Collegiate Sports Essay -- NCAA

Weston (2006) provided a more focused approach in describing the value of foreign signings in collegiate competition. However, instead of focusing on the financial gains associated with sustained success in division 1 competition, Weston discussed the benefits of international recruitment to collegiate sports as a whole to promote globalization and integration in collegiate sports. The term international student-athletes was used by Weston in referring to any foreign born student recruited by a university to play a specific sport in exchange for a college scholarship. In order to gauge the benefits of international recruitment, Weston asserts that a review of pertinent factors must be made. Factors stated by by Weston in her study includes the current standards of the NCAA, the effects of these signings to the educational opportunities and playing environment for local student-athletes and the American perception of internationalization of college sports (Weston, 2006). The primary benefit of international recruitment is the improvement of an already celebrated phenomenon in the United States. Globalization in collegiate sports through migration and movement of foreign athletes is generally beneficial for all institutions (Weston, 2006). The presence of these international athletes provide diversity that enriches the whole educational and sporting experience in inter-collegiate sports, fostering a sense of brotherhood, international relations, and cultural integration that Weston believes would improve the political and social awareness of students that are not only limited in the realm of sports competition. The increased number of available talent increases the quality of competition, resulting into the improvement of the sp... ...es present for local students to have success in their respective sports. Abbey-Pinegar asserted that the enforcement of discernible rules and regulations would help improve and standardized the system of international recruitment, allowing more schools to experience its benefits rather then only a few. Abbey-Pinegar concluded that international signings of foreign student-athletes would continue for the desire of many schools is to create a winning team for the success of their sports programs. Creating policies and standards that enforce regulation and standardization of international recruitment can help create a level playing field for schools in the different NCAA divisions. Furthermore, the creation of such regulations can help alter the focus of many towards the benefits that international recruitment brings to the students rather than the institution.