SELWYN TIMES
Tuesday August 25 2015
15
Young athletes eyeing US Attending college in the United States on a sports scholarship is becoming an increasingly popular option for young athletes trying to further their careers. Andrew Voerman looks at what it involves IT IS easy to see the appeal of playing sport on scholarship at an American college. Getting to train in state-of-theart facilities, play in intense competitions, mix with other highly skilled players, and learn from experienced coaches is one thing. Getting to study towards a degree, and receive qualifications that will set you up for a career if and when your sporting one ends is another. Getting to do both, and have most, if not all, of it paid for, sounds like a fairy tale. However, it is becoming an increasingly popular reality for young Cantabrians, who are looking stateside as they come to the end of their high school days. Scholarships, which can be worth upwards of $10,000 per year, are available in more than 20 sports, with basketball, field hockey, golf, soccer, tennis, and volleyball among those proving popular with New Zealanders. The Selwyn Times knows of at least 30 Cantabrians who are either at US colleges already, or about to start their first year, a group that includes Tall Ferns international Tessa Boagni, who is at the beginning of her second year at California State University, Northridge, and golfer Nicole Hamilton-Cross of Hororata, who will start at Western Illinois University at the start of next year. Like ours, the American college year runs from the end of one summer to the beginning of the next, which in their case, means from August to June. There are several organisations which run college competitions, but by far the largest is the National Collegiate Athletic Association, which counts nearly 1100 different schools among its members, spread across three divisions, which in turn hand out about $2.7 billion worth of scholarships each year. Teams compete in conferences, which tend to be split along geographic lines – the PAC-12, for example, includes schools on the west coast, near to the Pacific Ocean, while the SEC, or Southeastern Conference, includes schools on the opposite side of the country, from Texas along to Florida – before the top sides come together at the end of the season for the national championships, which often involve a knockout event of one form or another. With a structure as large as the NCAA’s, it can be difficult for a prospective athlete on the other
of them playing and competing, as well as a CV outlining their accomplishments so far, which is then sent off to thousands of coaches across the US at the click of a button. If any are interested, they begin a conversation, first with Jessica, and then with the athletes themselves, by email, then over Skype and by phone, and in some cases, face-to-face at a campus visit. That conversation might be over quickly, or it might last for several months, as both athlete and coach try to figure out if what they can offer is right for the other. College coaches have a limited number of scholarships to offer, and a pool of thousands of athletes to choose from, so there are many of these conversations going on, but eventually, they have to end, and if an athlete has proven themselves, they will be offered a scholarship. Between last year’s class and this one, Pullar has helped 14 young athletes receive them, mostly to schools in the NCAA’s top division, with another three already lined up for next year, and more than a dozen others currently going through the recruiting process – she is even working with students who are targeting the class of 2019 to make their move. Her company isn’t the only one that exists to help New Zealanders make the move to US, but it is one of two to have a Cantabrian connection – former Tall Black Mark FOCUSED: Hororata golfer Nicole Hamilton-Cross is one of the young Cantabrians Pullar has helped to land a Dickel’s Mainland Eagles AcadUS college scholarship. emy, set up to help South Island basketballers prepare themselves to try and receive scholarships, is the other. Nor are the athletes she has helped send over the only ones doing so – there are plenty who have gone through the process on their own, or with the help of another recruiting firm. One of those is basketballer Boagni, who earlier this year talked to the Selwyn Times about her freshman experience. A member of the CSUN Matadors (every college has its own mascot), she made valuable contributions as they won the Big West conference, then went down fighting in the first round of the national championship, where they played the much higherranked Stanford, before coming home for the summer, where she cracked the Tall Ferns for the first time, playing for them against Japan at home in Christchurch. SHOOTING HIGH: Basketballer Tessa Boagni is one of several MAESTRO: Canterbury ex-pat Jessica PulShe described the campus expeCantabrians who have looked to the US college system to further lar is helping young New Zealanders gain rience as being just like it looked colege scholarships, from her home in San their sporting careers. on TV and in the movies, and said PHOTO: BRADEN VILLANUEVA/CSUN MEDIA RELATIONS Diego. it had been pretty full on. “It’s definitely hard to manage Sport Connect, with the aim of side of the world to know where to ships when they were younger. your sport and your education. making college sports, and schol“It really came down to not begin, which is where people like “But you’re a student athlete and arships, more accessible to New knowing much about them,” she Jessica Pullar come in. they put student first for a reason Zealanders, and Cantabrians in says. Pullar is a former Christch– because we’re here for that and particular, having decided, based “And if we had have known, we urch Girls’ High School student, we’re also lucky enough to play on what she had seen in Boston, wouldn’t have known how to go who left New Zealand in 2004, basketball.” that it was an experience they about it.” eventually winding up at BosSumming it up, she said: would be eager to have. While in Boston, Chris was able ton College in the US, where “I literally do nothing but eat, “For the right kid, it’s a phenomto bring a couple of New Zealandher husband, Chris Clements, a sleep, play basketball and go to enal experience, it’s not just about ers over to play, but it was only former Christchurch Boys’ High school.” going to play sport, it’s about getSchool student, took up a coaching after he was made head coach of Which, in a nutshell, is what ting a degree, and getting a lifelong the US men’s team that Jessica’s job with the school’s field hockey it’s all about, and why more and experience, learning about other ability to help took off, unencumteam. more Cantabrians are looking to bered by restrictions placed on her cultures, and other people, and That was her first exposure to the States – a lifestyle like that is about yourself as well.” as the partner of a coach involved the world of US college sport, and very hard to come by here in New With Pullar, the process starts in the college system. it left her wondering why she and Zealand. with the athletes compiling video She set up a company, USA Chris hadn’t tried to gain scholar-