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NCAA Division II AND III Adds Wrestling and Acrobatics and Tumbling as Emerging Women’s Sports

Business , Rules • January 27, 2020

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA (January 27, 2020) – NCAA Division II and III has added two sports – wrestling and acrobatics and tumbling – to the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program. 

The program provides a fast track for eligible women’s sports to become full-fledged NCAA championship events, boosting athletics participation opportunities for women and sport-sponsorship options for colleges and universities. An emerging sport has a decade to grow to 40 varsity programs to reach championship status.

Currently, 29 NCAA member schools sponsor acrobatics and tumbling at the varsity level, and 20 of those schools are members of Division II. In women’s wrestling, 24 NCAA schools sponsor the sport at the varsity or club level, including 13 Division II schools.

The addition of acrobatics and tumbling and women’s wrestling brings the total number of Division II emerging sports to five. Equestrian, rugby and triathlon remain on the list. Equestrian has been an emerging sport for women in Divisions I and II since 1985 but a proposal to make it an emerging sport for Division III was defeated.

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Acrobatics Wrestling Tumbling NCAA