Becoming the fastest and youngest woman to cycle around the world in 100 days is Indian national Vedangi Kulkarni’s goal. Though she originally planned to play and coach soccer at Bournemouth University in the United Kingdom, she changed gears to seriously pursue cycling.
“I started cycling long distances for the freedom that came with cycling, and that became my primary passion,” says Kulkarni, a sports management undergrad at Bournemouth.
Having already accomplished a solo ride across the Himalayas at age 17, Kulkarni plans to circumnavigate the world in June 2018. She says the Bournemouth sports department has helped her gain access to navigation devices, the spin room, strength and conditioning and sports psychology sessions, and body and fitness tests.
Prospective international student-athletes who share a similar passion for a particular sport can plan to gain admission to a global university using their athletics. Many universities welcome these students from around the world and offer sports scholarships. And athletics can be a good way to settle in and build friendships in a new country.
Here are three benefits of sports while pursuing studies at global universities.
1. Admissions opportunities: Experts say admissions committees at schools around the world value students with demonstrated talents, including in sports. Prospective international students can use their undergraduate applications to show their talent, commitment and passion for a sport to help secure a place at their top-choice institution.
“We recognize students that have achieved good levels in sport alongside their academics,” says Phil Wood, scholarship and recruitment manager in the sports department at the University of Nottingham in the U.K. He says it’s a positive trait when students demonstrate an ability to balance their various responsibilities.
[Highlight these factors in international university applications.]
Global institutions also actively look for international student-athletes and not just for their athletic talents. Florida International University in the U.S., for example, currently has students from 20 countries participating on its athletic teams, says Julie Berg, senior associate athletic director.
“The coaching staffs at FIU spend a significant amount of their time identifying and recruiting student-athletes from the U.S. and all over the world,” says Berg. She says students are recruited based on their athletic ability and academic preparedness, which is based on SAT and ACT scores, high school GPA and TOEFL scores.
Brazilian Mariana de Paula Silva says FIU’s volleyball coach recruited her, and now she plays on the school’s indoor and beach volleyball teams.
She says one reason she chose FIU was for the chance to play for a NCAA Division I college, a school with the highest level of intercollegiate athletics in the U.S., which she felt would give her great experiences on and off the court.
2. Scholarships: International student-athletes also have opportunities to earn sports-related scholarships that can help them pay for their undergraduate studies.
“We try to promote and enhance sports through scholarships for talented students, like the Boost Your Talent Program,” Giuseppe De Luca, vice rector at the University of Milan in Italy, said via email.
The Exploit Your Talent scholarships are for students enrolled in their first year of a degree program and who demonstrate a particular talent, including in sports. De Luca said the scholarships, worth 6,000 euros, or more than $7,000, were recently awarded to two international sportsmen: a rugby player from Kenya and a basketball player from the country of Georgia.
As an athlete, de Paula Silva says she wanted to study and play volleyball in the U.S. and was looking for sports scholarships only at U.S. universities. She received a full scholarship to FIU.
“I wouldn’t be able to afford college if it wasn’t for the athletic scholarship; plus, I get to continue my career as a volleyball player,” she says.
[Learn more about applying to U.S. colleges as an international athlete.]
Indian national Kritika Bhasin is a recipient of the government-sponsored New Zealand India Sports Scholarship, which provides full tuition for one academic year and a stipend of 15,000 New Zealand dollars — or approximately $10,400 — for first-year Indian students to study sports degrees at New Zealand universities.
Bhasin, who played in the youth handball league in Sweden, is pursuing a bachelor’s in sports management and marketing at the Unitec Institute of Technology in New Zealand.
“I pursued this degree, as I aim to change the environment of women in sport in the whole world and especially India,” says Bhasin.
3. Support and friendships: For prospective international students, playing a sport at a global university can help them develop friendships and camaraderie. University of Nottingham’s Wood says sports can likewise help international students transition more easily into a new university and country.
“They can make strong bonds via being around people with a similar passion,” says Wood.
Mo Roberson, director of athletics at Concordia University in California, says most of the school’s Olympic sports have international student-athletes. Roberson says sports helps students get acclimated to a new culture.
[Consider living learning communities as a prospective international student.]
Australian Anderson Clarke, a senior at Concordia, says since his freshman year, everyone on the men’s basketball team shared similar interests and spent the majority of their days together.
“Being on the team automatically gave me 12 really close friends,” says Clarke.
Bournemouth University student Kulkarni says cycling got her involved in the school’s cycling club, where she is now on the committee. She says her adventures — cycling 1,200-miles from Bournemouth to John O’Groats, Scotland — also helped her make friends throughout the U.K.
“I’d definitely say that it was the sport that got me talking and made me feel at home in a foreign country,” says Kulkarni.
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3 Benefits of Sports for International Undergrads originally appeared on usnews.com
