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Breaking Down Invented and Specialty Apparatus Categories at Aerial Competitions

Breaking Down Invented and Specialty Apparatus Categories at Aerial Competitions

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As you explore aerial competitions, you may come across categories like Specialty or Invented Apparatus and wonder exactly what they are. These are what we like to call “catchall” categories. They group a variety of apparatuses together under one broader category, governed by rules general enough to apply across all of them while still being fairly and consistently judged.

If you’re looking to compete on an apparatus other than pole, lyra, silks, or hammock, keep reading. This applies to you. Below, we break down everything you need to know about this catchall category, including its pros and cons.

Why Aerial Competitions Have Specialty and Invented Apparatus Categories

Every competition builds its rules, requirements, scoresheets, and judging criteria around a set of standard categories. This varies from competition to competition, but most often we see pole, silks, hammock, and lyra as the headlining categories. These are also the apparatuses most commonly taught at studios and covered in teacher training programs, so it makes sense that they’d be the first represented at competition. Their rules and definitions are written specifically around the tricks, movement demands, and creative potential unique to each apparatus.

But if you’ve been in the aerial world for a while, or spent any time scrolling aerial arts on social media, you know there’s a whole world of other incredible apparatus disciplines out there. Think flying pole, cube, aerial moon, tippy lyra, aerial triangle, stacked lyras, trapeze, rope, cloud swing, aerial net hammock, lollipop lyra, chains, and spiral.

The challenge with these apparatuses is that they’re often too varied or niche to justify their own dedicated competition category, and it can even be difficult to find specific classes or coaches for them. As a result, specialty apparatuses tend to draw very limited participation at competitions, often in the low single digits, sometimes just one athlete.

How to Compete on an Apparatus Without Its Own Category

So how do you compete on an apparatus that doesn’t have a dedicated category? You look for a competition that offers a Specialty or Invented Apparatus category.

Competitions add these categories to give athletes in less common disciplines a chance to compete. They’re often experimental in nature, meant to gauge interest and start building rules specific to that apparatus. With enough interest and participation over time, a specialty or invented apparatus can eventually grow into its own dedicated category.

Pros of Competing in a Specialty or Invented Apparatus Category

  • The opportunity to perform your preferred apparatus on a competition stage
  • A chance to do, and watch, apparatuses that otherwise likely wouldn’t make it into competition at all
  • Can open the door for an apparatus to eventually earn its own dedicated category
  • Helps competitions develop and refine judging criteria specific to that apparatus
  • A great way to gauge interest as a discipline grows
  • A great way to build awareness and interest in these apparatuses

Cons of Competing in a Specialty or Invented Apparatus Category

  • All apparatuses get lumped together, which can skew judging due to generalized rules and a lack of comparable competitors
  • Low participation means that whether you place or not, you’re not competing against a deep, competitive field, making it harder to gauge your standing
  • Comparing different apparatuses against one another can skew scoring and results, since apparatuses differ so much in movement, capability, and handling

The Bottom Line

Specialty and Invented Apparatus categories exist to give athletes on niche or emerging apparatuses a place to compete, and to help those disciplines grow toward becoming standalone categories. They come with real trade offs in judging consistency and competitive depth, but for many athletes, the chance to perform on their apparatus of choice makes it well worth entering.

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Pole & Aerial Competition Types Explained: Social, Semi-Pro & Professional

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Before signing up for a competition, it’s important to understand the nuances between competition types. These differences impact everything from participation requirements to rules and expectations, ultimately shaping your overall experience. Broadly speaking, competitions fall into three categories: Social, Semi-Professional, and Professional. Each type serves a different purpose and audience, from newcomers looking to build confidence in a low-pressure environment to seasoned competitors aiming to showcase elite-level skill. Understanding where you fit can help you choose the right path, set realistic expectations, and get the most out of your competition experience.

Social Competitions

Social competitions aren’t any less competitive, but their rules tend to be less stringent, opening the door to more inclusive and expansive movement styles like exotic, comedy, entertainment, sensual, classique and twerk. These events often offer multiple opportunities to compete each year and carry a stronger sense of camaraderie, with local studio “families” showing up in numbers to support one another. Social comps also tend to offer more level options and performance types, giving competitors greater flexibility in how they choose to compete.

