All Star cheerleading and dance differs from traditional school cheer and dance largely because of its focus on competing. There are no games to cheer at, no spirit-raising and most of the athletes on each team will not even attend the same school. You'll notice that we refer to the participants as "athletes" rather than by any other name and that's because of the caliber and intensity of training that they do on a weekly basis to be able to contribute to his or her competitive team.

Unlike school cheer or dance where there are normally only one or two teams for the highest skilled athletes, most all star programs typically have a place for everyone, regardless of skill level. The teams are placed into divisions, which are based upon age, size of the team, gender or participants and ability level. Coaches will typically train their athletes on individual skills and team components for months before choreographing routines that combine those skills together to be judged against other teams in their division.