NCAA DIII Management Council recommends two new emerging sports, women's wrestling and acrobatics/tumbling
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by Brian Burnsed, NCAA
The sports of women’s wrestling and acrobatics and tumbling have each taken an important step in the process toward becoming official Division III sports.
At a meeting this week in Indianapolis, the Division III Management Council recommended the division add both to the emerging sports list for women, based on a recommendation from the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics.
The Division III Presidents Council will review the proposal at its meeting next month. If it supports the recommendation, Division III members will vote on whether to add the sports to the emerging sports list at the 2020 NCAA Convention.
Both sports are on similar tracks in Divisions I and II.
“I think that we’ve moved to a place in the Division III membership where we value the participation and we acknowledge the challenges that have been historically placed in front of women wanting to participate in athletics,” said Stevie Baker-Watson, chair of the Management Council and DePauw associate vice president for campus wellness and athletics director. “These are two sports in which they’ve done their due diligence to create the type of opportunity that we think is consistent with an NCAA sport experience.”
The Committee on Women’s Athletics pointed to women’s wrestling’s rapid growth at the high school and college level and the diversity of its participants, among other factors, as reasons to add it to the emerging sports list. The committee saw potential in acrobatics and tumbling because the experience of athletes in that sport is comparable to that of current NCAA student-athletes, with many already fully integrated into athletics departments.
NCAA rules require that emerging sports must gain championship status within 10 years or show steady progress toward that goal to remain on the list. If approved by members at the Convention, the sports would be added to the Division III emerging sports list as of Aug. 1, 2020.
This is a condensed version of the original article. Click here for the full article.
At a meeting this week in Indianapolis, the Division III Management Council recommended the division add both to the emerging sports list for women, based on a recommendation from the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics.
The Division III Presidents Council will review the proposal at its meeting next month. If it supports the recommendation, Division III members will vote on whether to add the sports to the emerging sports list at the 2020 NCAA Convention.
Both sports are on similar tracks in Divisions I and II.
“I think that we’ve moved to a place in the Division III membership where we value the participation and we acknowledge the challenges that have been historically placed in front of women wanting to participate in athletics,” said Stevie Baker-Watson, chair of the Management Council and DePauw associate vice president for campus wellness and athletics director. “These are two sports in which they’ve done their due diligence to create the type of opportunity that we think is consistent with an NCAA sport experience.”
The Committee on Women’s Athletics pointed to women’s wrestling’s rapid growth at the high school and college level and the diversity of its participants, among other factors, as reasons to add it to the emerging sports list. The committee saw potential in acrobatics and tumbling because the experience of athletes in that sport is comparable to that of current NCAA student-athletes, with many already fully integrated into athletics departments.
NCAA rules require that emerging sports must gain championship status within 10 years or show steady progress toward that goal to remain on the list. If approved by members at the Convention, the sports would be added to the Division III emerging sports list as of Aug. 1, 2020.
This is a condensed version of the original article. Click here for the full article.
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