Almost all collegiate sports teams share the desire to compete and win in their respective disciplines. For some schools, the resources to recruit top-tier athletes are nearly limitless. These teams employ multiple scouts and have budgets specifically to travel and woo their next set of star athletes.
The recruitment world is a crowded space where top-level schools compete over a finite list of athletes. For schools that lack the resources and reputation, there is very little they can do to stay competitive against their better-funded counterparts.
How do these schools manage to field competitive teams against these odds? One of the best things a program can do is expand its recruitment efforts overseas.
What is the Benefit of International Athletes?
Depending on the sport, international athletes can sometimes begin their college careers at a much higher level than their American counterparts. For example, Soccer, Swimming, Gymnastics, Wrestling, and Water Polo are often more popular sports abroad than in the United States. This difference in popularity, in turn, produces more athletes in each of those sports.
You can find top-level international athletes in the four major American sports. For instance, international basketball players have consistently matched the level of Americans over the last several years, while baseball has also proven to yield results overseas as well.
The Benefit of Diversity
In addition to drawing from a larger talent pool, one of the other major benefits of recruiting internationally is building a more diverse, inclusive program. Building a team with a diverse background provides a broader range of skills, abilities, and perspectives. This benefits not only the team but the institution as a whole.
New reports have shown that fewer and fewer Gen Z students have been participating in extracurricular sports activities over the past four years. While the pandemic may be partially to blame for a lack of opportunities, the data from the two years preceding the pandemic point to this being more of a long-term trend.
This data is quickly becoming a major concern for collegiate sports programs across the country. Schools that have poured millions of dollars into their sports departments cannot stand to let these revenue pipelines dry out.
With the available pool of athletes shrinking, colleges will soon be forced to become even more cutthroat and competitive in their recruiting efforts. Schools with large recruiting budgets will likely remain unscathed, but smaller, less well-financed schools will soon be in desperate waters.
Where to Turn?
With the domestic talent pool contracting, one of the best places for college coaches to start searching is overseas. While more expensive, international recruitment expands the current talent pool dramatically for college programs.
International athletes can often compete at the same level as their American counterparts. They may have also competed at a much higher amateur level than domestic recruits depending on the sport.
Despite all the benefits of international recruitment, there are some obstacles. Geographic barriers make it harder for coaches or scouts to locate potential prospects. Cultural and language barriers also present difficulties. However, with today’s advanced technology, these problems are less severe than they once were.
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