Originally published: 5 September 2024 | Updated: September 2026
Whether you are looking for a new cheerleading series to binge, want a behind-the-scenes look at some of the world’s most successful teams, or simply want to revisit a cheer classic, there are now decades of cheerleading documentaries, web series and films to explore.
Some have introduced competitive cheerleading to millions of people outside the sport. Others were created specifically for the cheer community, documenting teams, athletes and moments that might otherwise have disappeared from cheer history.
Cheer From Head To Toe has been documenting cheerleading since 2011, so we wanted this guide to include both: the major productions you may already know and the older or lesser-known series we believe cheer fans should see.
This isn’t simply a list of what is newest. It is also a growing archive of how cheerleading has been represented on screen.
This guide was updated in September 2026. Streaming availability can change and may vary by country.
Quick guide: What cheerleading show should you watch?
Netflix = NF : Youtube = YT : BBC i = BBC I player
| What cheerleading show should you watch | Focus | Watch | Length |
| Cheer | College | NF | 57–62 mins |
| USF All Girl Cheer / Horns Up | College | YT | 25–63 mins |
| Cheerleader U | College | YT | 20–25 mins |
| Divine Cheer | All Star | YT | 8–20 mins |
| Shadow Over Everything | UK All Star | YT | 6–8 mins |
| Team England Adaptive Abilities | Team England | YT | 14 mins |
| Team England Freestyle Pom | Allstar Dance | YT | 7 mins |
| Blood, Sweat and Cheer | Team Wales | BBCI | 45 mins |
| Cheerleader: Smoed | All Star | YT | 6–10 mins |
| Cheer Full Out | All Star | YT | 8–25 mins |
| The Twinkles: Chasing Perfection | Youth All Star | YT | 60 mins |
| Redemption: USA Cheer vs The World | International | YT | 20–50 mins |
| America’s Sweethearts | Professional | NF | 60 mins |
Times are approximate.
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Cheerleading documentaries and docuseries
1. Cheer
Where to watch: Netflix
Type: Docuseries
Focus: College cheerleading
Episode length: approximately 57–62 minutes
Few cheerleading programmes have had the mainstream impact of Netflix’s Cheer.
Released in 2020, the series follows Navarro College’s cheerleading team and coach Monica Aldama as they prepare to compete at NCA College Nationals in Daytona Beach.
For viewers outside cheerleading, the programme offered an introduction to a level of athleticism, pressure and commitment that challenged many traditional stereotypes surrounding the sport.
For those already within cheer, however, Cheer is more complicated.
The series documents extraordinary athletic ability and the relationships that develop within a high-performance programme, but it also raises questions about injury, coaching, body image, athlete welfare and the sacrifices athletes can be expected to make in pursuit of success.
Those questions have arguably become just as important to Cheer’s legacy as the routines themselves.
The series also became associated with serious criminal cases involving people who appeared in it. Combined with its mature themes, parents and coaches may wish to preview the programme before showing it to younger athletes.
CFHTT view: Cheer remains one of the most significant pieces of cheerleading media because of how successfully it brought competitive cheer into mainstream culture. However, it represents one particular environment within American college cheerleading, rather than cheerleading as a whole.
2. USF All Girl Cheer / Horns Up
Where to watch: YouTube
Type: Docuseries
Focus: US college All Girl cheerleading
Episode length: approximately 25–63 minutes
Seasons: Two
If Cheerleader U documented an earlier era of American college cheerleading, the USF All Girl Cheer docuseries provides another opportunity to see the demands of collegiate cheer from behind the scenes.
The series follows the University of South Florida All-Girl team through training and preparation for national competition, including injuries, changes to the competitive line-up, team dynamics and the pressure surrounding Nationals.
Season one was published from 2023, followed by season two in 2024. The two-season project is also known as Horns Up.
One of the strengths of cheer docuseries like this is their ability to show everything spectators don’t see when a team eventually walks onto the competition floor.
The routine may last only a few minutes. The process behind it lasts months.
CFHTT view: If you enjoy the training and team-building elements of Cheer and Cheerleader U, this deserves a place on your watchlist.
3. Cheerleader U
Where to watch: YouTube
Type: Reality/documentary series
Focus: University of Kentucky / college cheerleading
Episode length: approximately 20–25 minutes
Before Cheer, there was Cheerleader U.
The series follows the University of Kentucky cheerleading programme through the pressures of team selection, training and competition.
Its age is actually part of what makes it interesting today.
Watching Cheerleader U alongside more recent college cheer documentaries gives viewers an opportunity to see how the presentation of cheerleading, coaching and athlete culture has changed over time.
CFHTT view: Don’t dismiss this because it is older. For cheer fans interested in the history of how competitive cheer has been represented on television, Cheerleader U deserves its place in the archive.
4. Divine Cheer
Where to watch: YouTube
Type: Ongoing web series / behind-the-scenes cheer content
Focus: All Star cheerleading
Episode length: approximately 8–20 minutes
If you spend enough time exploring cheerleading on YouTube, Divine Cheer deserves to be on your watchlist.
