NCAA Definitions

A representative of athletics interest is anyone who has:

• Participated in or is a member of an organization promoting the institution’s athletics program;
• Contributed to the athletic department or its booster club;
• Assisted or have been requested by the athletic department staff to assist in the recruitment of prospects;
• Assisted in providing benefits to enrolled student-athletes or their families; or
• Been involved in otherwise promoting the institution’s athletics program.

Once an individual is identified as a representative of the institution’s athletics interest, the person retains that identity indefinitely.

A prospective student-athlete ("prospects") is a student who has started classes for the ninth grade. A student who has not started ninth grade becomes a prospect if the institution provides such an individual (or the individual’s relatives or friends) any financial assistance or other benefits that the institution does not provide to prospective students generally, so it is recommended to treat all athletes as prospects.

Actions by athletics staff members or athletics representatives that cause a prospective student-athlete to become a prospect are:

• Providing the prospect with an expense paid visit to an institution;
• Having an arranged, in-person, off-campus encounter with the prospect or the prospect’s parents or legal guardians; or
• Initiating or arranging a telephone contact with the prospect, family member or guardian for the purpose of recruitment.

A contact is any face-to-face encounter between a prospect, or the prospect’s parents, relatives, or legal guardian, and an institutional staff member or athletics representative during which a dialogue occurs in excess of a greeting.

A student-athlete is a student whose enrollment was solicited by a member of the athletics staff or other representative of athletics interests with view toward the student’s ultimate participation in the intercollegiate athletics program.

Recruiting is any solicitation of a prospect or a prospect’s family member (or guardian) by an institutional staff member who has passed an NCAA Recruiting Test, for the purpose of securing the prospect’s enrollment and ultimate participation in the institution’s intercollegiate athletics program.

An extra benefit is any special arrangement by an institutional employee or an athletics representative to provide a student-athlete or the student-athlete’s relatives or friends with a benefit not expressly authorized by NCAA legislation.