Inside FAU’s international recruiting process: How it occurs and varies by sport
At Florida Atlantic University, 16 out of the 18 athletic teams have international athletes, softball and spirit/dance are the two exceptions. The geographical distance requires coaches to adopt various strategies for recruiting athletes.
According to the International Student Services, FAU is highly ranked amongst the most ethnically and culturally diverse universities in the country. Students from approximately 100 different countries come to FAU.
The Owls teams with the most international players are men’s soccer (12), the golf teams (13), tennis (12) and swimming and diving (16).
“I travel twice a year. I’ll go to Europe, usually in the first week of June and the first week of August,” women’s golf head coach Heather Bowie said. “There’s really big tournaments over there that kids from all different countries will come to, so you’re able to see probably 150 different kids at a time.”
The women’s golf team is made up of seven international players out of nine total, and the men’s golf team has six international players out of twelve.
![](https://www.upressonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screenshot-2024-05-31-at-3.53.49 PM-600x417.png)
Men’s golf head coach Adrien Mork shared that he also travels to Europe to attend the European Boys Championship, which has 18 and under players. In this tournament, countries from all over the world bring their best six players to compete.
During early August, Mork stays in the States to attend the U.S. junior tournament. This year it will be played at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. Some of the top Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) golfers have won it, such as Tiger Woods, Jordan Speith and Scottie Scheffler.
“There are budget restraints, so we can’t go all the time,” men’s soccer head coach Joey Worthen said. “We usually make one trip internationally each year to try and find players. [If] we have a connection that we’ve been given a tip on some players, we’d go to watch them in person and meet them.”
Soccer and golf are two major sports that dominate internationally, each having competitive leagues in their own country. However, with sports such as beach volleyball, which has four international players, traveling for recruitment occurs less frequently.
![](https://www.upressonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screenshot-2024-05-31-at-3.50.41 PM-600x338.png)
“It’s been a few years since we went [traveled]. The last time we went was Sumer 2019…The plan is to go back, hopefully, next summer to watch again since [players] Julie [Honzovicova] and Marketa [Svozilova] are going to be graduating next year,” beach volleyball head coach Steve Grotowski said.
Aside from traveling, college recruiting sites are critical in bringing players to the coaches’ attention.
All four coaches stated that they use recruiting tools when finding athletes. Worthen provided College Scholarships USA as one example of a recruitment site he uses.
“It’s a lot easier to get American kids on campus and interact with them,” Grotowski said.
With recruiting internationally, coaches have to rely on building a relationship with the recruiter and trusting them, rather than the athlete.
Bowie spent 17 years playing in the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA). Mork grew up in France and came to the U.S. to play college golf. He then went on to play in the PGA for about 10 years. Both golf coaches utilize their personal connections from their experiences playing professionally when finding athletes.
After the coaches narrow down their contenders, they conduct Zoom or phone call interviews with potential players in order to get to know them on a deeper personal level, aside from their athletic statistics. They emphasized knowing their athletes and understanding who they are as a person, so they can help them with the difficult transition and ensure that their personality would be a good addition to the team.
“When they come over here, they’re going to be here for four years and it’s like inviting someone into your family who spends a lot of time together and you have to make sure that fits right,” Bowie said.
Coming to the U.S. provides athletes with opportunities to continue their careers, not only during college but with a chance to go on to compete in leagues.
“The players want to come to the U.S. because it’s a chance to continue their education and then also to continue to play soccer,” Worthen said.
![](https://www.upressonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screenshot-2024-05-31-at-3.46.29 PM-1-600x332.png)
Worthen has noticed that international soccer players typically hope to get a professional contract in their country when they are 16. When they realize that isn’t an option, they’ll look towards playing at the university level in the U.S.
The same rule holds true for golf, Bowie stated that the PGA and LPGA are a large draw for international golf players to come to the U.S. for university.
FAU’s location holds its own appeal that draws athletes to come. The warmer South Florida weather draws athletes to FAU, according to the four coaches, as athletics can take place outside year-round.
“I think a lot of the reasons why everyone here loves FAU is our location. The fact that they get to come to the U.S. but then come specifically to Florida and to Boca versus being in Oklahoma or Kansas is a real selling point,” Worthen said.
Grotowski said that when his athletes returned home to the Czech Republic over winter break, they returned to FAU and jokingly told him it was too cold for them because they’re used to the warmer weather.
Despite the weather appeals, Bowie explained that because FAU isn’t a larger university, athletes from the states are drawn away from it. She says that they value a “big-time school,” that gives them experiences such as football Saturdays.
Megan Bruinsma is the Sports Editor for the University Press. For more information regarding this or other stories, email her at mbruinsma2022@fau.edu or DM her on Instagram @megan_bruinsma or X(Twitter) @MeganBruinsma.
Latest University Press
- Staff Predictions: Majority of staff predicts 0-2 start for the OwlsFlorida Atlantic’s football team (0-1) is coming off a 16-10 loss to Michigan State University last Friday. They had the opportunity to secure the game in their final drive, but quarterback Cam Fancher was short on the final fourth down. On Saturday, FAU will be playing in their home stadium, Howard Schnellenberger Field, to take...
- ‘A lot of dictates are coming from the Board of Governors’: FAU stakeholders continue to raise concerns during presidential listening sessionA week after Florida Atlantic University’s first Presidential Search listening session on Aug. 29 — where students were noticeably sparse — the Buffkin/Baker search firm, which the search committee has hired to assist in the search for a new president, held the second listening session of the semester on Thursday. Different FAU stakeholders brought up...
- FAU’s New Era Barbershop: ‘The Poor Man’s Country Club’The New Era Barbershop on Florida Atlantic University’s Boca Raton campus has served as “the poor man’s country club” for students on campus, according to shop owner Angel Santana. “When you think about the country club feel, it’s a membership. It’s people that get together and talk about politics, sports or anything,” said Santana. “The...
- Continuing his penmanship: Brandin Bryant’s release of his second book and the life lessons withinFlorida Atlantic University football alumnus and published children’s book author Brandin Bryant has published again with the release of his sophomore book “Can I Pet That Dog?” “It’s a fun, goofy book about a kid who just can’t keep his hands to himself and he wants to touch a dog, but the dog has boundaries....
- FAU Hockey: Overview of the Division III team’s first seasonAfter having a Division II hockey team for 22 years, Florida Atlantic University is introducing a Division III hockey team for the upcoming season. Both teams are members of AAU College Hockey and the College Hockey South Conference (CHS). Head coach Andrew Yagoda, director of the Florida Panthers Scholastic Hockey League, wrote in an email...
- FAU students continue to build bridges in Eswatini, AfricaThe Florida Atlantic University Bridge Program sends civil engineering students to Eswatini, a country in Southeast Africa, annually to construct cable-suspended footbridges that connect the local communities to essential services. FAU’s College of Engineering and Computer Science established this program in 2020 with Engineers in Action (EIA), a civil and social organization. Since then, the...