The University of South Carolina Beaufort is committed to the principle of institutional control in operating its athletics program in a manner that is consistent with the NCAA, Peach Belt Conference, and University rules and regulations.
The compliance office coordinates, monitors, and verifies compliance with all NCAA requirements and educates student-athletes, coaches, faculty, staff and supporters of USCB regarding NCAA and Peach Belt Conference regulations. The compliance office is dedicated to providing educational programs and interpretive support to ensure that all individuals involved with the athletics program understand and adhere to the university's compliance expectations.
The goal of the compliance office to place USCB in a pro-active position by educating, overseeing, and monitoring the intercollegiate athletics program and maintaining a positive compliance environment.
Click here to ask Sand Shark Compliance a question
Shawn Becker | Director of Athletic Compliance
Email: sb128@uscb.edu | Phone: 843.208.8061
Dr. Bob LeFavi | Faculty Athletics Representative
Email: blefavi@uscb.edu | Phone: 843.208.8000
NCAA Eligibility Center
Who Is A Representative Of USCB’s Athletics Interests?
A representative of USCB's athletics interests is an individual, business, or organization who is known (or who should have been known) by a member of the institution's executive or athletics administration to:
- Have participated in or have been a member of an agency, group, or organizations, including corporate entities (e.g., apparel and equipment companies), that promotes USCB's athletics program.
- Have made a financial and/or in-kind donation to the Pacer Club, the Department of Athletics, and/or Development Office.
- Be assisting or to have assisted in providing benefits to enrolled student-athletes or their families.
- Have been involved, in any way promoting Sand Shark athletics.Any USCB faculty or staff member is typically viewed as an representative of athletics interests even if they do not have any tie to Sand Shark Athletics.
The NCAA stipulates that once an individual has been identified as a "Representatives of Athletics Interests" of the University's athletics programs, he or she retains this status forever. This is true even if the individual no longer contributes to the athletics program
As a "Representatives of Athletics Interests", USCB is responsible for anything you do relating to prospects, student-athletes, and their families or friends, whether it is accidental or intentional.
Who Is A Prospect?
A prospective student-athlete or "prospect" is a student who has started classes for the ninth grade, including students in prep schools and junior colleges, and individuals who have officially withdrawn or been released from four-year schools. Any student not yet in the ninth grade becomes a prospect if an institution provides the student with any financial assistance or other benefits that are generally not provided to prospective students.
A student-athlete remains a prospect until he/she reports for regular squad practice or attends the first day of class as a full-time student during any regular academic term.
As A Representative of Athletics Interests, What Interaction Am I allowed With Prospects?
You CAN:
- Observe a prospect's athletics contest as long as no contact is made with the prospect.
- Give USCB's coaches leads on prospective student-athletes.
- Make arrangements for a prospect's employment after their senior year in high school. This is the only exception that allows a booster to contact a prospect before the prospect enrolls at USCB. Compensation must be paid only for work performed and at a rate commensurate with the going rate in that locality for services of like character.
You CANNOT:
- Provide any benefit to prospective student-athletes, even if it is available to all students. This includes, but is not limited to, cash or loans, promise of employment after college, use of an automobile, tangible items, etc.
- Contribute to the payment of transportation costs for prospects or their friends or families to visit the University of South Carolina Beaufort.
- Pay any fees associated with sports camps for a prospect.
- Have off-campus contact recruits or their parents, in person or by telephone.
- Contact the prospect's high school coach, principal, or guidance counselor for the purposes of evaluating or recruiting the prospect.
- Visit the prospect's educational institution to pick up film/videotape or transcripts regarding the evaluation of the prospect's academic eligibility or athletic ability.
- Invite prospective student-athletes, their high school coaches, or their parents to receptions.
- Provide a meal at a restaurant for prospects and their parents.
- Provide a prospect with free transportation to and from a summer job unless providing transportation is the employer's established policy for al employees.
- Invite a prospect to a booster meeting. If a prospect attends a meeting on his or her own they would be permitted to stay, but they must pay all fees charged for non-members to attend the meeting, including the meal.
- Place an advertisement that is targeted at local prospective student-athletes in a newspaper or other publication (even if the advertisement does not specifically mention USCB).
