Interesting - Only two Americans on Vball team.

[Guest bullman33]

After looking over the roster for volleyball, I noticed there are only two Americans on the team.  Three Canadians, and two Brazilians.  Just thought it was interesting that we live in a huge Vball area, and we are recruiting in Ontario and Brazil.

[USFMikeB]

That's 1 more than on the ladies' tennis team, or the men's for that matter...

[GarySJ]

It's not all that uncommon for NCAA "olympic sport" rosters to consist of non-Americans, since most of the interest and professional opportunities in these sports lie outside the U.S. Even women's basketball.

[USFMikeB]

What's funny about that is that the men's soccer team only has 8 foreign student athletes out of 24, and "football" is MUCH more popular outside the US...

[Cubanbull]

The reason for this is in the USA the HS teams are restricted to play certain only a certain number of games and practices with coach during that sports season. a good player can get more experience by paying and playing club ball but even that doesnt compare to countries like Brazil were talented HS aged kids can play and compete year round the difference in experience and skills is very large unless you are very talented and the California schools wil get those

[MatRatUSF]

Another reality is that in other countries, they know that playing an olympic sport like volleyball and tennis... is a meal ticket to the US. In Brazil, volleyball is just as big as any sport and it is played all the time. Same with tennis in a lot of south american countries. There are a lot of american players out there, but they have to compete with everyone else in the world.

I was talking with the Men's tennis coach at Auburn when they were here and he said it's pretty hard to recruit foreign players to Auburn. He said when he talks to players they are like ALABAMA? What the heck is that? it's difficult.

When you see a lot of players from different countries, that just means they were born there. Many of them grew up in the US from when they are babies.

Neyssa Etienne on the women's tennis team is from Hatai, but she grew up in south florida and when to ft. lauderdale prep. You also have to remember that.

If i can think of more to say i will later.

[USFCollin]

Sure there's lots of players here... but if you want to win, you go where the best talent is.  In the US, the best tall female athletes who can jump generally play basketball.  In Brazil, it's volleyball.  Plus they play year round, generally focus on one sport, and get great coaching since its much more popular nationwide.

And if you've seen our team play over the past few years, the Brazilians tend to be our best players.

[RJWGoBulls]

What's funny about that is that the men's soccer team only has 8 foreign student athletes out of 24, and "football" is MUCH more popular outside the US...

There is likely to be a distinct lack of European players in the US university programs as any player who shows any promise at football will be signed up by professional teams from the age of 8 onwards.  These players then work through the academy's of the club they have signed with.  

Any players that do venture to the US are likely to have been dropped from one of these programs.  Although I suspect many will not as there is no desire to play in the US

[Eric_Soncrant]

Also just from an informational standpoint is that in many cases, south american student athletes cost the athletic department the same as an in-state student athlete due to waivers.  So in reality, it costs many of our programs less to have a foreign student athlete than say one from Texas.

Eric

[BullDoug]

Also just from an informational standpoint is that in many cases, south american student athletes cost the athletic department the same as an in-state student athlete due to waivers.  So in reality, it costs many of our programs less to have a foreign student athlete than say one from Texas.

Eric

Now that's just screwed!  It costs less for a non-U.S. citizen to go to a state school than it does for a U.S. citizen.  And to boot, the non-citizen will graduate and go back to the homeland and get an outsourced/offshore job from a U.S. corporation.  Freakin' unbelievable.