Believe it or not, there was a time when 5A reigned supreme, and was the fastest growing (and most exciting) division besides 1A.

A steep learning curve and lack of promotion all but killed the division, sadly relegating it in recent years to being lumped in with 2A as a “we’ll give the medal to the one guy who registered” division at many contests. But for a few years there, it was truly amazing.

So, to celebrate 5A May, I’m going to spend the month giving shout-outs to my personal favorite 5A routines of all time. There’s no countdown, and I’m not going to rank them, because I love them all for completely different reasons. I’m just going to spend the month digging through YouTube and posting them in the order that I feel like watching them.

And we’re going to start off with one of the most iconic 5A performances of all time, Jon Rob at 2008 Worlds. The stance, the song, the swagger…he was there to hit his tricks and he didn’t give a damn what you thought, he knew they were good. Tyler Severance set the pace in 2007 with his win, but 2008 was when Jon Rob set the tone.