Who can be a spotter and what must a spotter do?

Under the IASF Cheer Rules 2025-28, a spotter's primary responsibility is to prevent injuries by protecting the head, neck, back and shoulder area of a top person during a stunt, pyramid or toss. All required spotters must be members of your own team and trained in proper spotting techniques.

A spotter:

• typically stands to the side or back of the stunt, pyramid or toss
• must be standing on the performing surface and attentive to the stunt
• must not be doing anything that could prevent spotting (for example holding a sign)
• must be able to touch the base of the stunt, but does not have to be in direct contact
• cannot stand with their torso under a stunt
• may grab the base's wrists or arms or the top person's legs or ankles, or may not touch the stunt at all
• may not have both hands under the sole of the top person's foot or under the bases' hands (if a spotter's hand is under the foot, it must be their front hand)
• cannot also be counted as a base at the same time. If only one person is under a top person's foot, that person is a base, so in a two-leg stunt one base cannot also be the required spotter.

Source: https://www.iasfworlds.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/iasf_rules_cheer_25-28_final.pdf (glossary and general rule 12)