Model High graduate takes new coaching job
Emily Powers is the first acrobatics and tumbling head coach at Belmont Abbey College.
Emily Powers is the first acrobatics and tumbling head coach at Belmont Abbey College.
The spread of an emerging sport among colleges and universities has provided a former Model High School student with a shot at being a head coach.
Emily Powers was recently named the inaugural head coach for the new acrobatics and tumbling program at Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina, which is the 23rd NCAA school in the country to sponsor the sport.
“I couldn’t be more excited to start the acrobatics and tumbling program at Belmont Abbey,” Powers said in a release. “My goals for this program are to bring in athletes whose core values meet those of the institution and to become a competitive force within Conference Carolinas and on the national level.”
The Model graduate was previously a graduate assistant coach at West Liberty University in West Virginia and was a four-year letterwinner in acrobatics and tumbling at King University in Tennessee, earning team most valuable player honors as a senior.
“We also are thrilled to announce our hire of Emily Powers as the program’s first head coach,” Belmont Abbey Director of Athletics Stephen Miss said in a release.
“Throughout the hiring process, coach Powers’ passion for her sport, her established relationships with influences throughout the acrobatics and tumbling world, and, most importantly, her articulation of a compelling desire to assist students in their formation and development spiritually, academically, and athletically established her as the ideal individual to lead our program.”
Acrobatics and tumbling is a discipline of USA Gymnastics and the evolution of different forms of gymnastics involving tumbling, tosses, and acrobatic lifts and pyramids. Teams participate in head-to-head competition and are scored in six events, including compulsory, acro, pyramid, toss, tumbling, and team.