Spirit squad statistics show how broad the activity has become: programs may be organized around cheer, dance, mascots, or several of those groups, while competition rules define team sizes from small stunt groups to large game-day casts. The figures below cover participation, team structure, education, and championship results from the named organizations and seasons.
Contents
- At-a-glance figures
- College competition team sizes
- School and recreation team ranges
- Game-day, stunt, and mascot formats
- NCAA stunt participation
- Education, camps, and staff
- Spirit squads and championship results
At-a-glance figures
Several of the most useful numbers describe scale rather than a single roster. The Universal Cheerleaders Association (UCA) says it has instilled leadership skills and personal confidence in more than 4.5 million athletes since 1974. That is a cumulative historical figure, not a count of current participants.
The Universal Dance Association (UDA) describes itself as the largest dance team educator and reports more than 500 camp sessions. Those sessions teach over 35,000 high school and collegiate dancers. UDA also reports that more than 300 staff members are hand-selected from top universities, including members of national championship dance teams and Gold Medalists from US National Teams.
The NCAA women’s sports participation report gives a recent competition measure: stunt reached 1,231 student-athletes in 2025-26. The NCAA reports that this was 527 more student-athletes than in 2023-24 and represented 75% growth since 2023-24. These are NCAA stunt figures, so they should not be treated as a census of every cheer or spirit participant.
| Measure | Reported figure | Source and period |
|---|---|---|
| Athletes reached by UCA since its founding | More than 4.5 million | Universal Cheerleaders Association; since 1974 |
| UDA camp sessions | 500+ | Universal Dance Association |
| High school and collegiate dancers taught at UDA camps | Over 35,000 | Universal Dance Association |
| UDA staff | 300+ | Universal Dance Association |
| NCAA stunt student-athletes | 1,231 | NCAA women’s sports participation report; 2025-26 |
| Institutions meeting the NCAA stunt benchmark | More than 40 schools | NCAA championship announcement; first year as an emerging sport |
College competition team sizes
The UCA 2024-2025 College Cheer Divisions list a 20-member limit for a wide set of traditional cheer divisions. Division IA, Division I, Open Coed, Small Coed Division IA, Small Coed Division I, Open Small Coed, All Girl Division IA, All Girl Division I, and Open All Girl each may have up to 20 team members.
That repeated limit matters because it provides a common upper boundary across different college classifications and team compositions. It does not mean every team has 20 members, and it does not describe the number of students enrolled in a school’s broader spirit program.
The same UCA rules give game-day divisions a larger limit. Division IA Game Day, Division I Game Day, Open Coed Game Day, Small Coed Division IA Game Day, Small Coed Division I Game Day, Open Small Coed Game Day, All Girl Division IA Game Day, All Girl Division I Game Day, and Open All Girl Game Day may each have up to 30 team members.
| UCA college format | Maximum listed team size |
|---|---|
| Division IA, Division I, and open or all-girl traditional divisions | 20 |
| Division IA, Division I, and open or all-girl Game Day divisions | 30 |
| Coed Partner Stunt | 2 |
| Girls’ 4’ Group Stunt | 4 |
| Mascot division | 1 |
The UCA 2024-2025 College Cheer Divisions also specify combined formats. Game Day Live Division IA allows 30 cheer team members and 30 band members. Open Game Day Live uses the same 30-and-30 structure. Spirit Program Game Day allows 30 cheer team members and 30 dance team members, as does Open Spirit Program Game Day. Spirit Program Game Day Live and Open Spirit Program Game Day Live each allow 30 cheer, 30 dance, and 30 band members.
These are format allowances rather than attendance totals. A combined format can therefore describe a larger on-floor or field presentation without changing the 20-member limit used by the traditional cheer divisions.
The UCA 2024-2025 college championship competition is open to colleges, universities, and junior colleges in the country. Its rules say individuals may not represent more than one team at the National Championship. UCA’s Rules and Regulations 2025-26 also say cheer team members must be current members of the official school spirit squads and must attend the school they represent.
School and recreation team ranges
The UCA School Divisions 2021-2022 document gives ranges rather than one maximum shared by every school category. Small Junior Varsity teams are listed at 5 to 16 members, while Large Junior Varsity teams are listed at 12 to 30 members. That means the two junior-varsity categories overlap between 12 and 16 members.
For varsity teams, the listed range is 5 to 18 members for Small Varsity and 14 to 38 members for Large Varsity. The overlap between those two categories is 14 to 18 members. Large Varsity therefore has the highest upper limit among the school and recreation ranges reported here.
