GREENVILLE, S.C. – Conference Carolinas is pleased to announce the addition of Mars Hill as an Associate Member in acrobatics & tumbling. 

“We are thrilled that Mars Hill has continued to grow acrobatics & tumbling with the addition of the sport,” Conference Carolinas Commissioner Chris Colvin said. “We are also thankful that they have accepted our invitation to join our conference as an Associate Member. The addition of Mars Hill gives us another tremendous institution working with Conference Carolinas while also giving us the opportunity to extend the acrobatics & tumbling footprint into a new area in western North Carolina.”

Mars Hill will start competing in Conference Carolinas acrobatics & tumbling in the upcoming 2021-22 academic year. 

“We are very excited about joining Conference Carolinas to compete in the sport of acrobatics & tumbling,” Mars Hill Director of Athletics Rick Baker said. “It will be a great fit for us since Conference Carolinas is in our geographic footprint and we already play many of their schools in other sports in non-conference competition. Conference Carolinas is a great league and it provides us with immediate scheduling of competitions as well as provides our acrobatics & tumbling athletes the opportunity to compete for a conference championship and other postseason awards. We are very appreciative to Conference Carolinas for adding us to their league.”

Conference Carolinas will have nine programs competing in acrobatics and tumbling in the 2021-22 academic year in Belmont Abbey, Chowan, Coker, Converse, Emmanuel, King, Lander, Limestone and Mars Hill.

Conference Carolinas just recently completed its inaugural season of acrobatics & tumbling in the 2020-21 academic year. The first-ever Conference Carolinas Acrobatics & Tumbling Championship was held on Saturday, April 10 and Sunday, April 11 on the campus of King University in Bristol, Tennessee. The semifinals were held on Saturday followed by the team final on Sunday. In addition, Conference Carolinas held its first-ever event finals on Sunday morning before the team final between King and Converse later that afternoon. King won the inaugural regular season title in Conference Carolinas, while Converse took home the tournament title. 

Three Conference Carolinas teams were nationally ranked over the course of the 2021 spring season with King ranked as high as fourth nationally. 

Conference Carolinas is a sole sponsor of 23 sports, which is among the most in all of the NCAA. Including the collaboration with the South Atlantic Conference in men’s wrestling and field hockey along with the new partnership with the Great Midwest Athletic Conference in men’s and women’s bowling, Conference Carolinas now provides its member institutions sports sponsorship in 27 different sports.

The ability to provide its membership sports sponsorship in 27 sports is the most in all of NCAA Division II. In addition, Conference Carolinas also provides championship opportunities for its member institutions in Esports. Conference Carolinas held its inaugural Madden and NBA2K Championships during the 2020-21 academic year.  

Conference Carolinas and the Mountain East Conference are the only NCAA conferences to presently sponsor the sport of acrobatics & tumbling.

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INDIANAPOLIS – Acrobatics and tumbling and women’s wrestling will be added to the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program in Division I, the Division I Council decided Wednesday. The Council met virtually.

Members noted that some schools already have committed to adding these sports as part of their strategic plans for athletics, and having these sports part of the emerging sports program could convince others to do the same.

“The Council acknowledged the need to give maximum flexibility to schools as they make decisions surrounding sport sponsorship,” said Council chair M. Grace Calhoun, athletics director at Penn.  “Acrobatics and tumbling and women’s wrestling have both done everything required to be named to the emerging sports for women list, and some schools may choose to augment their programs with these new sports.”

The sports were recommended for the emerging sports program by the Committee on Women’s Athletics. The program is a pipeline supporting the advancement of women’s sports to NCAA championship status. The program also provides athletics opportunities for women and sport-sponsorship options for colleges and universities. Schools also may use an emerging sport to help meet minimum sports-sponsorship and financial aid requirements.

A sport must have a minimum of 20 varsity teams and/or competitive club teams that have competed in a minimum of five contests to be considered for the emerging sports program. The sport must reach 40 varsity programs to move forward to the NCAA governance structure for championship consideration.

The National Collegiate Acrobatics and Tumbling Association currently has 30 NCAA colleges and universities sponsoring the sport, which is a discipline of gymnastics involving tumbling, tosses, acrobatic lifts and pyramids. The Wrestle Like a Girl organization, in conjunction with USA Wrestling, indicated there are 35 NCAA schools currently sponsoring the sport.

The Emerging Sports for Women program has been in existence since 1994. In the past 21 years, several sports have reached championship status, including beach volleyball, rowing, ice hockey, water polo and bowling.

Before the latest additions, the program had three sports: equestrian, rugby and triathlon.  Sports have 10 years to gain championship status or make meaningful progress toward that goal in order to remain on the list.

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GREENVILLE – Conference Carolinas Commissioner Chris Colvin unveiled the additions of Lander and Limestone as Associate Members in acrobatics and tumbling on Wednesday, June 3.

Lander and Limestone acrobatics and tumbling will officially join in the 2020-21 academic year and they will both be part of the inaugural season of Conference Carolinas sponsoring the NCAA Emerging Sport in 2021.

“I could not be more excited to announce the additions of Lander and Limestone as Associate Members in the growing sport of acrobatics and tumbling,” Colvin said. “The 2020-21 academic year will be historic for Conference Carolinas acrobatics and tumbling, and having nine programs involved in our inaugural conference season will allow us to build something special in year one and beyond.”

Conference Carolinas and the Mountain East Conference are the only NCAA conferences to presently sponsor the sport.

Conference Carolinas is now a sole sponsor of 23 sports, which is among the most in all of the NCAA. Including the collaboration with the South Atlantic Conference in men’s wrestling and field hockey, Conference Carolinas now provides its member institutions sports sponsorship in 25 different sports, which is the most in all of NCAA Division II (NE10 sponsors 24 sports).

Conference Carolinas will have nine programs competing in acrobatics and tumbling in the 2021 season in Belmont Abbey, Chowan, Coker, Converse, Emmanuel, Erskine, King, Lander and Limestone.

The 2021 season will be the inaugural campaign for Lander.

“We’re excited to have our acrobatics and tumbling program joining Conference Carolinas,” Lander Director of Athletics Brian Reese said. “This partnership puts us in a great geographic footprint and we look forward to competing in a great league.”

The 2021 season will be the third season for Limestone, who was ranked 10^th in the nation in the shortened 2020 season.

“We are very excited that the Limestone acrobatics and tumbling team will have a home in Conference Carolinas,” Limestone Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Michael H. Cerino said. “This is an excellent opportunity for our student-athletes to be able to compete for a championship and to earn distinction among their peers through the various awards the league will sponsor. This partnership will provide a tremendous student-athlete experience for each of those competing in an emerging sport that is growing rapidly throughout the nation.”

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