Themes and music tend to be less restrictive as well, often allowing profanity and religious topics (unless the event is specifically youth or family friendly). Prop restrictions also tend to be more relaxed compared to other competition types.

Judging at social competitions often relies on volunteers from the local community, such as instructors, studio owners, performers and often even higher-level competitors. Experience and apparatus diversity typically play a role in judge selection, though formal testing and training for judges is often limited or nonexistent.

Social competitions also allow the use of stage names, may feature divisions that mix sexes, and often come with more affordable entry fees. Overall, social competitions dominate the competition landscape, offering the widest range of local and regional opportunities for competitors at every stage of their journey. Additionally, athletes that compete at semi-professional and professional competitions often use social competitions as opportunities to practice and test out new performance ideas and themes.

Examples of Social Competitions include: Pole Sport Organization and Aerialympics.

Semi-Professional Competitions

Semi-professional competitions represent the middle ground between social and professional levels. These events may require travel and typically feature more rules, regulations, and requirements than social competitions, though they stop short of the strict standards seen at the professional level. Unlike social competitions, which often run frequently throughout the year, semi-pro events typically offer only annual competitive opportunities.

Stage names may or may not be allowed, and divisions may or may not mix sexes, depending on the event. Anti-doping requirements are not part of this competition type, and there is no formal sanctioning body overseeing these events.

Judging at the semi-professional level is often paid or volunteer-based, with judges bringing a high level of performance and competitive experience, even without formal certification or testing requirements. Despite this more relaxed structure, semi-professional competitions often attract many of the same high-level athletes seen competing at the professional level, making them a respected stepping stone between local competition and the professional stage.

Examples of Semi-Professional Competitions include: US Pole Champions and Pole Theatre

Professional Competitions

Think future Olympics. Professional competitions are built for serious competitors, those who have already made pole/aerial their career or are working toward it. These events come with significantly more rules and regulations – typically packaged in a code of points, and typically separate athletes into just two levels: amateur and professional. Divisions do not mix sexes.

Professional competitions require anti-doping contracts and licenses, and feed directly into World Championships. Competitors must use their legal government name rather than a stage name, and events operate under a recognized sanctioning body. Judges undergo formal training, testing, and yearly recertification, ensuring consistency and fairness across events. Strict costume and conduct standards apply, and coaches and spotters are often permitted on and back stage with proper coaching passes. Coaches are also subject to anti-doping requirements and yearly/seasonal bans, reflecting the same level of accountability expected of the athletes themselves.

Examples of Professional Competitions include competitions operation under the sanctioning bodies of: POSA and IPSF

Pole Podcasts to Check Out

The Pole On The Call (Hosted by Cris Rivers): Covers the full spectrum of pole culture, with dedicated episodes interviewing elite competitive athletes, discussing studio/stage prep, and covering competition mindsets.

Pole Pod (Hosted by Dolly Daggerz): Focuses heavily on the mental side of performance, competition anxiety, training loads, and interviews with world-class competitive artists (such as Jade Bensilum and Xara Flame).

Pole Performance Podcast (with Dr. Emily Rausch): Blends sports medicine, biomechanics, and performance, frequently addressing high-level training blocks, injury management, and physical preparation tailored for competitive runs.

I’m a Pole Dancer Podcast / Why We Pole: Feature recurring interview formats with competitive artists sharing their journey from routine creation to taking the stage.

Pole Obsession (Hosted by Felix Cane & Elizabeth Domazet): Frequently covers regional and national competitions (like the Australian Pole Championships and WA Pole Championships), offering deep dives into judging breakdowns, scoring mechanics, edge-case prep, and behind-the-scenes competition drama.

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Understanding Points of Contact

Points of Contact (or POC) refers to how many parts of your body are touching the pole at the same time, specifically while you’re inverted (hips above your head). The idea is to keep advanced moves out of lower-level divisions.

Tricks that use fewer points of contact (1 to 2) generally rely on a smaller support base, often just hands or one grip point. This makes them more advanced and riskier, and generally not appropriate for beginner to intermediate athletes. These rules give judges a baseline for comparison and help keep competition fair.

Basically, points of contact means the athlete needs to maintain some kind of grip or skin contact with the apparatus at three different anatomical points.

