Number of Foreign Student/Athletes Growing; So Are Questions

When Denmark’s Lars Birketoft tried out for the baseball team at Ramona High School, Coach Giff Asimos didn’t know where to play him.

“He had a ball and glove and everything,” said Asimos. What Birketoft didn’t have was an inkling of knowledge of America’s game. Birketoft played soccer in the winter, but he had never seen a baseball game and was having difficulty during tryouts.

“He was getting hit by balls,” Asimos said, “and I was afraid he’d really hurt himself. He just didn’t understand the game.”

Because Birketoft wanted to take a varsity letter home, he will earn it by keeping score and helping out as the team’s manager.

An estimated 20 foreign exchange students are playing more internationally familiar sports on San Diego County high school varsity teams this spring. A similar number participated in fall and winter sports.

Under the direction of Hanford Rants, former Southern Section executive committee member, the California Interscholastic Federation is conducting a 1,100-school statewide survey that will better indicate the level of involvement by foreign students.

The CIF constitution has a list of 30 approved foreign exchange programs that allow students to have automatic eligibility, but there are exceptions.

“Section commissioners still have the option of checking an individual out and approving a student without being in a program,” Rants said.

Sayaka Kimura of Japan is one exception. Kimura is not affiliated with an approved exchange program, but she helped Poway win the 3-A San Diego section girls’ tennis team championship last fall. Commissioner Kendall Webb granted her eligibility before the season began.

Getting approval to play hasn’t always been that easy. Until a year ago, foreign exchange students in the section were under the same rules as local students who wished to transfer. Unless their parents moved, they had to sit out a year. Webb could grant eligibility only to students with a true hardship.

“We treated them like our own American students,” he said.

In the past year, that policy has softened and Webb said he has reservations about it.

“We don’t have any definite guidelines,” he said. “People can say, ‘Aren’t you giving an advantage to non-Americans?’ We say there’s value in an American atmosphere for them, but how can you say to the L.A. student who wants to transfer that they’re not better off in a San Diego atmosphere?”

On May 1, the section Board of Managers will meet and address that issue.

“We need to answer the question, do you want us to treat foreign students not on approved programs the same as American students who transfer?” Webb said. “Or should we lean a little in their favor?”

In an average year, Webb said he gets half a dozen eligibility requests such as Kimura’s.

Coaches interviewed for this story expressed little concern that there are abuses in the policy regarding foreign student/athletes, but there might be an image problem.

Anne Meigs, Torrey Pines tennis coach, said a program is open to questions should a foreign athlete enroll and go out for a sport in which that school excels. This is particularly true, she said, if that program gets more than one foreign student.

“Coaches joke about it,” she said. “It’s like, wow, how did they get them? It’s supposed to be random placement and it’s an extra bonus, but you wonder about outright recruiting.”

She does wish there were stricter guidelines dealing with eligibility.

“I don’t mind if they come over on a real exchange program,” she said, “but some aren’t.”

But Meigs said there would be an outcry if recruiting was a problem.

“If it was an issue, if it was being abused,” she said, “it would be brought up very quickly.”

Poway tennis Coach Evi Yarnell admitted she is a little sensitive on the subject of Kimura. She insists that it takes more than one player to win a team championship.

“We were blowing away opponents all year,” Yarnell said, “until the CIF final. Then I’m hearing we won it because of Sayaka.”

State Commissioner Thomas Byrnes said any program is subject to criticism, but California’s problems are minimal.

The same can’t be said for the state of Indiana. To avoid recruiting problems, the Indiana High School Athletic Assn. banned foreign exchange students from varsity competition five years ago.

“I think we have a pretty good rule,” said Gene Cato, commissioner of the Indiana association. “If they come over for all the right reasons, they may participate at any level other than varsity for a year.”

Cato said the rule change was the result of a case involving five members of West Germany’s Junior Olympic basketball team.

“I got a call from a principal,” Cato said, “who was a little concerned that they were having a 6-foot-8 athlete enroll and the first person who knew about it was the basketball coach.”

The principal questioned the coach at length and discovered five members of the West German team were transferring to some of the most powerful programs in the state.

“All five were coming through the same program,” Cato said. “One of our ex-coaches was dating a lady who was making the placements. That brought about us strengthening the rules.”

Cato said the rule has kept students who grew up in a school district from being bumped from the varsity by an exchange student.

“On one hand, it’s an injustice,” Cato said, “but we have to be fair with the kids who have been with us throughout the years.”

Granite Hills Athletic Director Coy Owens disagreed.

“I like to think that if an American went over to Finland, they’d get the chance to compete on the varsity,” said Owens, whose family is hosting an exchange student from Finland, swimmer Suvi Etu-Prami. “It’s a mutual chance to work in a different framework.”

Foreign exchange students face challenges unlike their American counterparts. Besides adjusting to a new language and culture, they are living with an unfamiliar host family.

Ruth Ratner of La Mesa, a national board member and San Diego coordinator for American Field Service International for 30 years, said of primary importance in placing a student is the role of the host family.

“If there’s a brother or sister who is very active in sports, a natural bond can be established,” Ratner said. “If someone is a runner, you can’t put them with a couch potato.”

Golfer Caroline Rasmussen of Mount Miguel has established that bond. She changed host families in December and now has a “brother” who plays golf with her and drives her to team practices.

“We look for specific needs to be met and try to equate all things,” Ratner said. “You can’t say, oh, Granite Hills has a great basketball team so we’ll put them there. I can’t even remember getting requests like that. But in looking for a host family, you may require that someone’s interested in those things.”

The exchanges are an eye-opening experience for the host as well.

“It’s like having two daughters,” said Owens. “It’s exposure to another culture. We have a son in eighth grade and we plan on having another exchange student when he’s in high school.”

Jeff Ukrainetz, Mt. Carmel’s swimming coach, has had several positive experiences with foreign athletes.

“Those foreign exchange students are just top-notch kids,” he said. “They’re polite and they’ll do anything to help the team. It’s a pleasure to coach them.”

FOREIGN ATHLETES COMPETING IN SAN DIEGO

Name School Sport Homeland Michaela Corner Oceanside Girls’ Swimming West Germany Alfonso de la Nuez Ramona Tennis Spain Suvi Etu-Prami Granite Hills Girls’ Swimming Finland Tom Giesen Poway Tennis West Germany Christoffer Hansen University City Badminton Denmark Tarja Jantunen Monte Vista Girls’ Swimming Finland Tom Koenig Mira Mesa Tennis West Germany Tim Kreysing La Jolla Tennis West Germany Markus Labruier Valhalla Boys’ Swimming West Germany Francois Lentz Mt. Carmel Girls’ Swimming Luxembourg Nicolas Malotki Mar Vista Tennis West Germany Jose Medrano Bishop’s Tennis Bolivia Sergio Montessimos Valhalla Tennis Spain Jerome Poignard Santana Boys’ Swimming France Caroline Rasmussen Mount Miguel Golf Denmark Steve Santiago San Diego Volleyball Spain Hubert Sasker San Pasqual Tennis Holland Eva Sonnerup Monte Vista Girls’ Track Denmark Mikiko Suzuki Monte Vista Girls’ Swimming Japan Heike Zenzinger El Camino Girls’ Swimming West Germany

Source: San Diego high school athletic directors