Behind the championships

Dan Weaver, coach of the 30-member cheerleading squad at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, says he has heard his team members dismissed as “not real athletes.”

“There is always a bit of that,” Weaver says. “You get the cheer stereotypes, like, ‘You’re just a bunch of pretty girls shaking pom-poms.’ That’s not how we run things at Minnesota. We recruit the most talented athletes.”

Weaver’s cheerleading team is part of the University’s powerhouse Spirit Squad, which also includes the dance and pom team, the hockey cheer team, and the Goldy Gopher mascot team. Dance and pom are the hands-down Squad standouts, with 23 national championship titles under their (matching) belts: “Our dance team has been the most successful team the school has ever had,” Weaver says. “People think of Minnesota as a great hockey school. But really, we’re an even better dance school.”

Performing as Team USA, the University dance team also took home gold (pom) and silver (jazz) medals at the International Cheer Union World Championships in late April. 

And in January 2025, Minnesota’s cheer team—at 126 years strong, the nation’s oldest cheer program—nabbed the top spot at the UCA & UDA College Cheerleading and Dance Team National Championship in the small coed game day category, placing the Spirit Squad firmly at the top of the “Go team!” heap.

Despite all these wins, Weaver thinks one reason many people don’t appreciate the skill and strength required to be a member of one of the best cheer teams in the nation is simply because they don’t think of cheer as a sport—in the traditional sense at least.

“It’s hard to understand us, because we are different and not as clearly defined,” he says. “We’re very unique in how our sport is run. The football team’s job is to win games. For cheer, winning games is a secondary goal to our primary goal, which is to support other teams—as well as being ambassadors for the University.”

Up, up, and away

On a snowy evening last March, members of the cheer team gathered for practice at Maturi Pavilion. These athletes come in a range of sizes, from lithe women ready to be tossed into the air and land on top of human pyramids to muscular men who hold their partner’s feet in their hands and lift them into the air.

This night, as at most of their practices, team members separated into small groups, practicing pyramids, stunts, and throws, with Weaver and his assistant coaches spotting and calling out drills. It’s breathtaking as participants perform trick after trick. 

With all these high-level pyramids and flips, cheer can be a dangerous sport, Weaver says: “It’s my job to make sure we’re approaching things safely. We always work from a progression standpoint. Our athletes have 30 skills they have to master before they can start to attempt elite skills.”

Cheer team participation is all-encompassing, Weaver says. It includes four required practices a week and three strength-training workouts during the main part of the season, and members of the team commit to cheering at some 50-60 events a year. While a smaller group of 12 athletes travel to away games, everyone cheers at home games, he says.

“We always do men’s and women’s basketball games, and then there are also campus appearances and University events,” Weaver says. “And we cheer at a few gymnastic meets to support them, too.”

A national sensation

On the same March night at Bierman Athletic Complex, members of the dance team were sprawled across a gym floor, stretching before one of their regular practices. The University’s pom and dance team is an international sensation, thanks to viral videos of their winning performances on TikTok and YouTube.

Amanda Gaines (B.S.B. ’09), dance team coach, is the woman behind this juggernaut. She started dancing at age 3, focusing on ballet and tap. Gaines began competing at age 4 and continued through high school. She chose the University of Minnesota for college and competed on the dance team from 2005-09, helping the team to a national championship in 2006. 

After graduation, it only made sense for Gaines to stay on at Minnesota dance—first as an assistant coach, then as head coach, helping steer the Gophers to 18 national titles in her tenure. While Gaines puts her heart and soul into her work leading the dance and pom teams, she also has another life outside of the University—a full-time job at Target’s main corporate office. 

“I’ve never coached for the money,” she says. “It has always been for the relationships and the passion—and maybe that’s what makes us so successful.”

Beyond winning national competitions, dance and pom team members understand that they, like other members of the spirit squad, have an even greater responsibility. “Our goal is always to be strong representatives of the University,” Gaines says. “When we are on the sidelines and at community events, we know we are representing something larger than ourselves.”