Kentucky adds new varsity sport, set to begin competition in February
A new varsity sport at the University of Kentucky will begin competition in February and give the Wildcats a Southeastern Conference-best 23rd varsity athletic team.
On Thursday, Kentucky announced the sport of STUNT would be added to its varsity athletics program.
STUNT is a head-to-head competition between two teams with a focus on the athletic and technical aspects of cheer.
There is already a club team for STUNT at Kentucky, and many of those athletes are expected to be part of the school’s first varsity team.
According to Kentucky, most successful college STUNT programs have up to 50 athletes on their rosters. STUNT is a spring sport and the college season runs from February to May.
“It is enjoying rapid growth and we believe the University of Kentucky can be a leader in this emerging sport,” Kentucky Director of Athletics Mitch Barnhart said of STUNT. “There is very strong support for cheer at UK, in our community and across the commonwealth. Our goal is to provide competitive opportunities for these young women while building a team that will contend for national championships.”
While Kentucky’s first varsity STUNT competition is expected to occur in February, practice will begin during this fall semester.
Kentucky will also begin the search for a coach for the STUNT team.
STUNT is one of the fastest-growing female sports in the country, and Kentucky is one of 56 four-year universities — including NCAA and NAIA varsity and club teams — that has a STUNT team. Nine additional schools will begin sponsoring STUNT in 2023.
Division I schools with STUNT programs include Purdue, Michigan, Michigan State, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas Tech and Arizona State, among others.
USA Cheer created STUNT as an opportunity for colleges, universities and high schools to meet Title IX requirements.
“UK Athletics has been researching and reviewing current and emerging women’s sports to find one we felt addressed the interests and abilities of young women attending UK and also demonstrated great growth potential,” UK said in news release. “We have a very robust and successful women’s athletics program at UK. We wanted to add a sport we felt would add to that success and afford a championship experience to even more female athletes.”
What is STUNT?
STUNT games — most of which last about an hour — use a head-to-head, four-quarter format between two teams with a focus on the athletic and technical aspects of cheer.
Routines are performed in each of the quarters by both teams simultaneously on the floor.
The team that executes the skills the best wins the round and the point, and that team has the opportunity to determine which routine level will be called next.
The four quarters of a STUNT game feature four distinct routines: Partner stunts, pyramids and tosses, jumps and tumbling and team routine.
STUNT will be a scholarship sport at UK, with the varsity team comprised of both scholarship and non-scholarship athletes. It will also be an equivalency sport at UK, which means that scholarship STUNT athletes may receive full or partial aid.
According to Kentucky, the number of STUNT scholarships permitted will be determined by the NCAA.
UK cheerleaders are not expected to be part of the Wildcats’ STUNT team, with traditional cheerleading teams and STUNT teams being different disciplines.
This story was originally published September 10, 2021 at 8:06 AM.
