“Sorry, I’m not from here!”: Female international student-athletes’ transitions into college athletics in the United States

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TL;DR

This qualitative study re-evaluates the International Student-Athlete (ISA) Adjustment Model by interviewing 10 current and former female Division I tennis players from seven countries. The findings confirm the four core antecedents (personal, interpersonal, perceptual, cultural distance) but suggest removing travel experience, adventure, and family influence as factors, while adding faculty, other student groups, and nutrition as important new elements. The study highlights that language barriers and nutrition challenges remain major transition hurdles, and recommends athletic departments provide English proficiency courses and nutrition education to improve ISA integration.

Full summary

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**Background:** The number of International Student Athletes (ISAs) in NCAA Division I and II schools has grown exponentially, from under 6,000 in 1999–2000 to over 22,985 from 206 countries in 2019–2020—a 283% increase. Despite this growth, ISAs report a lesser sense of belonging than domestic student-athletes and are more likely to transfer (25% vs. 14%). The ISA Transition Adjustment Model, first proposed by Ridinger and Pastore (2000a) and revised by Popp et al. (2010), identifies four antecedent dimensions—personal, interpersonal, perceptual, and cultural distance—that predict adjustment. Given major changes in the NCAA landscape over the past decade (social media, NIL, conference realignment, visa policy shifts), a re-examination of this model is warranted.

**Methods:** This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews with 10 female Division I tennis players (6 former, 4 current) recruited via convenience and snowball sampling. Participants represented six separate Division I schools and hailed from seven countries: Bosnia, Canada, Czech Republic, El Salvador, Russia, Venezuela, and Vietnam. Seven attended Power-5 institutions. Interviews were conducted via Zoom or Microsoft Teams from July to August 2020, lasting 30–60 minutes. The interview guide was modified from Ridinger and Pastore (2000a) and Popp et al. (2010). Data were analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s (2012) thematic analysis, with descriptive coding followed by axial coding aligned with the four antecedent dimensions.

**Key Results:** The study confirmed the four core antecedents but proposed changes to underlying factors. Under the personal antecedent, self-efficacy and technical competencies (athletic aptitude, academic aptitude, English proficiency) were confirmed, but travel experience and sense of adventure (added by Popp et al., 2010) were not supported—participants described their arrival as “business like” rather than adventurous. Under interpersonal antecedents, teammates and coaches remained important, but two new factors emerged: faculty (re-emerging after being removed by Popp et al., 2010) and other students (international students, other student-athletes, and non-student-athletes). Six of 10 participants highlighted faculty as important to their academic transition. Under perceptual antecedents, realistic expectations and social support were confirmed, but family influence was not supported—participants noted that technology bridged homesickness. Under cultural distance, nutrition emerged as a new factor: 7 of 10 participants discussed struggles with weight gain, portion control, and finding healthy options on campus. Language barriers were a cross-cutting theme, with participants describing using translators, struggling in class, and feeling awkward in social interactions.

**Clinical Implications:** While this is not a clinical study, the findings have implications for the well-being and mental health of ISAs. The study recommends that athletic departments provide free NCAA-sanctioned English proficiency courses up to 6 months before arrival, and introduce nutrition education to help ISAs navigate US food systems. The re-emergence of faculty as a key support suggests that encouraging ISA-faculty relationships may improve academic transition and reduce reliance on athletic academic support. The removal of family influence from the model reflects how technology has changed the transition experience. These revisions to the ISA Adjustment Model can help universities design targeted programming to improve retention, belonging, and overall well-being of the growing ISA population.