When I was in 7th and 8th grade, I was on my school’s cheerleading squad. We cheered for basketball, and during those two years, both the cheer squad and the basketball team won our respective state competitions. It was thrilling, and I remember feeling very fit and glamorous in my stiff cotton velvet tunic and turtleneck leotard. I am not exaggerating. That’s what we wore, along with bobby socks and saddle shoes. And no, this wasn’t the fifties. It was the late seventies. But I didn’t come here to talk about how itchy and constricting that all was.

Into my feed this week popped the first video below, and I realized that although I think fondly of those sweaty, halcyon cheering days of mine, I was never really a cheerleader. Not like these folks, who seem to be able to perform feats requiring super-human strength, nerves of steel, and possibly spontaneous flight, all the while wearing stupid bows on their heads. In other words, cheerleading has changed.

We may as well go straight to the top, so today, we’re looking at video footage of the gobsmacking athletes who participated in the 2025 Cheerleading Worlds Competition. The Worlds took place in Orlando in late April, with 563 teams representing 21 countries. I don’t pretend to understand the categories (“Senior Extra Small” for example), but I found them all to be incredible. Those basket tosses caught more air than Katy Perry in space.

You can learn more on the Cheerleading Worlds website and on Instagram.