By Staff
Coaching Management, 9.5, August 2001, http://www.momentummedia.com/articles/cm/cm0905/bbforeign.htm
At the high school level, there is a growing concern that foreign athletes are circumventing the rules in order to play on select teams. Media reports tell of foreign high school student-athletes holding contracts with agents, others who have been recruited by high school coaches, and some who were enrolled in U.S. high schools despite having already completed secondary educations in their native countries.
In response, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), established the Task Force on Foreign Exchange and International Students last November to examine and offer solutions to the problem. The task force began its work last fall by issuing surveys to each state association, which were reviewed at the group’s April meeting. The surveys revealed that most athletic directors and state administrators see great value in the foreign exchange system, but they are also noticing problems.
Eleven state associations indicated that their state has gone to litigation over the eligibility of foreign exchange students. Nine reported that their associations have experienced political pressures to grant eligibility to exchange or international players, and 14 acknowledged having had problems with agents, entrepreneurs, and other individuals involved in the placement of such athletes in their high school programs. In addition, 27 have seen one or more exchange or international players make a difference in the outcome of their state championships.
Based on this feedback, the task force devised solutions aimed to help close those gaps in the processing system that allow foreign athletes seeking athletic advantage to slip through and displace eligible American student-athletes.
The first set of remedies the task force recommended entails working more closely with the Council on Standards for International Educational Travel (CSIET). They include the following:
• Having the NFHS develop informational materials on the eligibility and participation of foreign exchange students in U.S. programs that would be distributed by the CSIET to its constituents.
• Having the CSIET develop a form and procedure whereby state associations can report sports-related violations, incidents, and complaints about specific CSIET exchange programs.
• Developing a Student Athlete Data Sheet that all foreign athletes (exchange and international), would have to submit in English upon application to an exchange program or enrollment at a U.S. school. The completed form would then be filed with the school and state association, and the student would also have to provide translated and native language versions of any other required documentation.
A second set of proposals, which are more controversial, include these ideas:
• Creating resources for state associations to utilize in the investigation of eligibility issues.
• Developing a national database, in cooperation with international sports governing bodies, that lists a host of information about the athletes, from their participation records to their contact with agents.
• Establishing a national rule to limit the eligibility and participation of multiple international students in the same high school.
The NFHS administration is expected to implement some of the more immediately feasible recommendations, such as the Student Data Sheet, sometime next year. Other recommendations, such as those concerning eligibility policy and limits on foreign athletes, will require substantial discussion before moving forward. The NFHS Board is due to meet in July to discuss all of the task force’s recommendations before moving forward.
For a more in-depth look at the issue of foreign student-athletes, including how they affect college coaches, visit our Web site at www.AthleticSearch.com and type “Foreign” in the search window.