Attendance Restriction
- Institutional camps/clinics must be open to any and all entrants (limited only by number and age, grade level, and/or gender).
- Enrolled student-athletes cannot enroll as campers at his/her own institution’s camp.
- Prospective student-athletes may be invited to attend camps, as long as the camp is legitimately advertised and open to all entrants.
- Coaching staff members may not work exclusively with specific prospects.
Free/Reduced Camp Admission
- High school, preparatory school or two-year college athletes, or any other individual being recruited by an institution, may not be given free or reduced admission privileges to any camp/clinic.
- A representative of an institution’s athletics interests may not pay a prospective student-athlete’s expenses to attend a sports camp/clinic.
- Discounted camp admission may only be given based on objective criteria unrelated to athletics ability.
- E.g. registration prior to a specific deadline, online registration, attendance at multiple sessions.
- Discount criteria must be published and available on an equal basis to all who qualify.
- It is permissible for children of institutional staff members, athletics department staff members, or coaches employed by a camp/clinic to receive free or reduced camp admission, as stipulated by institutional or athletic department policy.
Group Discounts
- Group discounts may be offered to coaches and athletes, as long as those discounts are available on an equal basis, with documented standards, to all who wish to take advantage of them.
Camp Advertisements
- All advertisements and promotions for a camp/clinic must stipulate that the camp is open to any and all entrants (limited only by number and age, grade level, and/or gender).
- A camp/clinic may be advertised in a recruiting publication that contains a camp directory, so long as:
- Ad size does exceed a ½ page and the format of the ads are identical
- Camp directory places at least two ads of the same size, but for different camps, on the same page.
Recruiting Calendar
- Camps may not be conducted during a sport’s “dead period.”
- Although interactions between prospective student-athletes and coaches employed by a camp are not subject to the recruiting calendar restrictions:
- Prospective student-athletes cannot be treated differently from other campers.
- Any outside coaches wishing to attend a camp as an observer must abide by NCAA recruiting contact and evaluation period rules.
Phone Calls
- Phone calls, emails, and faxes may be made to an individual (or his/her parents, legal guardians, relatives or coach) and are not subject to NCAA restrictions on phone calls or recruiting materials, so long as the calls relate solely to camp/clinic logistical issues (e.g. missing registration).
- No recruiting conversation or language may be used in these phone calls or emails
- No solicitation may be made for particular individuals to attend a camp/clinic
- Calls must be documented on a Logistical Call Log, noting the reason for the call.
Media Presence
- Media may not be invited to attend, or provided special access to, camp/clinics and the prospective student-athletes in attendance (This includes recruiting or scouting services).
- Media who are present at an institutional camp/clinic can only be located in areas open to the general public.
- Media are not allowed on the playing field during, or at the conclusion of camp.
Benefits
- Any benefits (e.g., transportation to campus, video tape of camp) provided to campers must be legitimately advertised and made available to all camp attendees.
Awards
- Prospects may receive awards from a member institution’s sports camp, with the understanding that the cost of such awards is include in the admission fees charged for participants in the camp.
Educational Section – Football and Basketball
- An institution’s basketball sports camp must include an educational session to all camp participants, detailing NCAA initial eligibility standards and regulations related to gambling, agents, and drug use.
Impermissible Camp Activities
- An institution may not engage in activities devoted to measuring agility, flexibility, speed or strength for the purpose of evaluating prospective student-athlete
- An institution may engage in these measurement activities if it is performed in an instructional context
- It is not permissible for an institution’s coach to engage in activities devoted to agility, flexibility, speed or strength tests that go beyond the appropriate instructional context.
- Institutions may not engage in testing activities that will then be used or recorded for purposes of evaluating the abilities of prospective student-athletes for recruiting purposes.
Student-Athlete Camp Employment Rules
Student-athletes, IN ALL SPORTS, may be employed by any sports camps must meet the following requirements:
- Current student-athletes may be assembled and used from demonstration purposes during a camp, as long as it is outside of the playing season and within the weekly hour limitations for that sport.
- If current student-athletes are participating in a scrimmage during an institutions camp/clinic, it is impermissible for the institution’s coaching staff to observe the scrimmage. Specifically, “open events” or “games” played between campers and student-athletes may not be viewed by coaching staff members.
- Student-athletes with remaining eligibility may not conduct their own camp.
- A coach must provide the Compliance Office a list of student-athlete employees and their rate of pay prior to camp employment.
Prospective Student-Athlete Camp Employment
- High school, preparatory school or two-year college athletes, or any other individual being recruited by an institution, may not be employed by any camp/clinic.
- Exception — Employment after Commitment. An institution may employ a prospective student-athlete in a camp or clinic, provided he or she has signed a National Letter of Intent or the institution’s written offer of admission and/or financial aid or the institution has received his or her financial deposit in response to its offer of admission. Compensation may be paid only for work actually performed and at a rate commensurate with the going rate in the locality for similar services. Such compensation may not include any remuneration for value or utility that the student-athlete may have for the employer because of the publicity, reputation, fame or personal following that he or she has obtained because of athletics ability. A prospective student-athlete who only lectures or demonstrates at a camp/clinic may not receive compensation for his or her appearance at the camp/clinic.
High-School, Preparatory-School or Two-Year College Coaches
- A high-school, preparatory school or two-year college coach may be employed by a camp, provided:
- The coach is compensated at the going rate for camp counselors of like teaching ability and camp experience.
- The coach may not be paid on the basis of the coach’s reputation or contact with prospects.
- The coach may not be compensated or reimbursed based on the number of campers the coach sends or brings to the camp.
- Football and Basketball camp employment:
- It is not permissible for an institution to employ (i.e. volunteer or paid) an individual associated with a recruited prospective student-athlete at the institution or men’s basketball staff member’s camp/clinic.
Additional Camp Services
- If a camp wants to provide services outside of the confines of camp (e.g. transportation from airport or bus station, overnight stay prior to or after camp), this service must be in your camp brochure/website and the appropriate cost should be applied.
