HARROGATE, Tenn. — At the start of every school year, Lincoln Memorial welcomes a new class of 400-500 students.  Most have packed up their cars and SUVs with their most prized possessions and ventured from all parts of Tennessee, Kentucky, the Carolinas, Virginia and other parts of the country to begin a new chapter in their lives.
 
There is another group of new students that pack up their suitcases, grab their passports and student visas and travel thousands of miles from other countries to begin their college careers at LMU. These international students and student-athletes come from all parts of the globe including South America, Europe, Asia, Canada, Africa and Central America.
 
Lincoln Memorial University has just over 120 international students at its main campus in Harrogate.  These students are enrolled in undergraduate as well as post-graduate and professional academic programs.  Of this group, 73 are student-athletes participating for either the men's and women's soccer, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's track & field, men's and women's golf, men's basketball, men's volleyball, women's bowling, men's lacrosse, men's and women's cross country or women's volleyball teams.
 
The student-athletes are a very diverse group hailing from 23 countries, including Brazil, Colombia, Italy, The Netherlands, Denmark, England, Scotland, Wales, Canada, Czechia, Trinidad & Tabago, Spain, Germany, Sierra Leone, Norway, Argentina, Sweden, Austria, Kenya, France and St. Maarten.  The diversity this group brings to LMU and Harrogate enhances the college experience for all students.
 
LMU's pursuit of international students is not limited to athletes, but is a University-wide initiative to build on the international student population.  Leading that initiative is former U.S. Ambassador and current International Recruitment Executive George Staples  along with Coordinator for International Students Lilly Collins and Director of Multicultural Services Cathy Eldahan.
 
"There are over 1.2 million international students in the United States," explained Ambassador Staples.  "It is estimated that they provide over $42 billion in economic revenue, not only in tuition and board, but in housing, food, transportation and community growth.  It is a big business.  There is also the side of diversifying a student body, building cultural relations and international good will." 
 
So how does Lincoln Memorial in little Harrogate, Tenn., attract the international student?
 
"There are various organizations and agencies that put on conferences that are aimed at international recruitment," continued Staples. "There are companies around the world that will work with you to identify potential students and help them with information about your university, help them prepare for their visa interview, help them prepare for their SAT test and help them all the way to the airport.
 
"These organizations hold fairs and conferences which you have to tap into to get your university recognized.  There are companies that are internet based that work with social media to get the word out.  These are some of the ways you can connect with potential students and interest them in your university," he concluded.
 
For the coaching staffs, recruiting international student-athletes is a process that involves years of building contacts overseas and evaluating an athlete's skills from a computer screen.  The United States and Canada are the only countries in the world that marry academics and athletics in the scholastic and collegiate educational systems.  In the rest of the world, students attend high school but participate with local club teams in their athletic endeavors.
 
At LMU, men's and women's soccer account for almost one third of the international student-athletes.  Women's coach Sean Fraser and men's coach Helio D'Anna have spent years developing contacts overseas to help identify prospects.
 
"Daisy Drake and Robyn Foster played for my dad's team back home (United Kingdom) and we use his team as a platform to help identify players," Fraser pointed out.  "Fabienne Loetscher was recommended by a contact I have in Germany.  Jessica Cravero came through a contact with Andrea Cattaneo (Graduate Assistant Coach).  He had an in with a person in Italy and that's how we found her.  There is a multitude of different ways to get foreign players here."
 
Once Fraser develops interest in a player, the evaluation process begins.  Since he cannot travel the world looking at prospects he relies on his trusted contacts and video.
 
"We get highlight video but we always, always ask for a full game video," Fraser said.  "We had a potential recruit that looked great on her highlight video, but when we saw her full game video she wasn't the player we thought she was."
 
Finding a player and offering a scholarship is only the start.  Selling the advantages of the LMU experience and the Appalachian region is the next step. Cattaneo came to LMU two years ago to play with the men's team and explained what brought him to Harrogate.
 
"I Googled the school and the area before I came, but for the international athlete we know we are coming to get an education and play for the school.  That's the exciting part because you can only do that in the United States," he explained. "The exciting part for me was being a student-athlete and getting a degree while playing the sport that I love."
 
Cattaneo graduated with a business degree last year and joined Fraser's staff as a graduate assistant.  He is attending graduate school working towards a master's degree in business analytics.
 
Graduate assistant coach Will Roberts played under Fraser at the University of Charleston in West Virginia and followed Fraser to LMU to get his graduate degree.  He is a native of Wales who played on various national squads as a teenager.  Roberts found the transition from Wales to Appalachia seamless.
 
"Wales and West Virginia are similar," he explained. "Appalachia is very picturesque and the regions are similar.  I live on a farm in Wales so this wasn't difficult.  I really liked Charleston and enjoyed my experience there."
 
For Cattaneo the transition was a bit more dramatic. He is from the metropolitan area of Milan, one of Italy's largest cities.
 
