Why are there so many Aussies, Kiwis in NCAA?

Lots of young Aussies and Kiwis everywhere.

It's a pretty normal thing for young people from there to 'come of age' and travel the world for a bit.

Australia and New Zealand take athletics much more seriously than the US as a whole. Both their schools and club programs in most sports are much better and start earlier than typical US sports opportunities for kids. So, they produce a much higher per capita percentage of trained, talented athletes. Their child and adolescent obesity rates are less than half the US rates.

Aussie kids are in high demand because they are ready to perform on arrival. It's a longitudinal system, the best juniors are nurtured from a young age by the same coaches who are consistently producing the best Open athletes.

Adam Spencer and Sophie O'Sullivan are from Melbourne Track Club. The most dominant squad in Australian middle/long distance history led by Bideau, O'Shaugnessy and Birmingham.

Jackson Sharp emerged from the Run Crew juggernaut. Coaches Howard and St Lawrence, are part of the same family via Sean Williams, who developed Morgan McDonald and Ollie Hoare and many others in the collegiate system.

Ky Robinson was my son's school mate, he trained with Gold Coast Run Co, a group for Recreational runners guided by Jackson Elliott.

In QLD, along with Elliott, there's another 5 Coaches producing multiple NCAA athletes, Chapman, Moore, Russ, Norton and Boltz. Add to that list Didyk in South Australia, Burren and others in Victoria and you'll see why Aussies are prominent in the NCAA.

The Coaches all know what's ahead for the young athletes, and prepare them accordingly. NCAA is one step in the process. When they graduate from college, they return to their development coaches with a hardened edge from competitive racing, and the rise continues.

Track/XC doesn't even have the most foreign collegians, not by a long shot.

https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/research/demographics/2019RES_ISATrendsDivSprt.pdf

Alan

Damn, tennis! wow

Exactly. For example, per @TheRealMerb:
2023 Jamaican NCAA Champions
•Ackera Nugent (100H)
•Jaydon Hibbert (TJ)
•Ackelia Smith (LJ)
•Carey McLeod (LJ)
•Romaine Beckford (HJ)
•Phillip Lemonious (110H)
•Kevona Davis (4x1)
•Nickisha Pryce (4x4)
•JeVaughn Powell (4x4)

And now with the launch of ON Oceania led by Craig Mottram, there might be even few top Aussie/NZ runners coming to the US.

Mottram is struggling to recruit, and failing to get results - he comes off as desperate. A lot of bad vibes from the Mazungo.

He has treated the local running community like dirt his entire career. This team will not work in the Aussie system. His best chance is to develop more junior like Hollingsworth. Stealing athletes from their coaches is anti advertising for the brand he is meant to be promoting. They've got big problems if this is their approach to building a brand in Australia.

I think it is multi layered. First, what others stated before is Aussies/ kiwi’s do a much better job than us developing athletes. In the states youth sports participation is dropping due to pay to play and low availability. And if you do participate there is way too much emphasis on winning over learning and developing (AAU track) leaves kids burnt out.

Secondly, what I saw coaching was these kids from abroad were much more mature and focused than the average American college student and that makes sense. It’s a huge decision to pack up life and move across the world. That usually produces a kid that can handle their life on their own. I had so many American students that could barely function on their own freshmen and soph year of college.

Third is we have scholarships and opportunities that a lot of countries don’t. The NCAA is a better system with more support than most pro set ups. Medical, facilities, gear, travel, coaching, training partners, access to amazing meets.

People here love to bash the NCAA system for running athletes into the ground and love to lambaste the American education system. Yet students from every part of the world still spend a few years here.

Same reason there are so many other foreign nationals in US NCAA sports: it is free Olympic development for their athletes.

One other things. Years ago when recruiting Australians they had funding available to them through Athletics Australia so they didn't want to leave. Then the funding model got cut back so coming to the US was a financial benefit.

Per Capita you could definitely argue they produce more results, but in general the OCE region of the world is remarkably uncompetitive at both the junior and senior level. To remark that their club programs are better is hilarious however, I'm 100% sure the US u16 basketball team would beat their senior national team.

The only way for their athletes to truly become good is for them to move to countries with better competition like the US. So, that's the reason they come to the US.

3. How do you feel about US taxpayer dollars being used on Oceania athletes when there are perfectly viable domestic (and in some cases, in-state talent)?

This comes up here all the time when the topic is foreign athletes in the NCAA. No tax dollars are used to pay for foreign athletes to go to school here. No tax dollars are used to pay for domestic athletes who get scholarships unless the athlete is going to a state school in the state in which s/he is a resident. Money for scholarships comes from money raised by the athletic departments (ticket sales, TV deals, conference revenue sharing, alumni and booster donations, etc.) or from student fees.

Here is what I know about Aussies and NZers in general.

- Australia is pretty culturally similar to the U.S., so it's an easy transition for them. Obviously these nations also have English as their primary language.

- A lot of NZers leave the islands because it's a small world there and they have the desire and flexibility to move other nations in the Commonwealth or, if they "lucky," the U.S.

- Both have athletic talents and economic flexibility to support them, but not quite the sports infrastructure the U.S. has.

Personally, I don't care if immigrants come to college here, for athletics or otherwise. Maybe American high school athletes aren't as talented or hard-working as you think, otherwise they'd be picked over the immgrants.

Is scholarship money even used on foreign athletes? If their respective governments have tuition assistance programs or pay for their athletes to come here, it that essentially a free athlete for the university? What is the NCAA rule about tuition and housing being paid by a foreign federation or government?

What keeps a school from using foreign money to load up on foreign athletes to really stretch those 12.6 scholarships?

You’re applying an American construct (university sports) to parts of the world where the concept doesn’t exist. Sports and education are separate in New Zealand at all age levels. Many who excel at a sport wouldn’t be eligible to go to University. You Americans, however will take anyone at your universities if they can throw a, how do you say…football or shoot a basketball. For those that want an education, having all needs met at an American University is a much easier than attending classes at the University of Auckland and training for the 400 meters on the side.

Unfortunately the sad reality is that Nic B has had a chokehold on the development system for some time now, so for most up and comers they need to get out of the country if they do not want to be leashed to Nic. It doesn’t help that AA continues to support Nic. For most young Aussies, they feel trapped. Go with the unscrupulous Nic or flee the country. As harsh as that sounds it’s a part of the equation. Things are slowly getting better over there now, but not fast enough. AA continues to keep Nic on their payroll and his influence is deep.

Although both NZ and Australia support athletics through a young age, it’s not much different from America or Europe. Aussies and Kiwis just happen to be more suited for distance running, triathlon, summer Olympic type sports that lend themselves to individuality. We’re talking about relatively isolated islands after all so playing team sports don’t get you very far.

And lastly the final piece is the Kiwi and Aussie summer. They’re hold outs on the international athletics calendar. If an athlete stays back in Australia\NZ they’re constantly forced to peak at the wrong times of the year. Sure, you can make a team in March but come August you’re completely fried.

It just doesn’t work anymore and good luck getting thing to change. My homeland is very stuck in its ways. It’s why I left to the States to run.

They are freaky and NCAA coaches are pervs.