Aug. 2—GRAND FORKS — College athletes, especially those competing in the power conferences, have taken advantage of NIL opportunities since the NCAA changed its rules surrounding athletes’ ability to profit off their name, image and likeness in 2021.
UND athletes, like those at other mid-major schools, are starting to make use of the changes to NIL rules.
Fighting Hawks women’s basketball players, thanks to a changing landscape surrounding women’s college basketball, are among those taking advantage of NIL opportunities this summer.
“Not only do you get to promote yourself as an athlete, but it’s a big promotion of women’s sports and women’s basketball,” junior guard Mikayla Aumer said. “The way the game and the way women’s sports is expanding is huge, especially because you didn’t always get that opportunity, even the past couple of years.”
Aumer and transfer center Walker Demers both hosted youth basketball camps through Shoot 360 in Grand Forks this summer.
Aumer’s camp, called the Playmaker Clinic, focused on reading defenders and fundamental skills on both sides of the ball.
Demers ran a post player clinic and worked with players in Grades 4 through 8.
Shoot 360 reached out to Demers shortly after she
transferred to UND in April
after two seasons at South Dakota. The chance to host a camp was on her radar after hosting one camp at Grafton High School.
“I wanted to bring that to my local community,” she said. “I get to connect with kids that I had never met before, and I get to help train them and everything like that. So it’s honestly a blessing.”
The chance to build relationships with younger players in the community and introduce them to the game appealed to Aumer the most.
“I love seeing their growth,” she said. “I love seeing their curiosity and a willingness to learn, and the fun they always have. That’s always the best part.”
The camps were less about any potential profit and more about the ability to continue growing the sport. Skills camps like these didn’t exist everywhere when players like Demers were growing up.
“If they would have had this when I was younger,” she said, “I would have just been ecstatic.”
