The USA Coed Premier athlete is recognised after helping the United States claim victory at the Pan-American Cheerleading Championships, as she sets her sights on The World Games 2029 in Karlsruhe.
Maddy Brum has been named Athlete of the Month for September 2026, following a standout month that saw the USA national team triumph in the Coed Premier division at the Pan-American Cheerleading Championships, held from 25 to 27 September.
A member of the US National Team for four years, Brum has built her career around one defining principle: trust. For her, success in Cheerleading is never an individual achievement.
“It's never about you. It's about how everyone in the room can work together and how everyone can be on the same page and have trust — trust in each other, trust in skills, trust in training,” Brum said.
That sense of collective responsibility has shaped Brum's experience on the national team since the moment she first learned she had been selected.
“I remember getting that moment and it really felt like it wasn't actually happening,” she recalled.
“Being part of the team when you're so young, travelling to different countries to do Cheerleading — it's an amazing experience. It felt very rewarding.”
Four years on, the significance of representing the United States has only grown.
“It really does mean the world to me. It helped shape me into the athlete I am, and I wouldn't change it for the world. It is the greatest honour.”
Reaching the highest level of the sport has required considerable commitment away from the competition floor. Brum has had to balance her sporting ambitions with milestones in the lives of friends and family, while also managing the physical demands of elite Cheerleading.
“I'm getting to an age where a lot of my friends are getting married, having families, and a lot of great things are happening,” she said. “There have been celebrations I've had to miss. But there are also physical sacrifices. When you're doing so much, you want to do the best you can, and it can take a toll.”
Those sacrifices, however, have been accompanied by lessons that have changed the way Brum approaches competition.
She points to her first year competing as a particularly important period. The pressure she placed on herself to be perfect ultimately became a lesson in letting go.
“I put so much pressure on myself because I just wanted to be amazing,” she said. “Sometimes you can take away from yourself by thinking, ‘Why am I doing this? What do I know to do? Why am I doing it?’”
Over time, she has learned to focus less on perfection and more on the experience.
“It's okay not to be perfect. It's okay to have moments where you're not perfect. You just have to try your all and give everything you have every single time.”
Brum's latest success at the Pan-American Cheerleading Championships is particularly meaningful because of the journey behind it.
“Every victory is always different,” she explained. “Everyone challenges you in certain ways, but it also rewards you in different ways. Every time, I feel like I learn something about myself and something about what I want to be.”
This latest title stands out because of the connection within the team.
“This team got together and we worked together so hard for so many days. To think that we were all there together and were able to do what we did makes this one so unique.”
“I feel like every piece of work, everything, is kind of a show of what you put in. We worked really, really hard, and it's very rewarding to see that.”
That collective mentality also extends to her growing role within the national team. After several years as one of its established athletes, Brum sees herself as someone who can help newer members feel that they belong.
“I look at the people who were in my shoes and I want them to feel so welcome. I want them to feel like they belong here, because it is being part of something that feels so much bigger than yourself.”
Growing the sport
Brum has witnessed significant changes in Cheerleading during her years in the sport, particularly as athletes continue to push the technical boundaries of competition.
“Everyone is always trying to do something more difficult, and then the sport gets harder,” she said. “The understanding of the skills, people travelling across the country — there's something so beautiful about everyone around the world coming together and bonding over the same thing.”
Her ambition is to see that growth continue, with more people discovering and embracing the sport.
“I want to see more people find the sport and find the way that we do it, and more people appreciate it. I want more people around the world, in new countries, to be a part of it.”
Looking towards Karlsruhe 2029
Brum is already looking beyond her latest victory. One of her biggest ambitions is to help more people understand and appreciate Cheerleading and to continue showing what the sport can become.
“I want to keep making people love it and understand it and appreciate the way that we do it,” she said. “I want to keep being that role model for anyone who is in Cheerleading, to show people that anything is possible.”
Her experience in the Cheerleading Pro League has also opened her eyes to the sport's professional potential, giving her the opportunity to experience a different competitive environment and to trust a new process.
“It's an opportunity to trust in a different process and trust that something could be different,” she said. “When you see the bigger picture, you understand what this really could be one day.”
That bigger picture now includes The World Games 2029 in Karlsruhe, where Cheerleading Coed Premier will feature on the programme.
For Brum, the sport's greatest contribution to the multi-sport event will be something at the very heart of her own philosophy: teamwork.
“I think what's going to be different from any other sport is the teamwork. Cheerleading is not an individual sport. It's so much teamwork. No one is ever going to be the best without all the rest.”
She believes that emphasis on collective performance will offer audiences something distinctive at The World Games.
“It's the reliability of everyone else, and I think that's something that's going to be so new for the World Games. I'm excited to see people understand teamwork in The World Games in a way that they haven't before.”
And will Brum herself be in Karlsruhe?
“I'll be 30 years old. I would love to. Obviously, that's every little girl's dream,” she said. “I would hope and pray to see you there.”