- Employ relatives of prospects as an inducement for enrollment.
- Employ or arrange for the employment of a prospect without checking first with the athletic department.
What Is An Extra Benefit?
An extra benefit is defined as any special arrangement by an institutional employee or a representative of the institution's athletics interests to provide a student-athlete or the student-athlete's relatives or friends a benefit not expressly authorized by the NCAA. Receipt of a benefit by student-athletes or their relatives is not a violation of NCAA legislation if it is demonstrated that the same benefit is generally available to the institution's students or their relatives or friends or to a particular segment of the student body (e.g. foreign students, minority students) determined on a basis unrelated to athletic ability.
If a student-athlete accepts any benefit based on his or her athletic ability, that athlete may lose all eligibility for intercollegiate athletics participation. Additionally, boosters involved may be forced to disassociate from the university's athletic program.
As A Representative of Athletics Interests, What Interaction Am I allowed With Student-Athletes Enrolled At USCB?
You CAN/DO’s:
- Provide an occasional home meal to enrolled student-athletes (not prospects) and provide local transportation to your home with the Athletic Director's permission on special occasions (e.g., birthday, Thanksgiving).
- Provide a home meal and lodging at your home, and/or reasonable entertainment within 100 miles of the competition site to a USCB team competing in your area on an away trip.
- Provide lodging, meals, and transportation to USCB's coaches when they come to you community to contact and evaluate prospects.
- Arrange for employment for enrolled student-athletes as long as there is no preferential treatment and the student only gets paid that going rate for work activities actually performed.
- The NCAA permits student-athletes AS A TEAM to receive special benefits not permitted as individuals. Arrangements for such events must be made in advance with the athletic department.
- Pay student-athletes employed by you only for work actually performed and at the same rate for similar service in the community and your own business.
- Notify the athletic department of employment possibilities for student-athletes.
You CANNOT/DON'T’s:
- Provide any benefit to enrolled student-athletes that is not equally available to all students, even after their eligibility is exhausted.
- Provide a meal at a restaurant for enrolled student-athletes or their parents.
- Provide cash or other tangible items (e.g. clothes, cars, shoes) to a student-athlete or his/her.
- Providing professional services at no charge or a reduced rate.
- Purchase items or services from a student-athlete's family at inflated prices.
- Provide the use of a car (including official visits to student hosts) or any free or reduced cost services to student-athlete or his/her family.
- Provide a loan, co-signing a loan or guaranteeing a bond for a prospect/student athlete.
- Provide tickets to an athletic event (institutional or community), or free admission to an institution's away from home contest for a prospect/student-athlete or his/her family or friends.
- Promise employment after graduation or promising financial aid for post graduate education.
- Pay or arrange for the payment of transportation costs incurred by student-athlete's family to visit the campus or elsewhere.
- Entertain relatives of a student athlete including at your home or another facility (e.g. restaurant).
- Employing relatives of prospects as an inducement for enrollment.
- Buy Christmas, birthday gifts or any gifts or awards for athletic performance.
- Use the name or image of an enrolled student-athlete to directly advertise, recommend or promote sales or the use of a commercial product or service of any kind.
- Employ or arrange for the employment of a student-athlete without checking first with the athletic department.
- Provide transportation for a student-athlete whom you employ unless transportation is provided for all others employees.
- Provide student-athletes employment during the academic year without contacting the athletic department.
What is countable athletically related activity (CARA)?
CARA is any required activity with an athletics purpose, involving student-athletes and at the direction of, or supervised by, any member or members of an institution’s coaching staff.
What are the limitations on CARA?
| Championship Season/ Traditional |
Non-Championship Season/ Non-Traditional* |
Out of Season |
Practice, Games, Strength & Conditioning
Limited to 20 hours/week (Games count as 3 hours towards this maximum) |
Practice, Games, Strength & Conditioning
Limited to 20 hours/week (Games count as 3 hours towards this maximum) |
No Competition
8 hours/week for weight training, individual workouts/ team activities and conditioning supervised by staff |
| Maximum 4 hours/day |
Maximum 4 hours/day |
No more than 2 of the 8 hours can be used for individual workouts/team activities |
| One day off/week |
One day off/week |
Two days off/week |
| Student-athlete cannot miss class for practice |
Student-athlete cannot miss class for practice |
Student-athlete cannot miss class for practice |
|
Student-athlete cannot miss class time for competition in team sports |
*In general the Non-Championship/Non-Traditional Seasons restrict activity to 24 days that occur within a period of 45 consecutive calendar days. The Championship/Traditional Season is the season that concludes with the NCAA championships.
