College Different College Cheer Divisions?

[Lyssa_km39]

I’m not very familiar with college cheer (I’m an All Star athlete ) and I was curious on the different difficulty levels colleges have in cheer. As well as the difference between competition styles I’ve been seeing, for example :
•UK routines contain more stunts compared to tumbling along with a cheer section

•U of Louisville routines are structured more like All Star without a cheer.

It would be great if I could have some clarification as I want to continue cheer in college

 

[luv2cheer92]

I’m not very familiar with college cheer (I’m an All Star athlete ) and I was curious on the different difficulty levels colleges have in cheer. As well as the difference between competition styles I’ve been seeing, for example :
•UK routines contain more stunts compared to tumbling along with a cheer section

•U of Louisville routines are structured more like All Star without a cheer.

It would be great if I could have some clarification as I want to continue cheer in college

The biggest difference is the competition or "style" each school attends or uses, NCA or UCA. UK is UCA, U of L is NCA. UCA is very much more traditional, more focused on crowd leading, less showy. NCA is more all-star style. There are other college competitions (USA comes tom mind), but these are far and away the 2 biggest nationals and each school chooses one or the other.

At UCA, there is currently only one "level", but it is split into different divisions based on the schools' sizes, D1A, D1, D2, etc.
NCA has that as well as an intermediate level, which for the most part can be compared to level 4 all star, with some differences.

 

[Kentucky Girl]

The biggest difference is the competition or "style" each school attends or uses, NCA or UCA. UK is UCA, U of L is NCA. UCA is very much more traditional, more focused on crowd leading, less showy. NCA is more all-star style. There are other college competitions (USA comes tom mind), but these are far and away the 2 biggest nationals and each school chooses one or the other.

At UCA, there is currently only one "level", but it is split into different divisions based on the schools' sizes, D1A, D1, D2, etc.
NCA has that as well as an intermediate level, which for the most part can be compared to level 4 all star, with some differences.

You forgot to include that in UCA, cheerleaders are forced to tumble and stunt whereas in NCA, there are specialist such as strong guys who can lift a girl but cannot tumble very well and tumblers who can do layouts and fulls but cannot do a toss extension.

Also, in UCA squads are limited to 16 (with the exception of all-girl teams in which cannot exceed 20) while NCA is limited to 20 in all divisions (plus in NCA, mascots are allowed to compete with the cheerleaders whereas in UCA, mascots can only compete in the mascot championship).

Hope this helps.

 

[ScottyB]

You forgot to include that in UCA, cheerleaders are forced to tumble and stunt whereas in NCA, there are specialist such as strong guys who can lift a girl but cannot tumble very well and tumblers who can do layouts and fulls but cannot do a toss extension.

No one is forced. This is a team dynamic thing based on the coach and how they recruit and build their team.
The teams that have guys (and girls) that do both, always rise to the top

 

[ScottyB]

I’m not very familiar with college cheer (I’m an All Star athlete ) and I was curious on the different difficulty levels colleges have in cheer. As well as the difference between competition styles I’ve been seeing, for example :
•UK routines contain more stunts compared to tumbling along with a cheer section

•U of Louisville routines are structured more like All Star without a cheer.

It would be great if I could have some clarification as I want to continue cheer in college

Agreed with @luv2cheer92.

My own thoughts too:
UCA vs NCA for style. USA exists but doesn't have the pull or the culture the others have.

Each has divisions for school and team organization. All do the same skillsets and progressions from basic to the super elite levels, but with variances of style (used to be regional now is coach/schedule/budget preference), with the exception of Intermediate for NCA, which helps beginner or transition programs get their footing.

 

[quitthedrama]

You forgot to include that in UCA, cheerleaders are forced to tumble and stunt whereas in NCA, there are specialist such as strong guys who can lift a girl but cannot tumble very well and tumblers who can do layouts and fulls but cannot do a toss extension.

Hope this helps.

Good Lord you are so ridiculously petty and rude. UK should be embarrassed that you try to represent them.

 

[dhubbz]

You forgot to include that in UCA, cheerleaders are forced to tumble and stunt whereas in NCA, there are specialist such as strong guys who can lift a girl but cannot tumble very well and tumblers who can do layouts and fulls but cannot do a toss extension.

Also, in UCA squads are limited to 16 (with the exception of all-girl teams in which cannot exceed 20) while NCA is limited to 20 in all divisions (plus in NCA, mascots are allowed to compete with the cheerleaders whereas in UCA, mascots can only compete in the mascot championship).

Hope this helps.

My university competes NCA. I was one of those “tumblers” and I definitely had more than a toss extension. When we won Large Coed in 2014, you couldn’t even make Large Coed with that. Actually, most years you needed more than that, whether you were a “tumbler” or a “stunter”. I definitely had to both stunt and tumble, especially at games.

Back to the original post, it really just depends on what that coach/program prefers and what their strong areas are. As for difficulty levels, NCA offers the intermediate divisions at their Nationals. Both Nationals now offer the Gameday Divisions as well.