National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), voluntary association devoted to the administration of college athletics. The organization was founded in 1906 as the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States and took its present name in 1910.

The NCAA is composed of more than 1,200 colleges, universities, conferences, affiliated organizations, and corresponding members. The NCAA enforces the detailed code of regulations written and voted upon by member colleges and universities, assists member schools in complying with NCAA regulations, administers more than 80 annual championship sporting events for men and women, produces the collegiate rules of play for 13 sports, compiles and distributes statistics in football and basketball, and publishes a weekly newspaper.

The NCAA also annually awards more than 150 postgraduate scholarships to outstanding student athletes, provides a summer-activity program for disadvantaged youth, and offers athletics instruction to young people in its Youth Education Through Sports program. Its headquarters is in Indianapolis, Indiana.