Other international student-athletes were unable to return home completely during this time. Weiler decided to return to campus only after learning that the women’s swim and dive team would hold practice in person in Fall 2020. It has also posed many challenges for international student-athletes already enrolled in the NU athletics program. The lack of ability to travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic has further reduced the number of chances available for coaches to scout athletes. However, there are fewer opportunities overall for these athletes compared to those in the United States. Sullivan, who serves as the sports administrator for most of the NU athletics teams, said that Northeastern coaches sometimes travel overseas to national championships or tournaments to recruit international student-athletes. “But the initial spark can be kind of difficult to get.” “I was always amazed by college sports and college basketball overall and the sports culture in the United States,” he said. The team’s coach, who was American, was one of the big connections he utilized to get recruited by U.S colleges. As part of his German basketball team, Emanga first came to the United States in 2014-15 to play in a tournament. Riley Robinsonįor Quirin Emanga, German-raised sophomore basketball player, the connections were vital in his decision to enter collegiate basketball. International student-athletes rely heavily on their connections and thus have to decide earlier whether they want to go down the path toward college in the United States. Unlike high schools in the United States, it is less likely for international students to be noticed during a regional or state championship or to get in contact with the right people in the first place. After deciding to play at the collegiate level, one of the biggest hurdles for international students is the recruitment process. recruiters.īut not all international student-athletes are able to gain initial contact for the recruitment process as quickly. Playing in national tournaments helped Aurard get noticed by U.S. “I knew the support system was amazing because I was talking to the coaches and the upperclassmen.”įor Aurard, the decision to play ice hockey in college came naturally as she was first recruited during the 2019 IIHF women’s world championships in Germany where she was playing for the French national team as well as during her high school career at Vermont Academy. “I chose Northeastern also for the education, and I knew it when I was coming here,” said French junior hockey player Chloé Aurard. Other Northeastern international student-athletes have also echoed this sentiment. “It was important to find a school where I can thrive academically as well as in athletics. “It helped me to know what I wanted to focus on because for me, the actual school has always been important to me as well,” she said. The choice they make is intentional, so they tend to be very committed in the classroom and other ways.”įor Weiler, Northeastern and its education was also an important factor in deciding to pursue swimming in the United States. “It adds an element of diversity, and it adds a breadth and depth to the experience.
“We love having international student-athletes,” said Regina Sullivan, Northeastern’s deputy athletics director. Northeastern University currently has approximately 100 international student-athletes, said associate assistant director for communications Scott MacDonald, which constitutes 20-22% of the entire program. In 2018, NCAA Research found that international student-athletes made up 12.1% of all first-year Division I student-athletes, compared to 9.5% in 2013, just five years before. The number of international students who seek this opportunity is growing every year. There are many athletes like Weiler who envision coming to the United States to play at the collegiate level - for many, it serves as a pipeline to professionally pursue their sport in the future. “Swimming in America has always been a dream,” Weiler said. All of this led up to Weiler transitioning to collegiate swimming in the United States, since there are no college athletics in Swedish universities. From the get-go, she was enrolled in an athletic high school in her hometown of Helsingborg, Sweden, where she trained and competed on the national level. For Swedish senior swimmer Matilda Weiler, it was an easy choice to decide to pursue swimming in college in the United States.
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