 |
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The boomerang back to Canada: Less playing time, disappointing academics and post-recruitment reality often bring students home early -- even from a tropical paradise
Vancouver Sun
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Page: B2
Section: Westcoast News
Byline: Yvonne Zacharias
Column: Yvonne Zacharias
Source: Vancouver Sun
Scott Clark compares the search for an athletic scholarship to the search for a house. It is no less complicated or fraught with peril. In both situations, you have to ask a lot of questions.
As head coach of the men's basketball team at Simon Fraser University, you would think he would focus most of his questions on athletics. Yet his No. 1 concern would be academics. His key question would be, what is the graduation rate of student athletes in the men's basketball program?
"If I am a parent, that is probably my No. 1 priority because my kid is probably not playing in the NBA."
No one can give an accurate picture of how many Canadians are studying in the U.S. and playing sports there, how many come back prematurely and how many wind up remaining in the U.S. after graduation.
Here are four UBC athletes who went down on full scholarships and came back:
- - - - -Not many Canadian students get to live out their dreams in sunny, tropical Hawaii. So when the University of Hawaii came knocking on Steve Bell-Irving's door, he knew he was staring at an opportunity he could not pass up. "They came and recruited me. They flew me out there. I loved the whole scene."
He settled with his books and baseball catcher's mitt in Honolulu. Baseball is big in Canada but it is much bigger in the U.S. He didn't find the adjustment too difficult, although "living there is different. You are in the middle of the ocean."
Being away from home didn't bother him because he had been on the road so much during summers playing baseball.
He rates his overall experience as fantastic, 10 out of 10. He rates his two years at school in Hawaii as the best time of his life. "It's getting away from home, not only leaving your country and home city but going somewhere just like that."
What made it so great was his involvement in the community. He got involved with Meals on Wheels and represented the baseball team on the student athletic advisory committee.
As for the baseball, he had excellent coaching and got to travel to California to play. "In any Division 1 institution, regardless of where you go, you are going to get really good coaching. We had ex-pro-athletes, ex-major-league baseball players coaching us."
Still, he came back early and went to the University of B.C., signing on with the baseball team. It was partly because he wanted to complete the human kinetics program at UBC, but he admits that was not the main reason. "I left Hawaii to come to UBC to get more playing time. That was the big reason I left." In Hawaii, Bell-Irving played in the catcher's position. "They had an all-American catcher which means he is the best in the country. He was an all-American plus he was Hawaiian, so obviously in Hawaii, it was pretty tough to get my foot in the door with that."
He decided to call the baseball coach at UBC and was offered a starting spot on the team. Just as quickly and eagerly as he made the jump to Hawaii, he jumped back.
He looks back fondly on his experience at the University of Hawaii, partly because he knew what he was getting into.
"I went into it knowing very well that I might not get that playing position but I was lucky enough to go to Hawaii and who doesn't want to go to Hawaii? I didn't get the playing position but I was okay with that just because my life outside the sport there was so good."
- - - - -As a six-foot-six basketball player, Katie Ward of Calgary is a fish out of water. She laughs about her height. Yes, it does draw attention. It certainly didn't hurt in landing a full scholarship with Illinois State University. So she settled in a little place called Normal just outside Chicago to hit the big time. "It's an adjustment in itself moving out to go to university. Then it was going to a smaller town and a new country. There was a lot of adjustment." But she adjusted without too much difficulty. Coaches and teammates were helpful and friendly. "There are lots of people going through the same things you are." She, too, wound up moving back to Canada and to UBC. Academics were the primary reason. She lost academic ground in the transfer.
Does she regret it? No. She describes her basketball experience in the U.S. as priceless.
She lucked out with the coaching, too, although it came close to being a disaster.
She discovered that the coaching staff who recruited her, the very same staff who seemed so congenial, were not as they appeared. A lot of the players on the team were planning on quitting for that reason. "You don't hear those things on your recruiting visit. It's very businesslike and the girls are all giving you what they are supposed to say." But a new coaching staff was brought in before she arrived. They were great.
She was benched a lot in her first year but her playing time improved in her second, when she was a starter for some games.
"It's just a seniority thing and experience plays a big part down there. When there are so many great players, you have to wait your turn. It's always hard sitting on the bench. You come out a star on your team and then get bumped back to the bottom. I think that is the kind of adjustment anyone has to go through when you are jumping to a new level, whether it is an American school or a Canadian. It's hard to work your way up."
However, she found there was a lack of balance in her life between sports and academics. It was definitely lopsided in favour of sports.
