Rockhurst University has just over 3000 students as of fall 2022, so it may be a surprise that such a small-populated university in Kansas City hosts students from over 25 different countries. Potentially more shocking, roughly 63% of these students are members of an athletic team, according to Kirk Skoglund, Director of Institutional Research at Rockhurst University.
So how do these student-athletes get recruited to Rockhurst? “There are various ways to find international athletes. First, there are hundreds of international agencies,” explained Men’s Assistant Soccer Coach, Giorgio Antongirolami. Organizations such as College Life Italia serve as bridges between the university’s athletic recruiters and the international athletes.
These agencies not only provide contact between athletes and college recruiters, but also athletes and high schools.
Sophomore Bernardo Dias, an international soccer player, grew up playing in Porto de Alegre, Brazil. However, “if you play soccer there it’s to play pro, and you cannot study. Here I can be a student and a player at the same time,” said Dias. Because of this, Dias eventually was recruited to a St. Louis high school through a recruiting agency, and was ultimately scouted by Rockhurst through NCSA, a recruiting app.
Beyond these international agencies, some of Rockhurst’s athletes moved to the United States before being recruited by any programs, specifically because of the opportunity to participate in college athletics.
“After graduating from school in Russia in 2020, I came to Atlanta to my brother’s house in September and started practicing with him to reach a high enough level of tennis to get a scholarship,” said junior tennis player Semyon Tsyrenov.
It is also notable to mention that there may be some athletes at Rockhurst who are not considered international student-athletes, but rather as foreign student-athletes. In these instances, students are long term residents of the United States, but do not have citizenship.
While it is not exactly easy to be noticed by international recruiters, let alone international recruiters at a small Jesuit school in the center of the United States, many athletes express that the juice is worth the squeeze.
“There are more, and easier, opportunities here,” said Dias.
“C’mon, a small, private Jesuit university inside a big city with a great pre-med and engineering program, as well as a nationally famous soccer program,” said senior soccer player Filippo Riva.
Tsyrenov said having to fly to Kazakhstan to visit a U.S. embassy and get a student visa was difficult. But he added, “I do not think that any country in Europe is even close to the United States in opportunity. That is why all tennis players from Europe or South America who also want to study come here.”
The lack of opportunity for student-athletes in other countries is what drives many of these students to look internationally in the first place, and from there, Rockhurst speaks for itself. “We can get high-quality players by selling the high academics and location that Rockhurst has,” said Antongirolami on recruiting tactics for international athletes.
In turn, Rockhurst actively recruits international student-athletes for several compelling reasons, including their performance both on and off the playing field. Tsyrenov was awarded GLVC Player of the Week for winning two doubles and two singles matches in the same week. Also last year, 30 International student-athletes were named members of the Academic All-GLVC Team, meaning they achieved above a 3.3 GPA over both semesters of that year.
Perhaps the greatest award achieved by a student-athlete at Rockhurst was in 2017 when soccer player Gianluca Bottoni received the Elite 90 Award, an award presented to the athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA’s championships. Antongirolami describes this as “an award given to the perfect student-athlete.”
He went on to explain, “GPA is 3.6 and above for all of our international soccer players; they take their academics very seriously.”
Rockhurst prides itself in being diverse and inclusive. Through multiple channels of recruiting on the university’s end, and a desire to participate here athletically and academically on the athletes’ side, Rockhurst becomes home for students all across the globe.
Rockhurst offers international athletes the opportunity to play their sport at an elite level, while studying at an equally competitive educational institution. By contributing to building stronger athletics teams, and being hardworking students, international athletes help the Rockhurst community soar to new heights each year.
