The 2020-2021 collegiate sports season brought a whole new level of firsts to programs across the country.
Masked workouts, bubbled tournaments, virtual workouts, and the constant fear of shutdowns from contact tracing and quarantines.
But for the sport of acrobatics and tumbling, this season brings a first like no other and one worth celebrating.
For the first time in its decade, the sport of acrobatics and tumbling has officially fallen under the NCAA Emerging Sport status umbrella, meaning it’s just one step closer to achieving official NCAA Championship status.
In June 2020, members of the Division I level of the NCAA approved that the sport be added to the Emerging Sports Program after receiving Division II and III approval in January. The approval came into effect on August 1, 2020.
As part of the Emerging Sports program, which helps support the promotion of collegiate athletic opportunities for women, sports have 10 years to reach 40 member schools to qualify for NCAA Championship status. As of March 15, the National Collegiate Acrobatics and Tumbling Association, the governing body for acrobatics and tumbling, has 37 collegiate institutions, including 35 NCAA schools, that offer the sport at the varsity level.
Despite being young, the sport has continuously shown rapid and steady growth. In the 2020 season, 650 athletes took part in the sport as five new member schools have also been added since June last year.
“We have been validated. We’ve been stamped like equestrian, like rugby, like wrestling,” said Quinnipiac head coach Mary Ann Powers. “This is honestly an 11, 12 year journey and the good news is that we are growing. What seemed sluggish at first has accelerated and it’s quite an astonishing feat of dedication set forth by our Executive Director and our Enlargement Committee.”
Powers is one of the four founders of the sport and will begin her 25th season with Quinnipiac this spring. Originally the college cheerleading coach, Powers has overseen the acrobatics and tumbling program since its inception in 2009.
Quinnipiac is ranked #3 in the 2021 NCATA Preseason Coaches’ Poll for the third straight year. The two teams above the Bobcats are No. 1 Baylor and No. 2 Oregon, both of which have already competed in two games this season.
Of the 26 schools participating this year, the Bobcats will be the third-last program to kick off the season when they open the year and participate in a tri-meet Saturday, March 27 in Frostburg State.
Quinnipiac has three meetings scheduled for 2021 due to various local health and safety guidelines. Typically, the Bobcats compete in eight to 10 games per season and begin competition in early February.
In Saturday’s tri-meet, Quinnipiac will take on Frostburg State (0-1) and Glenville State (1-2) in Frostburg, Maryland, at 1:00 PM.
The Bobcats are then scheduled for a home-and-home series against Gannon in April. Quinnipiac takes on Gannon on April 3 at 2 p.m. and closes out the regular season with his only home game of the year on April 11 against the Golden Knights (1-0) at 1 p.m.
Since the team was shut down in mid-fall in October and couldn’t begin training until late February, the Bobcats have been unable to condition or practice skills as they normally would. For example, Powers said the team is usually polishing technical details in events at this time of year and has already had competition under their belts; at this point, as of this week, the team has just finished learning about the pyramid event.
Because the sport is based on strength and the athletes have not yet had the proper training, Quinnipiac will compete with their lowest starting score values they have ever had, instead of the normal 10.0, to ensure the safety of the athletes the highest. to keep priority.
Despite having to lower scoring expectations and knowing that events will look different than usual, Powers said the team remains determined to compete.
“They have been very ambitious. They’ve been very committed,” Powers said. “They want to move away from this isolation and loneliness of the pandemic. They want to compete. That is their victory. This is not for them about what will show up on that leaderboard. It comes from the team culture from their own personal goals and they don’t want to lose a second season.”
The 2021 NCATA Championships, scheduled for April 22-23 and hosted by Baylor in Waco, Texas, will feature four teams this season instead of the normal eight and will not include event finals due to the lack of consistency between the programs’ ability to play full regular seasons. Baylor enters the 2021 season by winning the past five NCATA Championships, including 2018 when Quinnipiac last competed in the Championship before his crash with the Bears.
Last year, the Bobcats took part in the first three of their scheduled six meetings before the remainder of the season was canceled due to the pandemic. The Bobcats ended 2020 with a 2-1 record.
maggie.vanoni@hearstmediact.com