How it’s typically applied
A common version of the rule (used by orgs like the Pole Sport Organization) requires 3 points of contact whenever a competitor is inverted at an intermediate level. For example:

  • A standard shoulder mount counts as 3 points of contact (2 hands + 1 shoulder).
  • Moves like a Gemini/outside leg hang or a Scorpio/inside leg hang would qualify, since multiple body parts are bearing weight.
  • Moves like an Iron X, Cocoon, or most Ayesha variations would not qualify as they rely on far fewer contact points and are considered too advanced for lower divisions.

The rule usually only applies when hips are above the head. It doesn’t apply to things like elbow stands, handstands, or descending into an invert where the hips stay below the head.

Why it matters for organizers and judges
It’s essentially a safety and fairness mechanism. It keeps divisions honest by preventing beginners or intermediates from sneaking in high difficulty, high risk moves that technically fit the invert rule but exceed the skill level the category is meant for.

Note that the exact threshold (3 points, which moves qualify, etc.) varies by competition. Some organizations don’t use this exact framework at all and instead rely on move specific banned and allowed lists by level.

Looking to level up your pole and aerial skills? Consider competing!

It’s true, competition isn’t for everyone. If you know that competition doesn’t bring out the best in you or stresses you more than it excites you it’s definitely better to skip the signup. But competing isn’t just about trophies, titles, or placements. Stepping on stage can actually help you become a stronger athlete. For pole and aerial athletes especially, competition is one of the most powerful tools available for growth — physically, mentally, and creatively. And no worries if competing isn’t for you, even doing a showcase or even just going through the performance prep process is still an invaluable tool.

You don’t have to be the most naturally gifted athlete in the room to benefit from competition. Some of the biggest growth happens for athletes who feel the least ready — because that’s exactly where the most learning takes place. It teaches you the art of practice, how to connect movement dots, how to lean into your creativity and artistry, how to smooth out movement and can really be a journey of self-discovery. 

If that wasn’t enough, here are 8 other reasons you may want to consider doing at least one competition:

1. It Gives You a Deadline (and Deadlines Create Discipline)

There’s nothing like a competition date on the calendar to sharpen your training. Without a deadline, it’s easy to let choreography sit half-finished or skip conditioning “just this once.” Competition prep forces consistency and mastery through practice. You show up, you train with intention, and you build habits that can carry over into every other part of your practice.

2. It Accelerates Skill Development

Preparing a routine for judges and an audience often helps advancing technical growth. It pushes you to refine details you might otherwise overlook: movement quality, execution, clean transitions, musicality, stage presence. 

3. It Builds Mental Resilience

Performing under pressure is a skill in itself. Competition teaches you how to manage nerves, recover from a slip, fall or forgotten sequence, and stay present when it matters most. 

4. It Offers Honest, Structured Feedback

Judges’ scorecards written feedback give you something training alone can’t: an outside, structured perspective on your strengths and blind spots. Scores can show you improvement from year to year and even how you lineup against fellow competitors. Even when feedback is tough to hear, it’s often a helpful tool to improvement.

5. It Connects You to a Bigger Community

Competitions bring athletes together — across studios, cities, and sometimes countries. You’ll meet people who push you to step your game up, inspire you, and understand exactly what it took to get on that stage. Many lifelong friendships and professional connections in the pole and aerial world started backstage at a competition or after following someone you saw or met at competition.

6. It Creates Milestones You Can Look Back On

Training can feel like an endless loop of small, incremental progress. Competitions create markers — moments where you can look back and say, “That’s who I was as an athlete then, and this is who I am now.” Even when the results aren’t what you hoped for, the growth is undeniable.

7. It Opens Doors

While the landscape has changed on this in our industry, placing well  or even just performing memorably can open doors to sponsorships, teaching opportunities, guest performances, advancement to Nationals and Worlds and invitations to bigger shows.

8. It Teaches You About You

Practicing something on repeat, watching film and going through countless revisions allows you to learn more about your movement, your work ethic, your strengths, your weaknesses. And all of these become tools to create a better, stronger and more prepared athlete. 

If you’ve been considering it, this might be your sign to look for an competition that fits your level and goals. Browse our directory of pole and aerial competitions from around the world, all in one place.