Not all fun and games

Student-athletes receive scholarships, public recognition and travel to various places around the country. But athletic participation may not be as glamorous as many perceive it to be.

There is practice every day, along with two or three games a week, along with the homework, preparing for tests and of course, trying to develop some sort of social life.

In addition to the normal developmental challenges that all college students face, student-athletes face added pressures because of the commitment and participation level that college athletics demands.

The challenge of balancing academics and athletics, and doing this on the road while traveling, adds an even more complicating piece to the puzzle. Athletics poses as a full-time job for an athlete, in addition to full-time enrollment as a student. Now, imagine coping with all of this, and you are 3,000 miles (or 5,000 kilometers) away from home, in a foreign culture, speaking a second language.

That is what a dozen Rider student-athletes are doing this fall, competing on the varsity soccer and field hockey teams.

“It is hard not being able to speak to my family that often, due to the difference in time,” said freshman Nina van Egmond of the Rider field hockey team, who came to Rider from The Netherlands. “It is tough sometimes being on my own, adjusting to things here, like the food.”

“For me, learning the language was the toughest adjustment I had to make,” said junior Adrien Huss of the soccer team, who speaks with a French accent but lives in Madrid, Spain. “Looking at the first interview I did (on BroncVision) shows how bad my English was.”

“My English is still not very good,” said sophomore soccer player Elliott Otmani of La Ciotat, France, who came to the United States for the first time in August from the University of Nice.

For many, like Otmani and Huss, coming to Rider was the first time they ever set foot in the United States. “If I was still in Spain I would either be continuing my education or playing soccer, but not both,” Huss said. “In Spain, if you want to play at a high level there is no time to attend a university.”

“The language was the biggest barrier for me,” said junior Christian Flath, a two-time All-MAAC soccer player from Rostock, Germany. “The language and not knowing anyone. That was tough at first. Finding out how things work. How to get places without a car.”

Teammate Jose Aguinaga of Madrid agreed. “I did not know too much English when I arrived here, so when I first came it was really hard to understand what was going on,” said Aguinaga, a member of the 2014 MAAC All-Rookie team. “The cultural change was also hard for me, we don’t have the same traditions. I especially remember the schedule for the meals. In my country we eat lunch and dinner later, especially dinner, so even though I am still not used to it I found a way to keep going with it.”

With some foreign athletes, the language did not present a problem. “The hardest thing for me to get used to is that I don’t have my family around,” said junior soccer player Rob Nardiello of England. “I struggled with this for a while but it got easier and easier to deal with because I speak to them almost every day.”

Another Brit, junior Bethany-May Howard of the women’s soccer team agreed. “Apart from getting over homesickness, the hardest part was probably adjusting to the different education system and finding the time to fit in all the work,” said Howard, the MAAC Championship Tournament MVP last season. “There are also little things, like having to change cell phone plans, having to open up a new bank, and having to buy everything over here because we can only bring one suitcase. Also I miss my family a lot, especially around Thanksgiving when all the Americans can go home for the week. Luckily our teammates take us in and make us feel like we're a part of their family so they make us feel welcomed.”

For field hockey player Angie Price of Sydney, Australia, it was “the intensity in which playing Division 1 sport entails. The mixture of physicality and intensity was different to what I was used to. Also being so far away from family was very difficult.” “It is a totally different culture,” said senior Florian Valot of Monaco, France, the 2014 ECAC and MAAC Soccer Rookie of the Year. There are also NCAA hoops that must be jumped through by foreign student-athletes.

Eligibility-wise, international student-athletes have an entire NCAA packet devoted to them called the NCAA Guide to International Academic Standards. This manual posts the academic requirements for student-athletes coming from every country in the world, and all of those requirements vary from country to country. When determining eligibility, international student-athletes have to submit both native language and translated documentation to both the institution and the NCAA Eligibility Center. The institution must then review the documentation to determine if the student-athlete meets institutional admission and academic requirements. This can sometimes be difficult to assess, because the presented documentation is oftentimes vague or incomplete.

Financially, international student-athletes are also in the difficult spot of needing to obtain Visas and I-9s in order to travel abroad for school. The requirements for obtaining this kind of documentation are expansive, and the time frame for getting it is often extremely condensed. International student-athletes need to figure out exactly where they are going, for how long, how much it will cost, when they will return, etc., all without the benefit of really being familiar with the institution or the people there ahead of time. Once they arrive, there are often significant fees they have to pay that domestic student-athletes do not, which again, can cause issues with the student-athlete, coach, and institution. After all this, they then have to acclimate to a new school, location, team, coach, roommate, etc. It's all kind of whirlwind from the moment they commit to the moment they actually arrive on campus, whereas the process is much simpler and more streamlined for a domestic student-athlete.

So, is it worth it?

“Coming here was a great decision,” said Huss, a member of the MAAC All-Academic team. “What I love about being at Rider is that everything is so close on campus, I can wake up ten minutes before class and still be on time! How amazing is that? I like it a lot here, I like the people, they are always willing to help us. I have great teammates, they are like my second family, but here in America.”

“The best part of being here is the friendly attitude of people,” said van Egmond, who played on the Dutch National Field Hockey team. “My field hockey family, the coaches, my teammates, everyone takes care of each other.”

“Having the possibility to play soccer at a high level and also get a college degree at the same time is the best part about being here,” Flath added. “And being close to New York City is nice too. The atmosphere at Rider, it is a small school but therefore we all know each other and I feel like even the professors are really close with us and they try to help us wherever they can. Rider is a big family.”

“There is so much opportunity to succeed and meet new people here,” said Nardiello, a member of the MAAC All-Academic team. “It is also an amazing place and there is always something to do. And my teammates are great. We have a lot of characters on the team and it just makes training and locker room enjoyable with all the banter. Each player on the team offers something different and that is what is needed to make a good team, which we are.”

“To me, America represents the country of the world,” Otmani said. “By that I mean there are a lot of different cultures here, different people. The USA is so beautiful, and Rider is so beautiful, I am lucky to be here.”

“I got to experience a new culture and travel to places like New York, Seattle (for the NCAA Tournament) and Disneyworld (for the MAAC Championships), which I never would've gotten to see had I not been here,” said Howard, a Preseason All-MAAC selection. “And at Rider, I love how close everyone is, not just on our team, but with other students, athletes and professors too.” “Living here is great,” said Valot, a First Team All-MAAC selection. “Rider is a small and peaceful university. The best part is the soccer team, which is like family to me.”

Price, the MAAC field hockey Rookie of the Week the first week of September, feels that “the best part of being here is experiencing a different culture and the way everything is on a larger scale than what I am used to- such as the food,” Price said with a laugh. “The best part of being at Rider is the community feel I get being here. The team is like a family and even out of playing sport, the classes are small so it is easier to get to know people.”

It was the Greek philosopher Aristotle who said: “Education is the best provision for life’s journey.”

Going on a journey to get that education is a big adjustment for anyone, and for some, it may be a more drastic change than expected.

Life can be tough for any college student. It can also be very rewarding.

For these foreign student-athletes at Rider, it is a great combination of both.

Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss) once wrote: “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go…”

For several foreign student-athletes who chose to go to Rider, the joy was well worth all of the trials and tribulations.