International student-athlete guide available for membership

The NCAA office of inclusion has released its inaugural international student-athlete guide, a two-part resource created for the membership to assist in enhancing inclusion and a sense of belonging for international student-athletes.

The resource seeks to generate awareness and understanding of the unique challenges international student-athletes face and provide the membership with guidance and tools to support the more than 21,000 international student-athletes who currently compete in Divisions I, II and III.

"We are proud of this important resource, since its creation was a thorough process of collective brainstorming of stakeholders within the national office and across the membership," said Shay Wallach, associate director of inclusion. "It offers concrete solutions to many barriers that we often hear about in our conversations with international student-athletes and those who lead them. 

"Coaches, administrators and athletics departments that seek ways to provide a more inclusive environment will find that some of these solutions are rather low-hanging fruit. It doesn't always require funds or extensive efforts. A bit of awareness and intentionality can go a long way here, and that is the understanding we hope to establish." 

Developed as a result of the International Student-Athlete Inclusion Think Tank in November, the guide was strategically built by listening to and working with relevant membership stakeholders. The think tank revealed a common challenge where many international student-athletes face a lack of knowledge on the U.S. academic structure, the NCAA structure and a timeline for pre-college preparations, and they possess potential blind spots when engaging with for-profit recruiting agencies.

Additionally, research shared at the think tank revealed that international student-athletes (25%) are more likely than domestic student-athletes (14%) to transfer during their freshman year.

Acclimating to a new country all while navigating eligibility rules, immigration laws and cultural gaps presents challenges to international student-athletes.

"Despite being perceived as a group that is not at a disadvantage, international student-athletes are an often-overlooked population that has unique needs, different from domestic student-athletes," Wallach said. "Their success and belonging requires a nuanced and intentional approach. This guide should aid athletics departments, administrators, coaches and teammates to better support the international student-athlete and foster a more inclusive environment."

The final report of the think tank included possible solutions, which are now being shared as best practices for supporting international student-athletes. Consisting of two documents, "Action Steps for Athletics Departments" and "Considerations for Athletics Administrators," the resources have intentional overlap in content for the respective audiences. Both are an outcome of the brainstorming process during the think tank.

"Considerations for Athletics Administrators" was adapted from a resource created by Kristi Mejias, Texas A&M's director of academic services, who serves a large international student-athlete population at her university. In addition to being examined and enriched by an external immigration lawyer, both resources were reviewed by three former international student-athletes who shared their knowledge and lived-experiences to enhance the documents:

• Ancia Ifill, Louisville associate director of academic services. 
• Ashlesha Lokhande, TCU athletics academic advisor.
• Simran Kaur Sethi, Oklahoma Ph.D. student studying intercollegiate athletics administration.

Sethi, who relocated from India to compete as an international student-athlete and became a published scholar within this field, especially understands the benefit this resource could have with current and future student-athletes from around the globe.

"As a former international student-athlete, working on putting together the first-ever resources on international student-athletes' inclusion was nostalgic and feels like a full-circle moment for me," Sethi said. "These resources are a great step in the right direction and will be invaluable for those who work with and for international student-athletes across all member institutions. As someone who continues to research the experiences of this population and how those can be made inclusive and holistic, I am happy to support the collective effort in making athletics departments more friendly to international student-athletes."

While the resource is now being shared, the NCAA office of inclusion will continue to develop tools and resources that will allow successful and inclusive integration of international student-athletes — a population that brings a cultural wealth and true diversity to campuses across the nation. 

For any additional feedback, please contact Shay Wallach at swallach@ncaa.org.