Barton College Announces the Addition of Acrobatics and Tumbling for Fall 2023
WILSON, N.C. – Barton College is adding acrobatics and tumbling as the College's 24th intercollegiate sport, President Dr. Douglas N. Searcy and Director of Athletics Todd Wilkinson have announced.
Former Baylor University Acro and Tumbling National Champion Alexis Florence Fowlkes has been named the inaugural head coach. Barton College will welcome the first acrobatics and tumbling team members to campus in the Fall of 2023. The Bulldogs' first competition will occur in early 2024.
Barton will join 12 other programs competing in Conference Carolinas next fall. Four Conference Carolinas teams were nationally ranked among the top 15 over the course of the 2022 spring season with two advancing to the NCATA National Championship field, where they won a pair of national titles in the six element of the acro event and in the open heat of the pyramid event.
"Barton College Division of Athletics continues to find ways to create opportunities for female students attending our great college," said Director of Athletics Todd Wilkinson. "The momentum for Acro and Tumbling across the nation and Conference Carolinas makes this sport a great fit."
Acrobatics & Tumbling will become Barton's 12th NCAA sponsored sport for women. Acro is governed nationally by the National Collegiate Acrobatics and Tumbling Association (NCATA).
The NCATA is comprised of members across NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, with 49 sponsoring programs nationwide. Conference Carolinas and the Mountain East Conference are the only NCAA conferences to presently sponsor the sport of acrobatics & tumbling. It was adopted as a NCAA emerging sport in all three divisions effective August 1, 2020.
Teams compete in meets from February to April to determine seeding for the NCATA National Championships.
"First and foremost, I'd like to thank God for blessing me with this opportunity to become a head coach,” said Fowlkes. "I am excited to get to Wilson and share with the community the sport of Acrobatics and Tumbling.”
Acrobatics & Tumbling is the evolution of different disciplines of gymnastics, which includes the athletic aspects of competitive cheerleading. The format was created at the collegiate level in 2009 to address the interests and abilities of young women competing in this skill set. Individuals and small groups execute acrobatic lifts, tosses, and tumbling.
"The NCATA is excited to share the news of Barton College adding the 50th NCAA Acrobatics & Tumbling program," said Janell Cook, the Executive Director of the NCATA. "We are thankful for Barton's administration, and the team at Conference Carolinas, for investing in new opportunities that will allow women training in gymnastics and cheerleading to compete at the varsity collegiate level. Barton will strengthen the conference line-up and provide additional competitive opportunities for other NCATA members in the southeast region."
The first NCATA National Championships took place in 2011 at the University of Oregon. Championships are held annually in April on an NCATA member campus. The sport is governed as a team sport at the youth level by USA Gymnastics.