The high-intensity training camp where college athletes find freedom and purpose through the integration of God, life, and sport.
AIA Staff Info for UTC 2026
This UTC information page is for Athletes in Action Staff only. When recruiting for UTC, send campers and interns to the homepage.
UTC Executive Team
Teg Tegelaar | Tyler Turner | Brian Smith | Aaron Wilson | Andrew Core | Jennifer Waddell | Scott Mottice | Erica Oawster | Amy Dodd | Dave Hart
Registration is OPEN
All vital info, including dates and locations, is on the homepage of this UTC website. Registration is open for campers and interns at both locations: Colorado and Minnesota. The overwhelming response we get from campers every year for why they signed up for UTC is that "someone personally invited me to come." We are doing our best to make getting them to UTC as easy as possible, but we need your help. We want to serve you so please let us know how we can help. Thanks in advance, once again, for encouraging the athletes under your leadership to attend UTC. Below is some helpful information for you as you recruit:
UTC Infrastructure
Website: You are presently on our UTC website. Click here to navigate to the homepage built to recruit and register athletes. Everything a camper or intern needs to know is located on this website. Please send students directly to the homepage when recruiting.
Registration Tool: We have upgraded our registration system to integrate with Cru through their Summer Missions Tool (SMAPP). This will streamline our registration and communication. You will notice that campers will have to create an account with Okta or use their Facebook. This is for security and gives the ability for participants to check on progress and support.
Personal Fundraising Page: Through the SMAPP system a Cru giving page will be automatically generated for each participant. As you know, this is customizable, trackable, and easy-to-share page will make it easy for students to raise money for their camp expenses.
Registration Links
When recruiting, send student-athletes to the homepage. Text them www.ultimatetrainingcamp.com and (on iPhone) a compelling clickable social-sharing image will appear in their text messaging inbox. If a student-athlete is ready to register, you can send them directly to the links below, which they can also find by intuitively navigating the website.
UTC Digital Flyers
We have created a few digital flyers to help you recruit. The first two are meant to be together on a 6x4 postcard to be printed on front and back. This can easily be done through our staff discount with FedEx. They can also be used on your social accounts. Please tag @theultimatetrainingcamp and we would love to repost you.
Scholarship Codes
If you are wanting a scholarship code please email utc@athletesinaction.org with the following info:
Amount for the scholarship
How Many do you need for this amount
Chartfield Information - where is the money coming from. This can be a chartfield or an account number.
Name Of Code - A case sensitive generic name to share with others (example Wisconsin100)
For Deposit - Yes or no
Location: CO, MN or both
Event Type: campers, interns or both
You will need a scholarship code for as many different amounts that you’re looking to scholarship AND if it’s for a deposit or not.
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There are two ways to use the scholarship codes:
For Deposit:
There is a place when the participant registers that will ask for a discount code. By using the code here, it will go towards the amount of the deposit . If you do not want the code to go towards the deposit, DO NOT have the participant use the code at registration.
For Cost of Camp:
This code will NOT be used at registration. After the student registers they will have access to a participant dashboard where there is a place to input a scholarship code.
*Scholarship code amounts are transferred from the denoted Chartfield or Staff Account after UTC starts. If you need the transfer to take place before UTC begins, please email Andrew Core.
Athletic Trainers
One of the big needs every year is for qualified athletic trainers. We are frequently being asked if we have any information to help with the recruiting of trainers. To help answer your questions we have worked with AIA Sports Performance to create a page that will speak to trainers in their language and context. We are praying for 4 Certified Athletic Trainers and at least 4 Student Athletic Trainers at both locations this summer and we need your help identifying and recruiting.
Top FAQs Staff Have About UTC
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See the description above in the previous section.
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On the UTC Media page.
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We have done our best to strike the balance of putting together a high-quality camp at high-quality locations and keeping the cost as low as possible. UTC runs on a slim financial margin and reinvests the profits towards scholarships, marketing, and growth of future camps.
With that being said, a majority of the costs go toward food, housing, and facilities at the location, along with providing great music and speakers. Also, like any Cru/AIA event, we are assessed a certain percentage on every registration that we need to take into account.
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Almost all funds deposited into AIA/Cru accounts are assessed at the time they are processed. The amount of the assessment varies quite a bit depending on source, purpose, and destination. There are the Cru assessments for staff and ministry accounts and other specialized assessments like credit card fees.
It may be helpful to think of the funds “inside the Cru system” and the funds “outside the Cru system”. Funds inside Cru have already been assessed, and are not assessed again as they are transferred from one account to another. Funds outside the system (a bank account, a check or credit card, a different ministry like FCA) will be assessed as they enter the Cru system.
For individual campers who bring their own money (or money they have raised), the assessment is taken out when we send the money to Cru for processing.
For those who have scholarships, or when the money comes from campus accounts, the assessment has already been taken out via Cru. So when we transfer money from your campus account to our UTC account, we first subtract the assessment amount from the total bill before transferring the money.
