INDIANAPOLIS -- The NCAA will host close to 250 prep basketball players between grades nine and 12 at its sixth annual First Team Summer Conference, August 9-12 in Tampa, Florida.

The First Team Summer Conference provides male basketball prospects with resources to help them and their parents navigate the collegiate recruiting process and understand the role athletics plays in the educational process.

The three-and-a-half day conference features sessions on recruiting, education, life skills, health and physical fitness, mock recruiting situations, study habits, preparation for college, time management, table and social etiquette, setting and achieving goals, nutrition and training, transition from high school, and understanding the student-athlete’s state high school athletic association.

Other conference highlights include guest speakers from all levels of basketball, including current and former student-athletes, who talk to the First Team participants about their experiences. Past speakers include former coaches and NCAA student-athletes such as John Thompson, Reggie Minton, Bill Raftery, John Lucas, Charles Barkley, Jarrett Jack, Michael Curry, Clark Kellogg and Doug Collins.

"This is a special year for the NCAA First Team Summer Conference," said Anne Little, director of the NCAA First Team Program. "For the first time, we will have participants from all over the United States and this year's conference will feature another big first--program alumni. Several former First Team participants who recently completed their first year as college student-athletes will be joining us in Tampa," said Little.

First Team is a year-round NCAA program designed to help highly talented prospective student-athletes and their parents as they experience the NCAA recruiting process. Participants receive monthly communication, attend the Summer Conference and remain in the program throughout high school. New candidates complete an application process, which is reviewed by a committee to determine selection. Program participants are identified based on their athletic ability and recommendations.

"Being a part of the First Team program was an invaluable experience to me both as a student and as an athlete," said former First Team participant and former Ohio State University student-athlete Mike Conley. "I learned how to handle life situations, as well as how to use the sport of basketball to further my education as I continue to excel at each stage of my career."

"I was totally impressed with the efforts made by First Team to educate my son in every area of life, whether it was sports, building relationships, education or just how to confront situations that most teens his age would encounter,” said Regina Conley, Mike's mother. "Personally I can't thank Anne Little, Greg Turner and Duke Pryor enough for being a part of the "village" that helped Michael to become the young man he is today."

The First Team program is the result of recommendations from a subcommittee of the NCAA Basketball Study Group, later named the NCAA Basketball Issues Committee. The subcommittee, which was created in 1998, asked that education initiatives be developed to address negative influences impacting the game of basketball, including a year-round mentoring and educational program.

First Team conferences have been held in Portsmouth, Virginia (2006), Colorado Springs, Colorado (2005); Charlotte, North Carolina (2004); Tampa, Florida (2003) and in Indianapolis (2002). The NCAA partners with the National Federation of State High School Associations and the National Association of Basketball Coaches on the First Team program.

For more information on First Team, visit www.ncaafirstteam.org.