Acrobatics and tumbling stepped into the college athletics scene in 2011 and has since grown into a 12-member association, with Azusa Pacific among the original founding members.
BACKGROUND
The developing sport combines various gymnastic disciplines and is governed by the National Collegiate Acrobatics and Tumbling Association, which began competition in spring 2011.
APU head coach Colleen Kausrud describes the sport as “a cross between gymnastics and the athleticism of competitive cheerleading.”
Before the NCATA, Azusa Pacific’s squad competed as part of the National Cheerleading Association. The team experienced a great deal of success throughout its five-year tenure, culminating in a national championship in 2010.
The new national affiliation proved to be helpful to the team. It allowed the athletes to compete in head-to-head competition and in-game scoring, which the NCA did not offer.
“The NCATA looked at [acrobatics and tumbling] as a real sport,” Kausrud said. “Meaning we have a real season.”
Throughout the season, teams compete in dual- or tri-meets leading up to the national championship.
The competitions are sanctioned by USA Gymnastics, a governing organization recognized by the U.S. Olympic Committee. This approval demonstrates the type of support the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics would be looking for in an “emerging sport” proposal from the NCATA, the first step the association would seek to take toward formal recognition.
“The ultimate goal for the NCATA, is for [it] not to exist anymore — for the NCAA to fully adopt the league,” said Jackson Stava, NCATA director of operations.
Stava, who serves as the assistant athletics director at APU, oversees the association’s rules and regulations and works with the NCATA executive director in oversight of officials and the scoring committee, among other responsibilities.
He said the association has been working alongside the NCAA for multiple years, planning the possibility of recognition. Of course, there are “multiple levels of complexity” in the process, as he said, but hopes for it to happen soon are high.
Sports that file for NCAA emerging-sport status must also have a minimum of 20 established varsity teams. The NCATA has already doubled from its six teams in its inaugural season. Once emerging-sport status is achieved, the sport would then have 10 years to qualify for NCAA championship status or otherwise demonstrate substantial progress toward it.
MEET FORMAT
Competitions are composed of six events: compulsories, acro, pyramid, toss, tumbling and team. Each event has a series of heats and a predetermined start value in which the officials make deductions based on execution of skills.
Two to four athletes compete in acro heats, performing acrobatic movements with a base holding a flyer, who demonstrates flexibility.
The pyramid heats allow up to 24 athletes to compete in original pyramid sequences of 2.5-person high structures.
Photo: Katie Richcreek
The toss heats feature groups of three athletes tossing a fourth into the air to perform an individual or synchronized flip or twist similar to ones seen in cheerleading routines.
Tumbling heats showcase passes performed by either individuals or groups.
The first event of any meet, compulsory, simply devotes one heat to each of the four disciplines before the dedicated events begin.
The final team event is a 2 1/2-minute performance featuring 24 athletes combining all the skills demonstrated in the first five. The team with the score closest to the 300 possible points wins the individual meet.
The NCATA National Championship employs a single-elimination tournament format. Teams are seeded based on results from regular-season meets. Oregon owns all four national titles to date.