Augustana has many international students on campus, and many want to participate in a sport that Augustana has to offer. The men’s soccer team has eleven international students currently playing on their team.
Being recruited as an international student is a very different process than being recruited from within the United States. 
Mike Regan, men’s soccer coach, was an international student hoping to be recruited in his early college days. His personal insight to the recruiting process is helpful in understanding how recruiting inside and outside the United States works.
He emphasized how it is important that the athlete understands the academic rigor of being a student athlete, and that as a division 3 school, there are no athletic scholarships. It is also harder to be recruited as an international student because there is little in person interaction as the coaches can not go out to see athletes. It is all through film of the athlete and video and phone calls. 
“The recruiting varies from student to student. They have different experiences. We rely on a few agencies that are very familiar with Augustana and our academic profile, so they know the types of athletes and students that we are looking for,” Regan said. 
Although the coaches have a lot of work on their hands while trying to hear from and recruit international athletes, the athletes have an even harder process of trying to get recruited. 
Luis Garcia, a junior on the men’s soccer team, described his recruiting process from Guayaquil, Ecuador. 
“First you start off playing in high school and then you decide that you want to play in college. I had a company that helped me to make a video to be recruited with, and then from there I started talking to Augutstana and my coach now over the phone and video chat,” Garcia said. 
Augustana works closely with many different companies that help international students be recognized by colleges in the United States. They help to compose videos and send them out and get in touch with coaches and schools.
This is an ongoing story. If you have information you’d like to share, please email us at [email protected]