The sports were so intensive at Illinois State, classes were scheduled around practice time and travelling. She wound up taking the bulk of her classes in the summer because the playing season was so strenuous.
"I came back for the academic side of things, just to get more of that balance. I liked the basketball but I didn't feel I was getting the greatest education. If I was going to be in school, I wanted to get the full experience rather than just one aspect."
- - - - -Leanne Evans is a basketball player from Port Moody with a physique designed to define the adjective willowy. She was wooed down to Southeast Missouri State University.
She shows up for an interview in the student union building at UBC to describe her experience. She is obviously shy and doesn't want to go into too much detail.
She liked the coach fine. The town, about an hour and a half south of St. Louis, had everything you could want, even a Wal-Mart. That was fine, too.
Everything was fine except for a few niggling things. She was benched a fair amount, which she found frustrating, although she got to play a little in every game.
"I didn't enjoy the basketball as much. I didn't have fun when playing it. They're more into sports. They are consumed by it. In Canada, we have more of a balance."
Asked to elaborate, she said, "My goal was to play basketball after university. I knew I wouldn't if I stayed there."
She wouldn't take the experience back. "It was definitely a good experience." But she pointed out that all the freshmen who were on the team on scholarships have since quit playing basketball except for her. That's telling, she said. "In the recruitment, they just want to sell their school. It's a reality check when you get there."
She scoots off, looking a bit relieved when the interview is over.
- - - - -After graduating from White Rock Christian school, Chad Clifford extended his high school basketball career by heading to a prep school in Ohio. It was there that he got several scholarship offers from top-rate Division 1 U.S. schools. He settled on St. Francis Catholic University, which is sponsored by the Franciscans in Pennsylvania.
"I felt it was a great learning experience for me. I got to play against some extremely tough competition as well as travel across the country, both things I would have otherwise not been able to do. However, it wasn't everything I thought it was going to be."
Clifford thought his team would be winning more and that he would be playing more. "When you start losing in the States, everything changes.
"The coaches get uptight, start making changes that otherwise they normally wouldn't have and it really takes its toll on you, especially when you are so far away from home. It makes it difficult to deal with certain situations without the support of your family and friends."
He lasted two seasons, returning in 2002. He didn't like being so far from home. He wasn't able to come home for more than three days of the entire year. "I remember having to travel back to school on Christmas Day because I had practice the following day."
The coach who recruited him left just before he started playing. "When you don't have a coach there that brought you in as one of their own, then essentially you don't have anyone behind the scenes that's pulling for you."
He recommends that students re-evaluate their decision to go the U.S. if the recruiting coach leaves. He came home to study and play basketball at UBC. "To be honest, the best decision I ever made was to come home and play in Canada. Playing in front of your friends and family while earning my degree at a reputable institution is priceless."
His advice to others considering a similar path? Follow your dreams but decide exactly what those dreams are. For him, being able to play in front of friends and family was part of the picture.
"To earn a degree from a school such as UBC will provide you with many more opportunities down the road than some small school no one has ever heard of."
- - - - -U.S. COLLEGE PRIMER
U.S. universities and colleges participate in 23 sports. They are:
For men and women in separate divisions: Water polo, outdoor track, volleyball, basketball, cross country, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor track.
For men only: Wrestling, baseball, football.
For women only: Bowling, field hockey, rowing and softball.
For combined men and women: Fencing, rifle, skiing.
Illustration:
- Colour Photo: Ian Smith, Vancouver Sun / Leanne Evans chose to attend Southeast Missouri State University after a standout career at Port Moody secondary, but didn't enjoy the basketball when post-recruitment reality set in.
- Colour Photo: Richard Lam, Vancouver Sun Files / UBC catcher Steve Bell-Irving (left) returned early from the University of Hawaii because he wasn't getting enough playing time. Colour Photo: Richard Lam, UBC Athletics Files / Chad Clifford, holding the basketball, went to prep school in Ohio, only to find that 'when you start losing in the States, everything changes.' He returned to B.C. after two years. Colour Photo: UBC Athletics / Basketball player Katie Ward adjusted to life in Normal, Ill., but lost academic ground.
Idnumber: 200606140078
Edition: Final
Story Type: Column
Note: Ran with fact box "U.S. College Primer", which has been appended to the end of the story.
Length: 1786 words
Keywords: STUDENTS; ATHLETES; EMIGRATION; RECRUITMENT; LIFESTYLES; CANADA; UNITED STATES
Illustration Type: Colour Photo