College sports no matter the size of the school have a strong reputation. Bringing in the most money these teams are known worldwide. There’s always some sort of end of the year championship proving who is the most superior. One team always shows up and supports every team even at their lowest points they face throughout a season, which is the cheerleaders.
Collegiate cheer is one of the most demanding and physical sports- mentally and physically. It is a full time job at the college level, although it is not officially recognized by the NCAA as a sport. These teams put in work day and night to prove themselves for 2 minutes and 30 seconds once a year.
National Cheerleaders Association Collegiate Cheer and Dance Nationals, or most commonly known as NCA is usually a multi day competition. Some teams only make it to the first day, for example a team’s first day score is the determiner if a team makes it to finals. The competition runs from pre-lims to finals. To win, the pre-lim score is added to the final score to determine placement for the final awards.
Teams must qualify for the next round (which is finals), it is not automatic placement.
Teams will have a raw score until it becomes finalized if they get to see the competition floor one more time the next day.
Most recognizable teams would include: The University of Kentucky, The University of Alabama, Weber State University, Texas Tech University, and University of Louisville, with countless more.
This April 8 is the start to the final competition of the 2025-2026 cheer season, concluding on April 11, 2026 to prove who they are, and potentially gain a new title.
Like most spring sports, these athletes don’t technically have a spring break- they stay on campus for that week with nonstop practice, more commonly referred to as “hell week”. These athletes have been putting in hours of work between late night practices and rigorous conditioning for last minute touches to perfect the routines that will be hitting either the Bandshell or Ocean Center Arena in Daytona, Florida.
Typically, the advanced, gameday, spirit rally, partner and group stunt divisions compete at the outdoor arena, the Bandshell. While the intermediate teams compete in the indoor arena, Ocean Center Arena.
NCA is known for the outdoor arena, while there’s two arenas- Bandshell is the face of NCA College Nationals. Teams that compete at this outdoor arena typically are the extremely difficult and prestigious, most elite divisions. An example being large coed or large all girl, but the list of divisions goes on and on with how big this competition is.
However NCA College Nationals isn’t just cheer- there’s dance nationals (NDA) as well competing in the same arenas.
NDA usually competes in the Pom, Jazz, Hip Hop, and Team Performance divisions, also needing to qualify for finals after their pre-lim performances if they score high enough.
But what most people don’t know, besides the main two competitions there are smaller competitions that happen during the weekend.
These competitions include: mascots, group stunt, and partner stunts. Select members of each team must qualify to compete.
If you are not familiar with the mascot division, the mascot of a team (Ex: Buzz from Georgia Tech, 2025 NCA National Champion) has their own scoresheet to win.
Mascots must be peppy, use props, keep the crowd engaged, etc. within an 1 minute and 30 second routine all while keeping their character, judges then score best how they feel the mascot scores. To be a furry competitor, video submissions must be turned in and evaluated by judges proving who they are at games, public events, competitions, etc.
On the flip side, group stunt and partner stunt finalists get to compete on the Bandshell only after advancing from their video submission judged in January. Any group can submit a video while a panel of judges score all submissions. The highest scoring group then advances for finals on the Bandshell.
Group stunt typically includes a 4 person stunt group (typically all girl) and partner stunt being coed with 2 people. Stunt routines are 1 minute long and scored based on technique, difficulty, and execution.
Unlike all star cheer to qualify for NCA or NDA College Nationals teams either submit a video or camps throughout the year and summer, while all star cheer competes at different competitions to get bids on top of NCA All Star Nationals being an open invitation competition.
