Title IX is creating opportunities for international athletes

Milan – for Maria Bulanova, it was a surprise – that she could be recruited “all the way from Russia” to the bowling team at Vanderbilt.

Like other international athletes who play college sports in the United States, she had little understanding of Title IX when she was young. But federal law has opened the door for thousands of female athletes from overseas to receive an American education and possibly a shot at life and career in the United States.

“People were surprised that Vanderbilt was able to recruit me all the way from Russia,” Bulanova said. “They were like, ‘Oh, wow. Their recruiting is really diverse.’ Like, ‘Wow. They saw you all the way from there.'”

Bulanova was looking to bowl in Europe after finishing her last year of school in Russia. In November 2015, he represented Russia at the World Cup in Las Vegas and bowled so well that many American colleges wanted to see him. He visited five colleges a week in February 2016 before choosing Vanderbilt.

“The thing that really set them apart is the education. And I was also looking for a good bowling program where I know we’re going to win something, we’re going to compete for the national championship. So Vanderbilt did both, and it was perfect,” said Bulanova, who graduated in 2020 and is now in her second year competing on tour with the Professional Women’s Bowling Association. She is also working on a master’s degree at St. Francis in New York, where she is an assistant coach.

Bulanova helped Vanderbilt win their second national championship in women’s bowling in 2018. There were also two other international players: Singapore’s Kristin Kwa and Australia’s Emily Rigne.

Coach John Williamson started the Vanderbilt bowling program in 2004, producing a club team, and three national runners-up in addition to two national championships.

“From a Title IX standpoint, I think it’s a success story because we’ve been able to pick up kids from across America, around the world who might not have had the opportunity to come to Vanderbilt, or even go to Vanderbilt. And also thought of getting them on campus and so they get world class education,” Williamson said.

“They get to compete at a really high level. And they get to do their game. They get to get their education. They get the best of everything.”

Kwah was the first of three to play for Vanderbilt when she arrived at the university by email, playing for the Singapore junior national team. Williamson and an assistant went to the World Youth Championships in Hong Kong and saw Kwah bowl with Bulanova and Rigne. Kwah’s first year at Vanderbilt was 2015. Bulanova and Rigne debuted the following year.

“So basically, as Kristin emailed us expressing her interest, we got to talk to her, who took us to Hong Kong, who got us to find Maria,” Williamson said.

Bulanova and Kwah received scholarships through a direct route, but this may be a more expensive process for others.

Several agencies exist to assist foreign athletes by keeping them in touch with coaches and universities, as well as assisting them through the bureaucratic process.

Deljan Bregasi founded one such agency. Originally from Albania, Bregasi grew up in Italy before moving to study in Miami and then New York on a football scholarship.

Bregasi founded USA College Sport in Boston in 2015 and says he has helped secure scholarships for nearly 300 athletes, charging $3,200 for the agency’s services.

The agency originally focused on helping boys in Italy and Albania obtain football scholarships in the United States before expanding to other sports and female athletes in 2018.

“Girls are those who can have a lot of opportunities in a certain sense because Title IX, which fortunately I would add, allows them to practice sports with scholarship, and it is an experience that a girl who lives in Italy Sadly I don’t play the game,” Bregasi said.

“It is also one of our objectives to focus better on female athletes at this time because it is also, you might say, easier because women’s football is on the rise in Italy while the level in volleyball and athletics is very high, and so it is important to help us. More suitable for female athletes because they have a good chance of getting a scholarship, as Title IX does,” Bregasi said.

Serena Fraoli, a 17-year-old middle-distance runner from Genoa, Italy, used her time during the pandemic lockdown to research colleges herself and talk to coaches before eventually deciding to use the services of a US agency.

“I have to say it was quite expensive, but then looking at the scholarship I got, you can say that it pays off the initial costs,” said Frawley. “But then they also help you throughout your time at university … so I liked that too. And my mom feels more calm knowing that too. She told me, ‘Let’s do it.'”

Frawley is going to Northwestern in August to study mechanical engineering on the track scholarship. She knows that she would give him more opportunities than if she had lived in Italy.

She has long dreamed of becoming both an astronaut and a medal-winning athlete. The benefits of Title IX allow him to pursue his dual aspirations.

“Why should I choose?” Frawley said. “That’s why I’m going to the United States.”

Similarly, Aline Krauter and Tze-Han (Heather) Lin left their homeland to play college golf in the US, in large part, the opportunities were made possible by Title IX.

A prolific junior player from Stuttgart, Germany, Krauter had no opportunity to play collegiately in Europe, so she moved to Florida and spent three years at Saddlebrook Prep at Wesley Chapel. He ended up playing four seasons at Stanford, winning the national team championship last month as a senior.

Tze-Han was a top junior player in Taiwan when she was recruited by then-first-year Oregon coach Derek Radley. She became the cornerstone of a team that would add two more Taiwanese players and that finished second at this year’s national championship.

“Having equal scholarships for the NCAA, men and women, allowed me to play golf and get a full scholarship,” said Tze-Han, who finished fifth in the NCAA individual championships. “I don’t think I’ll find it anywhere else in the world.”

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Associated Press Sportswriter John Marshall contributed to this report in Phoenix and Walker reports from Nashville, Tennessee.

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For more on the impact of Title IX, read the Associated Press’s full report: https://apnews.com/hub/title-ix Video Timeline: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdgNI6BZpw0