"I just fell in love with the college experience so I didn't feel the change in city as much," he commented.  "I fell in love with the student-athlete experience so that helped me adjust a lot.
 
"All the people here helped me integrate, from college staff to my teammates," he continued.  "The soccer team has so many international students it was easy for me to integrate. The professors really helped.  The small classes made it easier for me to work with my professors."
 
Men's soccer coach Helio D'Anna has built a worldwide network of international contacts over his 26-year coaching career.  In his 16 years at LMU, he has leaned heavily on international athletes.
 
"There are so many contacts that I have made over the years," commented D'Anna.  "Some of them are former players who live in these countries, some have come to play here in the United States at junior colleges, and we find some at camps that we attend.  At the end of the day it is a mixture of pursuits and being pursued."
 
Through the building of his contact network D'Anna has been able to develop a track record with certain contacts.
 
"I've had success with players that came from a particular contact and when they call me about a potential player I pick up the phone and I listen," said D'Anna.  "If I haven't had success with a contact who recommended players in the past I don't listen."
 
Evaluating the international players involves many hours of research and watching video.
 
"We look at highlight video but we always ask for two full game videos to fully evaluate the players," pointed out D'Anna.  "Also, over the years we are able to look at a player based on the level of their club team.  We know which are the most competitive club leagues."
 
Once identifying a potential recruit the next step is convincing them that LMU is the right fit.
 
"The hardest part is selling the southeast United States," pointed out D'Anna.  "They do a lot of research on their own and whoever recommended them has talked about the college system and the region.  For us it involves sending many links about the area and virtual tours. 
 
"It doesn't stop once you lock up the recruit," he continued.  "I get constant questions on Skype, social media and phone calls from the student and his parents.  My mom is still my mom.  When they hear about a hurricane hitting the U.S., they still worry and want to know that their kid is safe.  You answer their questions to the best of your ability and honestly and show that willingness to be their dad, mom, mechanic, counselor and anything else you can imagine."
 
Student-athletes have a tendency to socialize within their team unit.  Getting them to become a part of overall campus life takes cooperation from all parts of campus.
 
"The school does a good job with student life," he explained.  "I don't know if we are doing a good job or LMU is doing a good job but after they are here they branch out into other activities on campus.  When they first get here, they are more comfortable with their team.
 
"We encourage them to be people of excellence," D'Anna continued.  "We got our team GPA today and it is 3.5.  To have a 3.5 is a little more than just books.  It's about excellence and looking for opportunities to achieve excellence."
 
D'Anna's squad is one of the most ethnically diverse groups on campus.  Getting them to blend into a cohesive team unit can be challenging.
 
"We have every type of social aspect from different countries on our team, language, culture, religion," he said.  "It's about forming a family.  It all goes back to your core values.  All of them are away from their family and need a new family while they are here, so that's what we've become."
 
Senior women's tennis player Marta Pinol recalled her journey to LMU from Barcelona, Spain.
 
"When I decided I wanted to attend college in the U.S. I sent my video to a contact who sent it to coaches in the U.S.," she recalled. "I had to see if I could qualify with the SAT exam.  I started talking to some coaches and decided to come to LMU."
 
A player on the men's roster influenced making the decision to come to LMU at that time.
 
"I looked online and saw that there was a Spanish player, Pepe Batalla, on the men's team," she said.  "I started talking to him and felt that it was a good opportunity to come here.  I don't regret it."
 
For Pinol, relocating from a big city like Barcelona to small town America was hard.
 
"It was really hard for me.  I was homesick all the time," she recalled.  "But the people here are really nice so I started to feel comfortable here.  The tennis team is like a family.  It was very hard in the beginning, especially with the language.  But my teammates helped me and the Tagge Center helped a lot. The language was the biggest adjustment.  I thought I knew enough English, but I couldn't understand and they couldn't understand me."
 
Like his fellow coaches, tennis coach Benny Collins has built a network of contacts that filter potential recruits to him.
 
"I have contacts and individual players who send me video," said Collins.  "Each day when I turn on my computer I have video of new recruits to look at.  I get to look at their rankings in their country and usually 20-30 minutes of them playing a match."
 
Since the majority of his players are from Europe, Collins relies on Skype to finalize the process.
 
"Once I am interested I arrange a Skype call with the player and the parents," he said.  "You can imagine the concern of a parent who is about to send his or her daughter 8,000 miles away to play tennis.  They want to see me and talk to me in person and be assured that their child will be in a safe environment.  We stress how secure LMU is with its own police and security force.  Especially with the female athletes.
 
"Normally the international student is very diligent about studying," he continued.  "The women's tennis team has had the top GPA on campus the last three or four years. Last year our team GPA was 3.8. They take great pride in academics."
 
While the team unit creates a support system for the student-athletes, LMU reaches out to help both academically and socially.
 
"This institution has done marvelous things to reach out and help these kids," praised Collins. 
 
For the international student-athlete and LMU the relationship is a win-win from day one.