The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) is the governing association of

community college A community college is a type of undergraduate higher education institution, generally leading to an associate degree, certificate, or diploma. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an open enr ...

, state college, and

junior college A junior college is a type of post-secondary institution that offers vocational and academic training that is designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations or support roles in professions such as engineering, a ...

athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions across 24 states and is divided into 3 divisions.

History

The idea for the NJCAA was conceived in 1937, in

Fresno, California Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

. A handful of junior college representatives met to organize an association that would promote and supervise a national program of junior college sports and activities consistent with the educational objectives of junior colleges. A constitution was presented and adopted at the charter meeting in Fresno on May 14, 1938. In 1949, the NJCAA was reorganized by dividing the nation into sixteen regions. The officers of the association were the president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, public relations director, and the sixteen regional vice presidents. Although the NJCAA was founded in California, it no longer operates there, having been supplanted by the unaffiliated

California Community College Athletic Association The California Community College Athletic Association (3C2A; formerly CCCAA) is a sports association of community colleges in the U.S. state of California. It oversees 108 athletic programs throughout the state. The organization was formed in ...

. The NJCAA only allowed male competitors until 1975, when it established a women's division following the enactment of

Title IX Title IX is a landmark federal civil rights law in the United States that was enacted as part (Title IX) of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program that receiv ...

. Based out of

Hutchinson, Kansas Hutchinson is the largest city in and the county seat of Reno County, Kansas, Reno County, Kansas, United States. The city is located on the Arkansas River. It has been home to salt mines since 1887 (thus its nickname of "Salt City") but locals ...

since 1968, the national office relocated to

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010 United States Census, 2 ...

in 1985. Headquarters moved to

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...

in 2018.

Division history

Each institution belonging to the NJCAA chooses to compete on the Division I, II or III level. Division I colleges may offer full athletic scholarships, totaling a maximum of tuition, fees, room and board, course-related books, up to $250 in course-required supplies, and transportation costs one time per academic year to and from the college by direct route. Division II colleges are limited to awarding tuition, fees, course related books, and up to $250 in course required supplies. Division III institutions may provide no athletically related financial assistance. However, NJCAA colleges that do not offer athletic aid may choose to participate at the Division I or II level if they so desire.

Awards

* Academic Student-Athlete Awards by sport *"NJCAA Academic Team of the Year" by sport *"Betty Jo Graber Female Student-Athlete of the Year" by sport *"David Rowlands Male Student-Athlete of the Year" by sport *"Lea Plarski Award" by sport * NJCAA sponsors by sport * Service Awards by sport

Halls of fame

*NJCAA Hall of Fame *NJCAA Hall of Fame (Region XVI) *NJCAA Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame *NJCAA Basketball Hall of Fame *NJCAA Men's Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame *NJCAA Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame *NJCAA Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame *NJCAA Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Fame

Conferences and regions

The NJCAA is divided into 24 different regions: NJCAAmap

* Region 1: Arizona Community College Athletic Conference * Region 2:

Bi-State Conference The Bi-State Conference, also known as Region II, is a junior college athletic conference for many technical and community colleges within the South Central states of Arkansas and Oklahoma, sponsored by the National Junior College Athletic Associ ...

* Region 3:

Mid-State Athletic Conference The Mid-State Athletic Conference (MSAC) is a junior college conference located within Region III of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). The MSAC has 8 member schools, all located in Upstate New York. Conference championships ...

, Mountain Valley Athletic Conference, Western New York Athletic Conference * Region 4:

North Central Community College Conference The North Central Community College Conference, commonly known as the N4C, was part of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). Conference championships were held and individuals can be named to All-Conference and All-Academic tea ...

, Illinois Skyway Conference, Arrowhead Conference,

City College of Chicago Athletic Conference A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

* Region 5:

Metro Athletic Conference The Metro Athletic Conference (also known as the Dallas Athletic Conference) is a junior college athletic conference within the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region 5. The conference consists of six junior colleges located ...

