by NCSTA

 “USA Gymnastics is an established and respected governing body,” said John Blake, NCATA executive director. “We have made great strides as an organization and this developing sport.   This serves as yet another catalyst for our expansion at the NCAA level, and provides the NCATA with an established protocol that supports our growth.”

 “This is a natural extension for USA Gymnastics to work with the NCATA,” said Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics. “This sport combines many of the skills taught throughout gymnastics disciplines and provides a whole new level of opportunity for our athletes.”

USA Gymnastics is the non-profit, national governing body for gymnastics established in 1963.  With more than 110,000 members, USA Gymnastics provides governance, training, development, education, growth and sport support for all of its disciplines, including men’s and women’s gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, acrobatic gymnastics and trampoline and tumbling.

The NCATA is the collegiate association organizing the skill set of acrobatics and tumbling for women. With a goal of reaching NCAA emerging sport status, the current member institutions of the NCATA – Azusa Pacific University, Baylor University, Fairmont State University, University of Maryland, University of Oregon and Quinnipiac University – are excited about the possibilities of this new alliance. Teams range in size, with a maximum of 40 women.  NCATA athletes and coaches will become members of USA Gymnastics and adhere to the rules and policies of the organization.

 “Many of our student-athletes come from the gymnastics community,” said Felecia Mulkey, head coach of the University of Oregon acrobatics and tumbling team. “This will be great for our development and the expansion of the sport at the collegiate level, creating new opportunities for female student-athletes.”

 The all-female acrobatics and tumbling teams are recognized and treated as fully sponsored sports at their respective institutions and are in full compliance with NCAA rules and regulations.  The purpose of an acrobatics and tumbling team is to represent a university six to eight times each season in a head-to-head competitive format against other collegiate acrobatics and tumbling teams. An NCATA meet includes six rounds – compulsory, stunt, pyramid, basket toss, tumbling and a team routine. The scoring system includes pre-determined start difficulty values for each skill in each round for consistent scoring by officials. The NCATA’s unique meet format with standardized scoring, officiating, and safety provide clear separation from other related sports or activities.

 For more information on the NCATA (NCSTA), visit www.thencsta.org.