Junior High teams are listed at 5 to 18 members, and Middle School teams at 5 to 16 members. The lower bound of five appears in Small Junior Varsity, Small Varsity, Junior High, and Middle School. The Large Varsity category is the exception on the low end, beginning at 14 members.
| UCA School & Rec division | Listed team-size range |
|---|---|
| Small Junior Varsity | 5–16 members |
| Large Junior Varsity | 12–30 members |
| Small Varsity | 5–18 members |
| Large Varsity | 14–38 members |
| Junior High | 5–18 members |
| Middle School | 5–16 members |
The UCA Rules and Regulations 2025-26 note that regional event divisions may be split in the best interest of competition balance. That rule is important when comparing local event categories: a division label or roster range may not map identically from one regional event to another.
Game-day, stunt, and mascot formats
Spirit squad statistics become more specific when the format is reduced to a small group. The UCA 2024-2025 College Cheer Divisions list Coed Partner Stunt at two team members, with one female and one male. Girls’ 4’ Group Stunt uses four team members and four females. The mascot division is limited to one team member.
Those figures should be read as competition-entry structures, not as a claim about the complete size of a school’s spirit program. A university may have a cheer squad, dance team, and mascot program even when a particular entry has only one, two, or four participants.
The University of South Dakota Spirit Squad page describes its program as composed of cheerleading, dance, and mascot programs. The University of Nebraska Spirit Squad page identifies three groups: the Cheer Squad, the Scarlets Dance Team, and the mascots Herbie Huskers and Lil’ Red. Together, those examples show why “spirit squad” can refer to a coordinated program rather than one uniform roster.
The UCA game-day formats also combine different kinds of participants. A Game Day Live entry can include cheer and band members, while a Spirit Program Game Day entry can include cheer and dance members. The live version can include all three: 30 cheer, 30 dance, and 30 band members. The relevant statistic is the permitted composition of the format, not a measurement of how many members every program actually has.
NCAA stunt participation
NCAA figures provide a separate view of the collegiate landscape. Stunt participation reached 1,231 student-athletes in 2025-26, according to the NCAA women’s sports participation report. The same report says participation was up by 527 student-athletes from 2023-24 to 2025-26 and grew 75% since 2023-24.
The NCAA said stunt crossed the benchmark of 40 schools in its first year as an emerging sport across all three divisions. An NCAA Division III official notice separately reported that 41 institutions met minimum sports sponsorship data for stunt in spring 2025. The two figures use different wording and periods: one is a benchmark statement about the first year as an emerging sport, while the other is a spring 2025 institutional data point.
The NCAA Division III official notice also said stunt has a high number of student-athletes from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds and ethnicities. That statement is descriptive and is not accompanied here by a percentage or headcount, so it should not be turned into a numerical demographic estimate.
The NCAA Albright stunt announcement reported that 2022-23 emerging sports produced over 4,200 participation opportunities for student-athletes. This is a combined emerging-sports figure, not a stunt-only total. Keeping that distinction clear prevents the broader emerging-sports number from being mistaken for the 2025-26 stunt count.
Education, camps, and staff
Training and education are another measurable part of the spirit-squad ecosystem. UCA reports more than 4.5 million athletes reached since 1974 through leadership and personal-confidence development. Because the figure covers a period beginning in 1974 and is stated as “more than,” it is best understood as a cumulative minimum-style claim rather than a precise current enrollment.
UDA reports 500+ camp sessions and over 35,000 high school and collegiate dancers taught through those sessions. The audience description is specific: the figure refers to high school and collegiate dancers, not every dancer or every spirit-squad participant.
UDA also reports 300+ hand-selected staff from top universities. Its staff page says those staff members are drawn from national championship dance teams and Gold Medalists from US National Teams. The staff figure describes the educator workforce, while the 35,000 figure describes dancers taught; they measure different parts of the program.
Spirit squads and championship results
Recent school-level results add context to the structural statistics. Tennessee Athletics reported that the University of Tennessee Spirit Team claimed three medals at the UCA/UDA National Championship in 2025. Minnesota Athletics reported that the University of Minnesota Spirit Squad now has 28 combined UCA/UDA National Championships. UDaily reported that the University of Delaware spirit program captured two national titles at the 2024 UCA/UDA National Championships.
These results are not directly comparable as one common rate: Tennessee’s figure is medals at a named 2025 championship, Minnesota’s is a cumulative championship total, and Delaware’s is two titles at the 2024 event. The time periods and outcome measures differ.
The program descriptions from South Dakota and Nebraska help explain that difference. A spirit program can include cheerleading, dance, and mascots, while competition rules may count only the members entered in a particular division. Championship totals may therefore represent a school’s broader record across UCA and UDA events rather than the roster size of one individual squad.