The channel follows athletes from Divine Cheer through the everyday reality of competitive cheerleading, from practices and stunt training to showcases, competitions and the relationships that develop within a programme.
Divine Cheer also brings something important to this list: representation.
Cheerleading belongs to athletes from every background, yet the teams receiving the greatest mainstream media exposure do not always reflect the full diversity of the sport.
Divine Cheer gives viewers the opportunity to watch a predominantly Black cheer programme not simply because representation matters, but because these athletes love, participate in and excel within the same sport we all love.
That visibility matters, particularly for young athletes who deserve to see people who look like them represented across cheerleading media.
CFHTT view: Some of the most interesting records of cheerleading culture exist on YouTube. Divine Cheer demonstrates why. It provides representation that has not always been visible in mainstream cheer media while documenting the everyday work, community and love of the sport behind competitive cheerleading.
Want to go deeper? Watch CFHTT’s discussion with UK Black athletes about diversity and inclusion within UK cheerleading.
UK cheerleading documentaries and series
Much of the cheerleading media that reaches mainstream audiences comes from America. But UK cheerleading has its own history, teams and stories worth documenting.
That is why British cheer media deserves its own space within this guide.
5. Shadow Over Everything
Where to watch: YouTube
Type: Web series
Focus: Top Gun Allstars Shadow / UK All Star cheerleading
Episode length: approximately 6–8 minutes
Shadow Over Everything takes viewers inside the journey of Top Gun Allstars Shadow, a UK-based team competing under one of the world’s most recognisable All Star programmes.
For British cheer fans, this is an especially important addition to this list.
Rather than viewing elite All Star cheer solely through an American lens, the series provides a window into the experiences of UK athletes competing at an elite level within the sport.
Shadow has established an exceptional competitive record within UK cheerleading, making the team’s journey particularly valuable to document.
CFHTT view: Cheerleading history isn’t limited to the programmes that make it onto Netflix. Web series documenting individual teams can become important records of particular eras within the sport. Shadow Over Everything gives UK cheer fans an opportunity to see part of their own competitive history represented on screen.
6. Team England Adaptive Abilities: The Journey to Worlds
Where to watch: YouTube
Type: Short documentary
Focus: Adaptive Abilities / Team England
Length: approximately 14 minutes
This documentary follows Team England Adaptive Abilities on their journey towards the ICU World Cheerleading Championships.
It documents disabled and non-disabled athletes competing together and provides an important look at an area of cheerleading that mainstream cheer documentaries rarely explore.
The significance goes beyond competition results. Adaptive Abilities cheer has helped challenge assumptions about who can participate in the sport and what elite cheerleading can look like.
CFHTT view: An important piece of British cheer history and one of the strongest examples on this list of why documenting different areas of the sport matters.Read more from CFHTT:Team England Adaptive Abilities: The Journey to ICU Worlds
Read more from CFHTT: Team England Adaptive Abilities: The Journey to ICU Worlds.
7. Team England Freestyle Pom
Where to watch: YouTube
Type: Short documentary
Focus: Team England / Performance Cheer
Length: approximately seven minutes
Performance Cheer receives considerably less mainstream media attention than traditional cheer divisions.
This short documentary follows Team England Freestyle Pom and offers viewers an introduction to the precision, athleticism and performance quality demanded within the discipline.
For viewers whose understanding of cheerleading comes primarily from programmes such as Cheer, it is also a useful reminder of just how broad competitive cheer and Performance Cheer are.
Read more from CFHTT: Explore the wider international development of cheer and Performance Cheer in Will Cheerleading Ever Be an Olympic Sport?
Read more from CFHTT: Explore the wider international development of cheer and Performance Cheer in Will Cheerleading Ever Be an Olympic Sport?
8. Blood, Sweat and Cheer
Where to watch: BBC iPlayer for UK viewers
Type: Documentary
Focus: Team Wales Adaptive Abilities
Length: approximately 45 minutes
Blood, Sweat and Cheer follows Team Wales Adaptive Abilities as athletes prepare to represent Wales internationally.
The programme provides another valuable perspective on Adaptive Abilities cheer and the process of bringing disabled and non-disabled athletes together within competitive cheerleading.
Rather than simply treating inclusion as an inspirational story, the documentary provides an opportunity to understand the training, preparation and competitive expectations placed on adaptive athletes.
To watch click here or go to BBC Iplayer
Read more from CFHTT: Team Wales’ Journey to Worlds: A Triumphant Return to Worlds.
All Star cheerleading web-series classics
Some of the most influential cheer media never came from Netflix or mainstream television.
For a generation of cheerleaders, YouTube was where cheer culture lived.
These series are increasingly interesting not only as entertainment, but as records of an earlier period of All Star cheerleading.
9. Cheerleader: Smoed
Where to watch: YouTube
Type: Web series
Focus: California All Stars Smoed
Episode length: approximately 6–10 minutes
For many All Star cheer fans, Cheerleader is a genuine classic.
The series follows California All Stars Smoed during an enormously successful period for the team and documents the training, personalities and pressure surrounding elite All Star competition.
It also introduced many viewers to athletes who would later become major figures within cheer culture, including Gabi Butler.
