An International Flavor

Over 80 percent of Baylor students come from Texas, and with the state's largest cities--Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin, Houston and San Antonio--all within about a three-hour drive, it stands to reason that the vast majority of students can make a quick weekend trip home without any problems. 
Yet, it's still common for students, especially freshmen, to feel homesick from time to time. Now imagine you're among the 21 international student-athletes at Baylor--thousands of miles from home, in a new culture, all while burdened with expectations of success not only in the classroom, but also in the world of Division I athletics.
"I came here the first day, and the second day, I started practice," says junior Mamadou Diene, a native of Senegal and a starter on the men's basketball team. "At the beginning it's exciting, because when you were at home playing basketball, your dream is to come to America to go to college. ... But the other side, I was really nervous, because I was going somewhere [where] I didn't know what I'd find there, I didn't know what's going on, for I didn't know how long."
Besides the usual adjustments--learning to do your own laundry, cooking, cleaning, that sort of thing--Diene had one looming disadvantage: English was his third language, after his native Wolof and French.
"I knew the basics. I was able to have a conversation when the coaches came to recruit me," he says. "The teachers [at Baylor] were really helpful. I'd never been in a class where they speak English the whole time, so it was tough for me, but they helped me. And I had tutors, so that helped a lot."
Hailing from Hertfordshire, England, sophomore golfer Hannah Burke didn't have to battle language difficulties. For her, it's been the complete package that has taken some getting used to.
"I've had to adjust to the lifestyle and everything of being a student-athlete plus being in a different environment completely. So it's been a big change, but you kind of have small differences everyday that you have to overcome," she says with a strong British accent. "To get home is a nine-hour flight, which is $800, instead of a tank of gas and a couple of hours. You have to look after yourself and get after it."
Baylor's international student-athletes are apparently "getting after it" quite well. Five of Baylor's 18 athletic programs led the Big 12 Conference in Graduation Success Rate this year, and it's perhaps more than an interesting coincidence that the rosters of three of those five--women's golf and men's and women's tennis--each have a large share of students from outside the U.S.
"The international student-athletes do really well in the classroom," says women's tennis coach Joey Scrivano. "Our women's tennis program has been the strongest of any of our programs this past year. Two out of my five years at Baylor, we were the top academic program. Every year, we're right there in the mix to win that award. Our student-athletes get it, that yes, tennis is important, but academics are even more important, and they have to excel in that area even more so than tennis."
Men's basketball coach Scott Drew has made a name for himself recruiting internationally, bringing over players like Diene and senior Aaron Bruce, a veteran of several Australian national teams. Drew says the international flavor helps the team build a family atmosphere.
"Oh, definitely. The international students on breaks and holidays will go home with our American guys, and the American guys take care of them," he says.
Burke calls her women's golf teammates her "new family."
"They're always there, like if you need anything, you've got someone to call. They're like all your best friends, which is good; it helps you settle in," she says.
Of course, for many fans, all that doesn't mean much if the teams aren't winning. That hasn't been a problem at Baylor.
Drew's Bears are on the verge of making basketball fans forget all about the program's past troubles, as the team received votes in this season's preseason USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Poll for the first time in recent memory. Diene and Bruce have been major parts of that, as Diene ranks among the league's best shot blockers and Bruce has earned all-Big 12 honors in each of his three seasons.
Burke led the Baylor squad in four of the team's five tournaments this fall, including an individual title at the team's final tournament of the semester. 
Scrivano's Lady Bears, led by Slovakia native Zuzana Zemenova, finished last season ranked 13th nationally after winning their third straight Big 12 title. Zemenova, one of six international student-athletes on the roster, became the program's first three-time all-American last spring and is back for one more go-around as a senior.
And no program at Baylor has had more success than the men's tennis program. Head coach Matt Knoll has cultivated an international squad that has won seven of the last eight conference titles, ranking no lower than ninth nationally at any time in the past five seasons. The Bears have made 10 straight NCAA Tournament appearances, claiming the national title in 2004. 
Eight of Knoll's players have earned all-
America recognition: Australia's David Hodge and Mark Williams, South Africa's Johann Jooste, Slovenia's Matija Zgaga, and Germany's Benjamin Becker, Benedikt Dorsch, Reiner Neurohr and Lars Poerschke.
Perhaps because of successes like these, coaches who recruit internationally have been criticized by some who perceive that scholarships are going to foreign students at the expense of Americans. The reasons vary from sport to sport, but those involved say otherwise.
"There are unused scholarships in women's tennis every year, so there are not enough players to go around for all the scholarships that are available. So the international kids aren't taking scholarships from anybody," notes Scrivano.
"Teams need height," explains Diene, who stands 7 feet tall. "I don't think there are that many 7-footers here. In Africa, we have a lot of 7-footers. College needs them, and we need to come here, too, to get a degree."
"If you're good enough, coaches are going to want to recruit you," says Burke. "I'm English; that's the only difference, really.
"It's making Baylor look good, with our tennis team and other international students making Baylor athletics look good as a whole."
Drew points to the advantages his American players get from playing with students from other countries--the same advantages any Baylor student gets from being around one of the 500 or so international students on campus.
"Our players get to learn about other cultures and learn to appreciate other people and their beliefs and ways of life," he says. "What makes America so great is that we allow for competition and we allow for people to have a chance. That's the same thing we're doing. We allow everyone to go out there and earn a scholarship, and the people that take advantage of those opportunities and can help our university grow and represent it in the right way and bring success to it--we want to bring them here."
Even if it takes a little longer than a three-hour car ride.