Used

"Sponge" describes this specific low, arms-braced loading position; "sponge toss" refers to a toss performed starting from this position rather than from a full stand-up load.

Related Skills

A sponge is closely related to the general load-in technique, and - when used as a toss entry - shares its toss mechanics with skills like the basket toss.

Level / Division Context

Because it's a foundational loading technique rather than a difficulty skill in itself, a sponge is used from the earliest competitive levels onward, in both simple loads and, later, as an entry into more advanced toss skills.

What Judges Look For Conceptually

Judges are generally looking for a controlled, stable load through the sponge position, with a smooth transition into whatever stunt or toss follows.