Looking back at the series today is particularly interesting because coaching practices and conversations around athlete welfare have evolved considerably.
CFHTT view: This isn’t simply an old YouTube series. It is part of the digital history of All Star cheerleading and helped establish the appetite for behind-the-scenes cheer content long before Netflix’s Cheer became a mainstream success.
10. Cheer Full Out
Where to watch: YouTube
Type: Web series
Focus: GymTyme / All Star cheerleading
Episode length: approximately 8–25 minutes
Cheer Full Out follows GymTyme and the creation of a team formed from athletes from its Pink and Black teams.
Featuring familiar figures from All Star cheer, including Gabi Butler and Michaeleddie Rivera, the series documents training, team dynamics and the process of preparing an elite team for competition.
For today’s athletes, older series like this can function almost like time capsules.
Uniforms change. Rules change. Divisions change. Coaching changes.
The pressure to hit when it matters does not.
11. The Twinkles: Chasing Perfection
Where to watch: YouTube
Type: Documentary
Focus: Youth All Star cheerleading / World Cup Twinkles
Length: approximately 60 minutes
The Twinkles: Chasing Perfection follows World Cup Allstars’ celebrated youth team as they pursue an NCA championship.
The athletes may be children, but the expectations surrounding elite youth cheer are substantial.
That is what makes the documentary interesting beyond the routines themselves. It raises broader questions about ambition, pressure, coaching and what high-performance youth sport asks of children.
CFHTT view: This remains one of the most memorable documentaries about youth All Star cheerleading, but it is also worth watching critically through today’s conversations around athlete welfare and youth sport.
Read more from CFHTT What age should you start cheerleading
12. Redemption: USA Cheer vs The World
Type: Docuseries
Focus: Team USA All Girl Premier / ICU World Championships
Episode length: approximately 20–50 minutes
Redemption: USA Cheer vs The World follows Team USA All Girl Premier and their pursuit of the ICU World Championship title.
For viewers particularly interested in international elite cheerleading, the series offers something different from the All Star and college programmes elsewhere on this list.
It also provides an opportunity to see the pressures surrounding representing your country at one of cheerleading’s major international competitions.
13. America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders
Where to watch: Netflix
Type: Docuseries
Focus: Professional NFL cheerleading
Episode length: approximately 60 minutes
There is an important distinction to make here.
The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders and competitive All Star cheerleading are not the same discipline, and they shouldn’t be presented as though they are.
However, America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders belongs in a wider guide to cheerleading media because it has become one of the most prominent contemporary programmes associated with cheerleaders.
The Netflix series follows the selection and experiences of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, exploring auditions, appearance expectations, performance, identity and pay.
It also opens up wider conversations about what professional cheerleaders are expected to give to their roles and how that work is valued.
CFHTT view: Watch this for an insight into professional sideline cheer culture rather than as a representation of competitive All Star cheerleading.
Cheerleading films
The Bring It On franchise
No cheer media guide would feel complete without Bring It On.
The franchise includes Bring It On (2000), Bring It On Again (2004), Bring It On: All or Nothing (2006), Bring It On: In It to Win It (2007), Bring It On: Fight to the Finish (2009) and Bring It On: Worldwide #Cheersmack (2017).
These films are fiction rather than documentaries, and their version of cheerleading shouldn’t be confused with the realities of modern competitive cheer.
But culturally?
They matter.
For a generation of people, Bring It On was one of their first encounters with cheerleading.
For people already inside the sport, the franchise became part of cheer culture itself, even when some of the sequels crossed firmly into “so bad they’re good” territory.
There are also some fun connections to competitive cheer throughout the franchise, including the involvement of Top Gun Allstars in Bring It On: In It to Win It.
So while Bring It On won’t teach you everything you need to know about competitive cheerleading, its place within cheer culture is difficult to ignore.
Why cheerleading documentaries matter
There is another reason we think this guide is worth preserving.
Cheerleading changes quickly.
Teams disappear. Programmes merge. Athletes retire. Rules evolve. Divisions change. YouTube channels disappear and streaming licences expire.
A web series that feels ordinary when it is released can become a historical record ten years later.
Watching something like Cheerleader U beside Cheer, or Smoed’s Cheerleader beside Shadow Over Everything, doesn’t just provide entertainment. It allows us to see different periods of the sport and different ideas about coaching, athleticism, success and cheer culture.
There is also value in seeing the breadth of the sport represented.
College athletes. All Star athletes. Adaptive Abilities athletes. Performance Cheer athletes. Black athletes. British athletes. Welsh athletes. American athletes. Youth athletes. Professional sideline cheerleaders.
No single documentary can represent the whole of cheerleading.
Together, however, these programmes help create a much richer picture of the sport, the people who love it and how cheerleading has evolved.
That is why CFHTT will continue adding to this guide rather than treating it as a finished “top ten”.
Have we missed one?
This list will continue to grow.
If there is a cheerleading documentary, series, web series or film you think deserves to be included, leave it in the comments.
We are particularly interested in productions documenting UK and Irish cheerleading, including older series that may otherwise disappear from the sport’s history.
Because sometimes what starts as a YouTube series becomes part of cheerleading history.
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