Are you planning to study and play sports in America? Are you wondering what the changes under the Trump administration mean for international students and student-athletes? And do you want to know how this will really affect your daily life as a student-athlete in the U.S.? Very logical that you have questions about this, but no worries! At Slamstox we have all the information for you in a row. In this article we will answer the question of whether it is still possible to go to the US and what life is like there. So you can prepare for your sports and study adventure in America without stress.
For this article, we spoke with several of our own athletes, American coaches AND several Slamstox colleagues shared their experiences from their last trip to America.
Arrival in America
The first thing many students worry about is customs: the moment you enter America. Normally already exciting, but what is it like now? Our athletes and colleagues are all reassuring: “With all you hear about tighter controls, I had prepared myself for a long conversation at the border. But nothing was further from the truth: they barely looked at my tourist visa and I was through the check within five minutes,” says Slamstox soccer manager Bram Kaarsgaren.
Volleyball star An den Hamer also confirms this: “Beforehand, I was quite tense about entering the country again. Since Trump has been in power, I thought it would be more difficult. But honestly, there’s not much exciting about it. They ask some standard questions, usually about what you are coming to do or study. In my case, they asked about my transfer, but that was nothing to be nervous about.”
Fortunately, we don’t hear any difficult stories from other Slamstox athletes either. Thanks to good preparation in the Netherlands, most of them enter America easily and smoothly.
Daily life on campus
A common question is what daily life on campus is like and whether it has changed under Trump. Field field hockey player Anouk Westerink, who is in her second year, says, “It’s honestly not a topic that a lot of people talk about. There are a lot of different opinions, so politics is not a prominent factor in my life here.”
She notices that Americans often avoid politics to avoid conflict: ‘”In the Netherlands we like to talk about politics, but here it’s much more about sports. Sports connects, and you notice that in daily campus life.”
So for student-athletes, campus life revolves primarily around sports and study. Politics hardly plays a role in it. In addition, many policies in America are set not at the national, but state level, so in practice universities notice little of national politics.
Slamstox founder Pedro Mol also confirms this. During his recent trip to North Carolina, a so-called “red state,” he hardly noticed any difference. At his old university UNC Wilmington, he spoke with Slamstox golf star Minouche Rooijmans: “Life on campus and with the golf team is super nice. I feel welcome everywhere and get all the support I need. There are also no changes to the team budget or sports schedule because of politics.”
Influence on the recruiting process for coaches
But what about for coaches? Sander Koning, associate head coach at Clemson University (South Carolina), explains: “We actually notice little to nothing about the current political situation. For us, working with international student-athletes is the same as before. We follow the news, but our International Services department informs us immediately if anything changes.”
He is also clear toward parents: “So far, everything is fine and we have not had a single case where a student-athlete could not come to Clemson.”
Good to know: sometimes you hear something about cuts to education budgets. But this is about general budgets, not the sports budgets from which scholarships are paid. So there are still plenty of opportunities and budgets for international players.
International players
International student-athletes remain incredibly interesting to coaches. Europeans are known as good students with a lot of discipline, who often have a positive influence on the team. This is why you see several Europeans on many teams. Coaches continue to follow their familiar recruiting process, while also taking a full look at international athletes.
All in all, then, college sports still offer tremendous opportunities for international student-athletes. As many of our own athletes say, “You don’t notice much of the political situation in everyday life on campus.” Student-athletes in America still use top-notch facilities, train in a professional environment and have the opportunity to be the best they can be, both academically and athletically.
Do you have questions about Trump’s policies and what they mean for your future as a student-athlete in the U.S.? Or would you like to learn more about how we can help you apply for an F1 student-athlete visa? Feel free to contact the team at Slamstox. We would love to help you with everything you need to successfully play college sports in America!