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Yes. Because every tool we are using this year is a Cru system, all money raised by students is tax-deductible.
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With all the different transactions happening at all locations, we want to make sure we get the correct amount and answer any questions. This process usually takes 2-4 weeks after all camps are done. At that time we initiate the transfers.
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Two weeks before camp begins at each location we have to submit our guaranteed attendee numbers. At this point, we use that deposit to guarantee that person's spot and it can not be transferred. If you know of an athlete who will not be attending before two weeks, we are able to transfer that money to another participant, but we can not give a refund.
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If a student is injured or makes the postseason and has a schedule conflict, we can usually offer a refund as these are a normal part of the athlete experience.
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UTC does have some limited scholarship money on a case-by-case basis. This is usually accessible only after participants have taken some steps of faith toward raising some funds. We are also working with the AIA Campus Team on scholarships specifically for HBCU and minority athletes who need help. If you have any specific questions, let us know.
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Yes, it can be found here.
Best Recruiting Practices
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One of the best things that has worked in the past is to get current and former athletes involved in recruiting. As you meet with key athletes who have gone to camp, help them refine their UTC testimony.
Don’t make it all about The SPECIAL, but make it all about the God that they experienced at camp. This speaks volumes to their peers. If you can get them to say, “I’m going again this year, come back with me!” that is even better. Just a few minutes of peer encouragement might push them over the edge.
It has also been fun to hear about AIA alumni coming back to speak and share their experiences. This is a very safe way to keep alumni connected to the ministry.
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Who is that person who will get others to go with him/her to camp? Who are the people that other students will follow to sign up for a summer op? Get those people there! Create some intentional time to cast vision to the few with the hopes that others will follow.
Get creative to get those who can move the movement forward to commit. See incentives below. Even saying something like, “Every person you get to come with you, we will scholarship you $50” could get the ball rolling.
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We have learned that athletes need to have some personal buy-in/“skin in the game” in order to begin taking ownership of their support-raising needs, and committing their calendar dates to be at camp. When a deposit is put down by the athlete, their commitment to camp grows, they get excited, and recruit others. As you recruit, get them to put the deposit down, and incentivize after that. Here are a few examples of things that have worked around the country:
“If you put the deposit down, I’ll throw in $100 towards the remaining balance”
“If we get ten people to sign up tonight, our campus will donate $100 towards your camp cost”
“If 10 people sign up tonight, we will do a raffle of those that signed up and one of you will get a full scholarship to camp.”
Don’t forget about your scope campuses when incentivizing. There are some really fun partnerships that have been created because of this idea. At some campuses, we partner with Cru or FCA to come up with an incentive and share the load. Cru will throw in $50 and AIA will do $50, or some other amount. These ministries have seen and experienced the benefit that gets them bought in and helps put some money in the pot, so to speak.
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As a UTC Team, we have done our best to create one camp at two locations. Both CO & MN have unique cultural aspects but the content and delivery are very similar. The main objective is to get campers to camp, wherever the location might be. The key is to be strategic to the individual athlete and help them get to whatever camp might fit in their schedule while also pushing to have a shared experience, enter into a community, and be accountable to others from your campus.
Having too many choices can be overwhelming and handcuff an athlete into not making a choice at all. Both locations guarantee a top-notch, high-quality experience. The primary considerations for your athletes revolve around schedule compatibility, cost-effectiveness, and the potential for shared experiences with other athletes from their campus. Because of this, you may have to consider sending your athletes to both locations. The emphasis is not solely on the location but on the experience, connections, and growth awaiting your athletes at either camp.
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One of the biggest reasons athletes don’t come to camp is the money. Either they don’t have it or don’t know/understand how they can raise it. We need to help them see the ways God provides and how others want to help. For us on staff, this takes a little work but is so worth it.
Doing letter-writing parties, creating name storming sheets, helping them address envelopes, and even depositing their $ into your operating account helps ease some of the fears associated with raising money. Some campuses have even created a summer ops support-raising packet for their students.
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Don’t just recruit those who are believers. Camp is for anyone on the gospel spectrum. Last year over 15% of our campers accepted Christ for the first time and ⅓ recommitted their lives to following Jesus! Within AIA there are not many other environments that help non-Christians see and experience Jesus in the way camp does. So don’t hesitate to recruit those on the fence. We want to send them back to campus having a new perspective and hopefully, by God’s grace, a new relationship with the Lord.
Growth happens when athletes take steps of faith to do a summer opportunity. Let’s continue to help our athletes grow by pushing them to be in community, experience God in new and refreshing ways, and ultimately fall deeper in love with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We firmly believe that when our students experience camp (and summer ops in general), momentum is created that could be harnessed on campus for years to come. UTC wants to help serve you and your movement as you win, build, and send to a greater capacity.
Have questions about UTC?
Before sending us an email, please read through this entire website, specifically the FAQs above, and the student-athlete FAQs. If you still have a question please email us and we will get back to you. If your question is already answered on this website, please do not expect a response. Thanks!