North Texas Junior College Athletic Conference The North Texas Junior College Athletic Conference (NTJCAC) is a junior college athletic conference for many technical and community colleges in the state of Texas, sponsored by the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). Conference ...

Western Junior College Athletic Conference The Western Junior College Athletic Conference (WJCAC) is a junior college athletic conference for many technical and community colleges within the Southwest states of Texas and New Mexico, sponsored by the National Junior College Athletic Associ ...

* Region 6:

Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference The Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference (KJCCC) is a college athletic conference that is a member of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). As of 2007, the KJCCC was home to more than 3,000 student-athletes in the 19 ...

* Region 7:

Tennessee Junior and Community College Athletic Association Also known as the TJCCAA and Region 7, the Tennessee Junior and Community College Athletic Conference, commonly referred to as the ''Tennessee Community College Athletic Association'' (''TCCAA'') and a member of the National Junior College Athleti ...

* Region 8:

Mid-Florida Conference The Mid–Florida Conference is a conference within the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) NJCAA Region 8, Region 8. The conference consists of Florida College System, seven state colleges located in Florida. Members Member ins ...

Panhandle Conference The Panhandle Conference is a conference within the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region 8. The conference consists of four state colleges and one community college located in Florida. Members Member institutions are Chip ...

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Southern Conference College football, football teams c ...

, Suncoast Conference * Region 9: Colorado Community College Athletic Conference, Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference, Wyoming Community College Athletic Conference * Region 10: Carolinas Junior College Conference * Region 11: Iowa Community College Athletic Conference * Region 12:

Michigan Community College Athletic Association The Michigan Community College Athletic Association (MCCAA) is a junior college conference throughout Michigan and northern Indiana in Region 12 of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). The men's sports organized by the MCCA ...

Ohio Community College Athletic Conference The Ohio Community College Athletic Conference or OCCAC is a college athletic conference whose member institutions are community colleges in the states of Ohio and Indiana. It is a member of Region 12 of the National Junior College Athletic Asso ...

* Region 13:

Minnesota College Athletic Conference The Minnesota College Athletic Conference (MCAC), formerly the Minnesota Community College Conference (MCCC), is a junior college collegiate athletic conference in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). The 23 member institutio ...

Mon-Dak Conference The Mon-Dak Athletic Conference (MDAC) is a junior college conference for eight Tech and Community Colleges located in Montana and North Dakota, and it is a conference in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). Conference champi ...

* Region 14: Southwest Junior College Conference * Region 15: City University of New York Athletic Conference,

Mid Hudson Conference Mid Hudson Conference (MHC) is a junior college conference in Region 15 of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). The MHC was created to provide an association for two year colleges of the Mid-Hudson area. The conference was cre ...

* Region 16:

Missouri Community College Athletic Conference The Missouri Community College Athletic Conference (MCCAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) within its Region 16. The MCCAC is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Member ...

* Region 17: Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association * Region 18: Scenic West Athletic Conference * Region 19: Eastern Pennsylvania Athletic Conference,

Garden State Athletic Conference The Garden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) is a junior college conference in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) for many technical and community colleges in New Jersey. And it is one conference in the Region 19 of the NJCAA ...

* Region 20: Western Pennsylvania Athletic Conference,

Maryland Junior College Athletic Conference The Maryland Junior College Athletic Conference (MD JUCO) is a sports association for junior colleges in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). It belongs to Region XX (20) of the NJCAA. Chartered in the late 1960s, the MD JUCO ...

* Region 21:

Massachusetts Community College Athletic Association The Massachusetts Community College Athletic Association (also known as the MCCAA) is a sports association in the NJCAA for junior colleges located in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. The conference is a member of the Region 21 of N ...