What are some examples of CARA?
- Competition (always counts as 3 hours)
- Individual workouts (as required or supervised by a member of the coaching staff)
- Participation of student-athletes in permissible tryouts involving prospective student-athletes
- Required weight training and conditioning activities held at the direction of or supervised by an institutional staff member
- Chalk talk (as required or supervised by a member of the coaching staff)
- Visiting the competition site
- Voluntary skill instruction at the request of the student-athlete
- Captains practice that was required by a member of the coaching staff
What are some examples of activities that would NOT be considered CARA?
- Study hall
- Compliance meetings
- Attendance at an awards or celebratory banquet
- Voluntary weight training and conditioning activities monitored by the institution’s strength and conditioning coach (a student-athlete’s attendance at such an activity cannot be recorded for purposes of reporting their attendance back to a coach)
- Fundraising activities
- Community engagement
- Student-athlete requested individual summer workout session with a member of the coaching staff (in golf and track and field)
- Captains practice that is not required or directed to occur by a member of the coaching staff
Sickle Cell trait is the inheritance of an abnormal gene which can cause deformation (“sickling”) of the red blood cell, along with a normal gene for hemoglobin. Approximately one in every 12 African Americans has sickle cell trait, (compared to ~ one in 2,000 to 12,000 white Americans). The gene for sickle cell trait is also present in individuals of Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, Indian, Caribbean, and South / Central American ancestry. All newborns in the U.S. are required to be screened for sickle cell.
Sickle cell trait has been associated with exertional rhabdomyolysis, renal failure, as well as death, and complicating factors include extreme exertion, increased heat, altitude, & dehydration. Over a nine-year span, seven athletes participating in NCAA sports died as a complication of sickle cell trait. It is because of this that the NCAA has now mandated testing or proof of testing prior to any practice, competition, or conditioning.
Effective August 1, 2022, all incoming NCAA Division II student-athletes who are beginning their initial season of eligibility and students who are trying out for a team, as part of their required medical examination or evaluation, must be tested for sickle cell trait and provide the institution with proof of a prior test. NCAA Bylaw 17.1.5.1 Sickle Cell Solubility Test.
WHY GET TESTED?
The sickle cell trait test (SST) is relatively easy to perform and can provide educational information that can be helpful to you both on and off the field. It is helpful to know your sickle cell status and can allow health care professionals to take better care of you. If you were born in the U.S., your testing results may be available in your medical record.
WHAT HAPPENS IF I TEST POSITIVE?
What happens if I test positive? Athletes that are sickle cell trait positive may participate in sports, often with no modifications whatsoever. Individuals that test positive for sickle cell trait will be counseled on what can be done to avoid complications.
WHO WILL KNOW THE RESULTS OF MY TEST?
The medical staff needs to be aware of your sickle cell status to provide optimal care of you during practice, competition, and conditioning. Outside of this, you will be asked if and who this information can be released to.
IS IT MANDATORY THAT I HAVE THE SICKLE CELL TRAIT TEST?
Yes. Every prospective student-athlete, and student-athletes in their initial season of eligibility starting after August 1, 2022, must be tested or show proof of prior testing for sickle cell trait.
Please understand NCAA rules do not permit student-athletes to practice with their team until the results of the test have come in. You cannot be cleared to practice/participate until the test results are available. This will delay your participation in your sport. Therefore, if you arrive on campus without documentation of sickle cell trait results, you will need to work with the Sports Medicine staff on finding a local lab diagnostic center to obtain an SST prior to engaging in athletically related activities.
AM I REQUIRED TO TAKE THE TEST PRIOR TO EACH ATHLETIC SEASON?
No. You are only required to take the test one time. If you can provide proof of testing, you will be permitted to participate in team activities.
