Two Cheer-Based Women’s Sports to Become NCAA National Championships

Image of Acrobatics and Tumbling courtesy of National Collegiate Acrobatics and Tumbling Association (NCATA)

Acrobatics and Tumbling, as well as STUNT, two team sports that use elements of cheer (tumbling, pyramids, etc.) but remove the crowd-leading aspect, had been on the radar for 15 years, quietly growing at the collegiate level, as well as in high schools and all-star programs. While both sports have similarities, their competition structures, as well as their skillsets, are unique.

For a full description of Acrobatics and Tumbling, click here.

For a full description of STUNT, click here.

Now, both sports are poised to explode into the spotlight. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics voted at its most recent meeting to recommend Divisions I, II and III sponsor legislation to add National Collegiate Championships in both sports. If approved, the first NCAA championships could be held as early as spring 2027. 

The Committee’s recommendation is contingent on official confirmation of the sport's sponsorship and participation numbers for spring 2025 competition, which will occur over the summer.  

Lauri Harris, executive director of USA Cheer, doesn’t think that will be a problem. As of 2025, more than 70 colleges field STUNT teams, with more than 15 new programs joining in 2026.

“We are absolutely exploding at the college level,” she notes. “Some colleges are on the bubble but I think [this announcement] will really kick things into high gear.”

Harris also says there is a growing feeder system: “High school STUNT is popping up everywhere.”

Meanwhile, at least 48 schools reported they planned to sponsor Acrobatics and Tumbling during the 2024-25 academic year. This represents continued growth from the 2023-24 academic year, which included more than 1,100 acrobatics and tumbling student-athletes across the NCAA.

"The acrobatics and tumbling community is resilient, passionate and remains focused on our goal of creating opportunities for women to have the life-changing experience of being a collegiate student-athlete," said Janell Cook, executive director of the National Collegiate Acrobatics & Tumbling Association (NCATA). "Today, I am overwhelmed thinking of the group of coaches and administrators who took this leap of faith to create a new sport, our member institutions who have committed to adding new opportunities, and most of all, the coaches and student-athletes who have participated in and grown the sport each year.”

“The advancement of STUNT, as well as Acrobatics and Tumbling, toward National Collegiate championship status is a powerful step forward for women’s sports,” said Ragean Hill, chair of the Committee on Women’s Athletics and executive associate athletics director/senior woman administrator at Charlotte. “These disciplines not only showcase athleticism and teamwork at the highest level, but also reflect the continued commitment to expanding opportunities for female student-athletes across the country.”

Before the Committee on Women's Athletics can recommend a sport for NCAA championship status, at least 40 schools must sponsor it at the varsity level and meet the sport's minimum competition and participant requirements.

The committee oversees the Emerging Sports for Women program, which aims to grow participation and competitive opportunities for women's sports across the NCAA.

The growth of both sports has been rapid across the NCAA, crossing the benchmark of 40 schools meeting minimum contest and participant requirements in its first year as an emerging sport in all three divisions.

Acrobatics and Tumbling, which became an emerging sport in August 2020, quickly grew its NCAA sponsorship from 27 schools in the 2020-21 academic year to more than 40 in 2023-24.

STUNT’s growth has been equally rapid across the NCAA, crossing the benchmark of 40 schools in its first year as an emerging sport in all three divisions.

It joined the emerging sports program in 2023 in Divisions I and II, while Division III added it in 2024. It met the minimum participant and competition thresholds in the 2024-25 academic year. This represents a significant jump from the 2023-24 academic year, which had 26 schools report sponsoring the sport with more than 700 student-athletes.  

Following the committee's recommendation, here is the projected timeline to add a STUNT championship: 

• Each division is expected to review the recommendation and sponsor a proposal by its respective 2025-26 legislative cycle deadline. 
• If sponsored, the divisions are expected to vote on the proposals in January during the 2026 NCAA Convention in Washington, D.C. 
• The recommendation also includes establishing an NCAA STUNT Committee, as well as an NCAA Acrobatics and Tumbling Committee, which would begin their work in January 2026, to allow time to prepare for a championship in spring 2027. 
• If adopted on that timeline, the first championships in both sports would be held in spring 2027.

Additionally, before a National Collegiate Championship can be established, funding must be approved by the appropriate financial oversight committees.

If approved, STUNT and Acrobatics and Tumbling would join other sports that have earned NCAA championship status through the Emerging Sports for Women program.

Those sports include rowing (1996), ice hockey (2000), water polo (2000), bowling (2003), beach volleyball (2016) and wrestling (2025). All are popular at the collegiate level.

In 2023-24, emerging sports accounted for over 5,000 participation opportunities for student-athletes based on NCAA sports sponsorship and participation rates data, an increase of over 30% from 2022-23.