When high-school athletes say they went to camp over the summer, they aren't talking about adventures at Erdman or Timberline.

Nowadays, sports camps occupy summer months for high school athletes. They learn about their sports, improve their techniques, and meet athletes from other schools. Most importantly, they get to market themselves.

Parents Kelli Te'o and Bulla Eastman have sent their sons — both Division I prospects — to a number of football camps over the years. Te'o's son is Kahuku defensive back Shiloah Te'o, an Advertiser All-State first-team selection last season. Eastman's son is Saint Louis defensive tackle Ryan Eastman, an honorable mention all-state pick.

Their families invested a lot of money to give their sons maximum exposure to college recruiters. They not only attended local camps, but also Mainland camps. For the two players, their parents' hard work and money paid off. Both have had multiple offers to college football, and both have verbally committed. Te'o accepted an offer from Brigham Young and Eastman from New Mexico State. They aren't contractually bound until they sign the national letters of intent in February.

There are general camps that bring over recruiters to look at the players. Then there are camps sponsored by schools themselves. Universities use them for exposure to their respective communities, but mostly to see the prospective talent. High school players see it as a way to market themselves to specific schools they might have in mind. They get to see the program's facilities, and get a taste of how the school's program is run.

The price of the camps is reasonable, considering the instruction the players receive plus whatever fringe benefits that come with it (T-shirts, bags, meals in some cases). Not included in most camp costs is airfare.

"The thing that's so cost prohibitive is the travel, especially when you're traveling summer time, you're traveling (during) peak time," Bulla Eastman said.

For Hawai'i players, it's harder because they might have to make multiple trips. They try to consolidate trips when possible. The Te'os combined the BYU and USC camps into one trip. The whole family went on this one, costing about $450 each in airfare.

"Since this was going to be (Shiloah's) last year before his senior year, my husband and I wanted to go with him," Kelli Te'o said. "It was a good experience."

Kelli Te'o said they were fortunate in that they stayed with relatives in Utah, but still had to pay $89 a night for a hotel in Los Angeles during the two-day USC camp. She and her husband planned for all this traveling years back, when it became apparent Shiloah might have a future playing collegiate football. But her mission isn't over yet. Her daughter, Nile, is a junior on the volleyball team at Kahuku. She has been attending similar camps in her sport.

"Now, we're working on her," Kelii Te'o said.

For those cannot travel, there are a number of camps here. There is the Just Win Camp on Maui, and the Game Plan Education First Camp at BYUH. The University of Hawai'i held its own camp for the first time since 1999, giving Island players another alternative. The cost ranged from $60 per day to $225 for three days. If you think the Hawai'i camps don't help, just look at Damien senior defensive back Christian Vasconcellos. He ended up with an offer from the Warriors and accepted it.

But the biggest bargain in town is the Pacific Island Athletic Alliance combine. It's free. There's even a Web site that profiles some participants (www.pacificathleticalliance.com).

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.