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International Recruitment Part III of III:
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The world of sports is literally that – it’s own world. What makes it so unique is its diversity. Countries, thousands of miles apart, can be connected universally by one love of a game.
Here at Boise State University, the women’s tennis team is a prime example – seven of their nine players are coming from all over the globe to compete for BSU.
Sky’s the limit
Looking at the current BSU women’s tennis roster, it’s hard to see a connection to any specific country from where the coaches have recruited. Players have been recruited from Poland to Russia to Germany – one player even comes from Texas. But in the sport of tennis, that’s what players have to do to stay an elite team.
“College tennis has just kind of evolved,” Head Coach Mark Tichenor said. “Tennis is a world wide sport . we recruit American kids too, we recruit international kids, and stuff. So basically for us we just look for the people and the best student-athletes that want to come to Boise State that will thrive in our environment.”
Despite the fact that the players are thousands of miles away and their isn’t enough money for Boise State to make visits to every country, recruiting international athletes isn’t as tricky as it sounds.
“The internet is a great thing,” Tichenor said. “I mean, you can get so much information on them, they can get so much information on you and then after that it’s all phone calls, e-mails and that’s it. We don’t have the budget to go fly over there and look at kids like a lot of schools do that we play against. We just do the best we can with our resources.”
Paying off
Tichenor has turned out to be one of the main assets for BSU. With his accommodating and supportive approach, he has landed some of the top recruits around the world.
“The biggest one [reason] was the coach,” junior Jana Mackova, who is originally from Slovakia, said. “[He] really was the one who seemed to care about me and really wanted to get me here. He was really helpful with all the paper work, like to get a language examinations, visa . I knew if I needed to go somewhere without my family, I would have family here.”
Mackova said she was also recruited by other top universities such as North Carolina, but Boise State became the right fit for her.
But why America? According to the women, the only way to play tennis and still get an education was available in America.
“Pretty much because back home we don’t have this program . get a scholarship, play in sports, go to university,” Polina Kokoulina, who is originally from Russia, said. “We can just pretty much just go to university, but if you want to continue sports, then you have to do it alone. This has a combination of both.”
Hitting the court
Since coming to BSU all of the athletes on the roster have made a huge impact and helped propel the team to No.44 and a spot in the NCAA tournament this week.
“It’s been a huge impact,” Tichenor said. “They’re great kids; they do really well in school . last year our team won the Bronco Life Challenge. They support all the other teams. They do their community service. They do everything.” One of the areas that the international players have really taken to heart, and learned to adjust to, is the aspect of team play.
With such diversity on the team, it has led to new relationships on and off the court.
“It’s so much fun, we’re so much different,” Mackova said. “You explore new cultures. I’m learning about the American culture, but at the same time I’m learning about German and Poland and other cultures. I love it.”
Home away from home
For a lot of the athletes this is their first time away from home and in the United States, which can take a bit of adjusting to the different culture and lifestyle.
“It was different to see different people,” Mackova said. “[The] food is different, education system was different.in the beginning I struggled, but coach and team and people around athletics helped a lot.”
Tichenor said that whenever BSU gets a new player, whether American or not, there is always a fellow team member around to help out.
“They do a great job of helping each other out and when they get here for the first time, there’s always someone walking them around campus,” Tichenor said. “I show them where everything is.they probably get tired of people asking if they’re okay, is everything alright. That one of the things we pride ourselves on an that’s kind of the difference in our programs.”
Another aspect that makes the tennis team unique is the fact that since a majority of the girls are from other countries they know what it feels like to be new and have everything different.
“It makes it a lot easier [having girls from all over the world],” Mackova said. “If you were home sick you just talk to the other girls and you know they feel the same sometimes, it helps.”
But why America? According to the women, the only way to play tennis and still get an education was in coming to America.
“Pretty much because back home we don’t have this program.get a scholarship, play in sports, go to university,” Polina Kokoulina, who is originally from Russia, said. “We can just pretty much just go to university, but if you want to continue sports, then you have to do it alone. This has a combination of both.”
“Back at home, you play just for yourself,” Mackova said. “But here you just have to work hard.coach is always about hard work.its definitely good, I cannot say I don’t have enough competition.”
Connected within the game
Before coming to BSU to play collegiate tennis, a lot of the girls who came from overseas played and participated in many of the same tournaments all over the world together and didn’t even know it, until coming to BSU.
For German player Bianca Jochimsen said that she didn’t really know other German player Laura Baum before they connected the dots.
“I actually I didn’t [know her],” Jochimsen said. “[We] where the same age.its actually weird. It’s kind of funny, we kind of figured we played the same tournaments, but like I didn’t really remember here and she didn’t really remember me, so it’s kind of funny.”
Russian player Polina Kokoulina said that she knew Jana [Mackova] from tournaments, while Mackova said she remembered being at the same tournament as teammate Klaudia Wlodarczyk, who is from Poland.
“I heard couple of the names.but I played the same tournament as Klaudia,” Mackova said. “But we never really talked and then we came here and I was like ‘yeah I played this tournament in Poland and she’s like yeah I was there as well."
MARY ALBL
Assistant Sports Editor
