Camps & Clinics
All NCAA Camps & Clinics must be conducted in accordance with NCAA regulations. Student-athletes may be employed at an institutional camp under certain conditions. Camps must be open to any and all entrants and may not offer free or reduced-cost admissions unless pre-approved by the Compliance Office. All Camp & Clinic brochures must be approved by the Compliance Office. Coaches are responsible for maintaining valid and correct financial records of all income and expenses.
Please note that all coaches and football/basketball student-athletes must provide documentation of their participation in both institutional and non-institutional camps and clinics. The vast majority of camp/clinic legislation applies to both types of camps.
Camps & Clinics Approval Information
- Camp brochures must be approved by the Compliance Office prior to being sent out. See the Camps & Clinics: Approval Request Form for more information.
- It is permissible for coaches to send a camp confirmation to a prospect via regular U.S. Mail or e-mail even if the prospect is a high school freshman or sophomore. This confirmation may include information about the camp and required forms (e.g., liability waiver) in the mailing. The mailing may contain camp-related information only (i.e., no recruiting information) and may only be sent to individuals that have signed up for the camp.
- Camps may be conducted at any time excluding dead periods, except in the sports of football and basketball where they must occur between June 1 and August 31.
- Basketball camps must include an educational session per NCAA Bylaw 13.13.1.6.
- Corporate sponsors may be involved with your camp, so long as (1) no current or prospective student-athlete's names or pictures are used to promote the camp, (2) the sponsor does not provide recruiting or scouting services, (3) the sponsor's funds are not targeted at particular prospects, and (4) all other camp/clinic regulations are followed. A Camp Sponsorship Form listing all camp sponsors should be reviewed by the Business Office for possible sponsorship conflicts prior to the start of the camp.
- The cost of any awards (e.g., t-shirts) provided to camp participants must be included in the camp fees.
- Boosters may not provide anything of value (gifts, transportation, etc.) to camp participants.
- Coaches may not work for a camp conducted or sponsored by an individual/company that provides prospect recruiting or prospect scouting services.
For timeline questions, please refer to Camps & Clinics: Timeline (COMPrec_027).
Camp Employees
Student-athletes may be employed at an institutional camp (in all sports except football) under the following conditions:
- The student-athlete's coach completes the Student-Athlete Employment Approval (COMPrec_036) form, turns the form in to the Compliance Office, and the form is signed by the Athletic Compliance Office before the student-athlete's employment begins.
- No organized practice activities are conducted with student-athlete employees.
- Travel expenses, cash advances, and transportation can only be provided to student-athlete employees if they are also provided equally to all other camp employees and are pre-approved by the Compliance Office.
- Student-athletes must perform duties that are of a general supervisory character. Student-athletes that only lecture or demonstrate/coach at a camp may not be paid.
- In football, no student-athletes may be employed by their own institution's camp. A student-athlete may work at another institution's camp, provided that no more than one student-athlete from any institution works at any particular camp.
- High school, prep school and two-year college coaches may be employed by an institutional camp, provided the coach is paid the going rate for camp counselors of similar experience (and not on the basis of the coach's reputation, prospect contacts, or number of campers brought to the camp) and the coach completes the Camps & Clinics: Non-Institutional Coach Employment (COMPrec_038) form.
- Prospects may not be employed by an institutional camp.
Camp Participants
- A coach or other staff member may only be involved with a camp that is open to any and all entrants, limited only by number and age. Prospects may be invited to a camp (so long as it is genuinely open to any and all entrants, limited only by number and age, and is advertised as such).
- A camp may not offer free or reduced-cost admissions to any prospects, except via an advertised group rate available to all camp participants. Such offers must be pre-approved by the Athletic Compliance Office.
- A coach may not recruit prospects at a camp.
Coaches at a camp may not work primarily with talented prospects - they must work with all individuals in attendance at the camp.
Camp & Clinic Financial Reporting
Sound financial practices for documenting camps and clinics are an essential element of proper monitoring. Most importantly, this means that all camps should have a camp bank account (and should not be run through the coach's personal account).
In addition, the following records should be kept:
- A Payment Ledger recording all camp revenue and expenses
- Copies of registration forms, which should include the attendance fee paid and characteristics such as the camper's age, grade level, and whether the camper is an athletics award-winner
- Receipts of money received and type of payment
- Documentation of all camp expenses, including payment to employees
- Documentation of any refunds given and the reason for the refund
- Documentation of follow-up for any returned checks received
Within 45 days after the conclusion of the camp (or all summer camps), a copy of all camp registration forms and financial records should be turned in to the Business Office.
If you have any further questions about proper financial record keeping, please contact the Compliance or Business Offices.
Refund and Transportation Policy
In order to assist the camp/clinic in documenting any refunds provided and to ensure that camp benefits are available to all campers equally, the coach running each camp/clinic must determine refund and transportation policies for each camp. The Coach must complete a
Camps & Clinics: Refund and Airport Transportation Policies (COMPrec_042) form prior to the camp/clinic and put the policies on file with the Compliance Office 2-3 weeks before camp.
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If refunds and/or airport transportation are available, they need to be mentioned in the camp brochure (though it is not necessary to explain the complete policy in the brochure).
Sponsorship
The Athletics Department intends to minimize sponsorship conflicts between the University and its institutional camps. In order to do this, the coach holding the camp/clinic should submit a
Camps & Clinics: Sponsorship (COMPrec_044) for to the Business Office for each institutional camp 1-2 months prior to camp/clinic or whenever sponsorship is obtained, whichever is earlier.
Liability Waiver and Medical Treatment Consent
In order to ensure that all camp participants have signed a document assuming the risks associated with camp and consenting to medical treatment, each coach running a camp/clinic must ensure that all camp participants and their parents/guardians have signed the Assumption of Risk, Release of Liability and Consent to Medical Treatment form prior to the start of camp.
THIS IS A REQUIRED FORM for all camp participants per the University's general counsel - other waiver/treatment consent forms may not be substituted!
The Assumption of Risk Form may be completed along with camp brochure, following return of camp brochure, or at site of camp. A parent/guardian must sign for any individual under the age of 18.
Non-Institutional Camp & Clinic Employment Approval
Often, institutional staff members are employed in non-institutional camps/clinics. Such employment must be in accordance with NCAA regulations. At least 3-4 weeks prior to the start of the camp/clinic, the institutional staff member desiring such employment must submit a Camps & Clinics: Non-institutional Camp Employment (COMPrec_040) form for any non-institutional camp/clinic that he/she is working.
ALL of the regulations on institutional camps apply to the employment of institutional staff at non-institutional camps.