* Region 22: Alabama Community College Conference * Region 23: Louisiana Community Colleges Athletic Conference, Mississippi Association of Community & Junior Colleges * Region 24:

Mid-West Athletic Conference The Mid-West Athletic Conference (MWAC) is an athletic conference in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). The Mid-West Athletic Conference is a two-year college conference composing the two-year schools in Central and South ...

Great Rivers Athletic Conference Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" * Artel Great (bo ...

. ;Notes:

Sports

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

(men) (Divisions I, II, III) /

Softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

(women) (Divisions I, II, III) *

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

(Divisions I, II, III) *

Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

(Divisions I, II, III) *

Soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

(Divisions I, II) *

Track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

(Divisions I, II) *

Tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

(Divisions I, II) *

Wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

(Divisions I, II, III) * Cross country (Divisions I, II) *

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

(men) (Division I, III) /

Flag football Flag football is a variant of gridiron football (American football or Canadian football depending on location) where, instead of Tackle (football move)#Gridiron football, tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or ...

(women) *

Bowling Bowling is a Throwing sports#Target sports, target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a bowling ball, ball toward Bowling pin, pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). Most references to ''bowling'' are ...

(Division I) *

Swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

(Division I) *

Diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), ...

(Division I) *

Lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

(men) (Division I) *

Half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish, or shortcu ...

(Division I) *

Beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two to four players each on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side o ...

(women)

Baseball

* JUCO World Series * JUCO Baseball Coaches

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

Basketball championships

* NJCAA Division I * NJCAA Division II * NJCAA Division III * NJCAA Women's Championship

Football

Due to the relatively small number of schools fielding teams, some football-only conferences exist. They may be home to teams from multiple regions. * The

includes only schools in Kansas (Region 6). All are members of the conference in other sports. * The Midwest Football Conference which features schools from Iowa (Region 11), once included programs in northern Illinois (Region 4), Michigan (part of Region 12), and North Dakota (part of Region 13) before several of its schools dropped football prior to the 2015 season. The three Iowa schools (Ellsworth, Iowa Central and Iowa Western) play each other and also have a scheduling alliance with the KJCCC. The College of DuPage (Region 4), the only Illinois school that still has football, plays as an independent. Harper, Joliet and Grand Rapids all disbanded their football programs. North Dakota State School of Science joined the MCAC (see below). * The

, includes schools in Minnesota and North Dakota (part of Region 13). All of the Minnesota schools participate in the conference in other sports. North Dakota State School of Science and Dakota College only participate in football. * The Mississippi Association of Community & Junior Colleges only includes schools in that state, which is a part of Region 23. None of the Louisiana members of Region 23 field a football team. * The Northeast Football Conference includes schools from regions 15 (Lower New York, New York City and Long Island), and 19 (Lackawanna, Pa.). Lackawanna is the only football-playing school in Region 19. * The Southwest Junior College Football Conference includes teams from both regions in Texas (5 and 14), Northeastern Oklahoma A&M (Region 2) and New Mexico Military (Region 5). * Western States Football League, now defunct, once included teams from Arizona (Region 1) and Utah and Idaho (Region 18). Snow College, Utah, is now the only college sponsoring football in Region 1 and Region 18. There are also independent schools in regions 2 (Arkansas Baptist), 3 (upstate New York), 8 (ASA-Miami), 10 (Louisburg, N.C.), 12 (Hocking College), and 17 (Georgia Military).

Onondaga Community College Onondaga Community College (OCC) is a public community college that serves Onondaga County and Central New York. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. OCC's 280-acre main campus is located in the Town of Onondaga, which ...

's football program does not compete in the NJCAA but instead competes at the club football level. Regions 7, 9, 16, 20, 21, 22 and 24 do not have any football programs.

References

External links

* {{authority control College sports governing bodies in the United States Organizations based in Charlotte, North Carolina 1938 establishments in the United States Sports organizations established in 1938

History

Division history

Awards

Halls of fame

Conferences and regions

Sports

Baseball

Basketball championships

Football

See also

References

External links