As of 2023, the most-watched sporting events in the world are:
- World Cup of Soccer: 5 Billion Viewers
- Tour de France: 3.5 Billion Viewers
- Cricket World Cup: 2.6 Billion Viewers
- Women’s World Cup: 2 Billion Viewers
But where does the UCA & UDA College Cheerleading & Dance Team National Championship fall on this list? Is this the first time you have heard of this event?
Over 20,000 athletes and 950 teams are hosted at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, to compete in the country’s most prestigious college cheerleading championship.
Cheerleading is difficult for people to understand; everyone assumes that if you are a “cheerleader,” you are supporting your high school football team. Yet, no one mentions the blood, sweat, and tears that go into it. “We’ve been having two-day practices for a while now. My entire Christmas break, the 3 days I spent at home, revolved around our next cheer practice,” said Olivia Kiazim, first-year main base at the University of Rhode Island.
Although I’ve had no personal experience in the dance world, cheer and dance don’t differ in their lack of support and misrepresentation. At last week’s UCA College Nationals, the University of Minnesota (Division 1A) and Ohio State University (Division 1A) accumulated millions of views and comments on social media. The performances included choreographed routines with dancers spinning and leaping in flawless synchronicity. But, has anyone thought about how many extra practices and late nights this level of execution took?
I doubt it.
On TikTok, people watch 15-second clips of routine highlights and assume this was learned in a week. In reality, these 2-3 minute routines are developed through countless months of dedication and frustration. I’m not asking you to have cheer and dance become your life. But before you comment on another video, take the time these athletes take to perfect their routines and research what it is actually like to be a cheerleader or dancer in today’s society.
