When you attend a cheerleading performance for the first time, you’ll quickly hear about the “Needle” and the “Scorpion.” Many people confuse these two poses, even though they look quite different to a trained eye.
We’ll explain what these two figures are all about and how you can tell them apart.
The Scorpion is one of the most famous poses in cheerleading. The athlete stands on one leg while using one or both hands to grab the foot of the other leg behind their back and pull it upward.
The raised leg is slightly bent, and the toes often point toward the head, making the silhouette resemble the curved stinger of a scorpion. A key factor here is the so-called THS Line (Toe, Hip, Shoulder). This line from the tip of the toe through the hip to the shoulder should be clean and controlled, even if the leg is not fully extended.
Anyone who has tried this knows: the Scorpion requires not just flexibility, but an incredible amount of balance.
The Needle is essentially the “big sister” of the Scorpion—more demanding, more technical, and visually even more spectacular.
The basic position is similar, but in a Needle, the leg is completely straight (“locked out”), creating a perfect vertical line. The back is often arched further, and sometimes the foot even touches the head. For this to work, the athlete needs extreme flexibility in the back, shoulders, and legs—and above all, rock-solid core stability to hold the pose cleanly.
For many, the path to a perfect Needle starts with the Scorpion: first, master the basic balance, then work on extension and height.
