While Tufts students might expect to find international students in their Political Science or International Relations classes, they might be just as likely to find them defending Jumbo honor on the soccer pitch or rowing on the Malden River.
Tufts is known for its international character-15 percent of the Class of 2010 is international, a figure that continues to rise-and that diversity is reflected within the Athletics Department as well.
"[The percentage of athletes from outside the U.S. is] not a statistic that we track," Director of Athletics Bill Gehling said. "My feeling is that our varsity programs are absolutely open to everyone and anyone at Tufts. As the University has become more international, I think our sports teams have as well."
Gehling acknowledged that while coaches are more involved in the recruiting process than ever before, by and large, international athletes are not explicitly recruited for Tufts teams.
"There's a big reason for [the lack of international recruitment], and that's because the financial aid that is available for international students is very limited," Gehling said. "That causes issues for us when trying to recruit internationally."
Although global recruiting is limited, tryouts remain an integral part of establishing the final roster, allowing international athletes an opportunity to prove themselves to coaches.
"The final process for all of our teams is wide open," Gehling said. "If someone was not specifically recruited but comes out for the team and is better than those who were recruited, they will make the team over someone who was recruited. It's not like a Div. I program where a coach is never going to cut a scholarship athlete."
Indeed coaches often wish that they had more of an opportunity to mine international talent.
"Our squash coach [Doug Eng] has expressed to me that financial aid limitations cause problems for him," Gehling said. "But our coaches are going to look everywhere and anywhere that they can to find top quality student-athletes for their teams. If they can enhance their team by looking abroad, then they will."
Although the Department of Athletics maintains that teams are open to all, not every incoming international athlete perceives this to be true.
"I couldn't do soccer because there are no recruiters [in Taiwan], and the team is already filled," said sophomore Lauren Kaplan, a former soccer player from Taipei, Taiwan. "Tryouts are more just a formality; they've already established their teams. It's hard to send a scout out to an international school, and I understand that, but it puts us at a disadvantage."
Once she arrived on campus, Kaplan decided to turn to a sport where the roster was more open and joined the fencing team.
"Fencing is a smaller, less well-known sport at Tufts," Kaplan said. "They are always looking for new fencers. They do recruit, but they don't get that many recruits a year because the people that are already into fencing want to go to the big name schools."
Certain teams have more of an attraction for international athletes than others. Teams with large rosters that have the luxury of retaining many athletes, such as crew, swimming, and track, frequently sport more diverse teams.
For example, this year's men's novice crew team includes Lebanese freshman Rami Bibi, British-German freshman Simon Brugelmann, and Mexican junior David Zabludowsky. Juniors Sami Shammas of Kuwait and Carlo Jacob of Trinidad and Tobago have both been swimmers since their freshman year, and freshman Sonia Tan of Singapore is now a member of the women's cross country team.
Squash, soccer and tennis are all popular international sports that subsequently see a large international population. Junior Kris Leetavorn of Thailand plays for the men's squash team, and senior Silvia Schmid of Milan, Italy, has been a member of the women's tennis team since last year. Senior Mattia Chason of Italy, the men's soccer team's leading scorer, grew up playing club soccer in Rome.
Chason had no contact with men's soccer coach Ralph Ferrigno during his senior year of high school, though Ferrigno did see Chason play in a summer soccer camp before his freshman year at Tufts. Initially Chason chose not to try out, instead opting to train with the men's team during the spring of his freshman year, and ultimately earned a spot on the varsity squad during his sophomore year tryout.
In addition to the challenge of adjusting to a new team, Chason encountered a different style of play in the States.
"Here the mentality is, you have to win no matter what," Chason said. "It's very competitive, and you have to be very aggressive. For me in Italy, it was more a pleasure to play. Here it was more stressful to play, and the mentality is different. You run a lot more here."
Freshman Ariel Almeida of Brazil, a new player on the men's JV soccer team, has discovered some technical variations as well.
"It's a little different," Almeida said. "[The game] is a little faster in Brazil, and you hold the ball more. There aren't that many differences, but I'm still getting adjusted."
