ORLANDO, Fla. — Collegiate dance and cheerleading teams from across the country competed at the ESPN Worldwide Sports Complex for prized national titles.
The national competition nicknamed the ‘Collegiate Dance and Cheerleading Superbowl’ goes by the formal name of the Universal Cheerleading/Dance Association (UCA/UDA) National Championship.
The competition is owned by Varsity Spirit, which is a dominant leader in the dance and cheer industry. Varsity hosts most of the competitions and produces uniforms that teams wear.
The competition holds high importance within the world of collegiate spirit programs. Unlike most college sports, any team can attend and compete for the national title.
But this also has its downsides. The UCA/UDA National Championship is the only event that many teams compete at for their athletic year, meaning that one performance at nationals can make or break a team.
Varsity Spirit described the 2025 college national championship in depth in a press release, revealed on January 21, 2025.
“The event hosted more than 300 teams across 46 states,” Varsity Spirit reported, “cheerleading teams are judged on their stunting and tumbling skills, crowd-leading ability, and overall performance, while the dance competition is judged on choreography, technique, execution, and overall effect,” “throughout the weekend, over 100,000 viewers from all around the world tuned in to Varsity TV to watch their favorite teams compete for a national title.”
All teams at diverse levels compete at UCA and UDA in the dance and cheerleading divisions. Dance teams are categorized by their school division and by style of dance. UDA keeps the dance styles limited by having pom, jazz, hip hop and game day for teams to compete in.
Cheerleading categories are also sorted by school division and type of cheerleading routine, with game day and traditional routines. Different to dance, cheerleading considers the number of athletes competing and if the routine has men or if there are only girls performing.
Bill Seely, President of Varsity Spirit, described the impact the competition has on athletes in an interview with Varsity’s publication.
“We are thrilled to celebrate the incredible athletes who competed at the 2025 UCA & UDA College Cheerleading and Dance Team National Championship,” Seely said, “The dedication, discipline, and passion displayed by every team were truly remarkable, and we are proud to have hosted the largest crowd in the event’s history to witness their extraordinary performances.”
Teams that won first place finishes in their perspective categories include the: University of Alabama, University of Mississippi, and Bowling Green State University cheerleading teams and The Ohio State University, University of Minnesota and University of Nevada – Las Vegas dance teams and many more.
A full list of placings can be found at https://tv.varsity.com/events/12789328/results.
