Playing for ‘Team America’: The expectations and experiences of American postgraduate athletes at one British university

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

International Journal of Sport Management

ISSN

1546-234X

Volume

22

Issue

1

First Page

1

Last Page

26

Publication Date

1-2021

Abstract

Athlete migration is a significant component of the sport-globalization nexus. While professional athlete migration is multifaceted, college athlete migration has flowed typically to the United States. Recently a new migration pattern has emerged as British universities have begun recruiting American postgraduate athletes. Using Love and Kim's (2011) migrant athlete typologies, this paper presents a case study of the expectations and experiences of American postgraduate athletes at one British university. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 athletes in ten sports. Observational data were collected during practices, games, and social experiences. Transcriptions and field notes were interpreted using thematic analysis. Results indicated that the athletic, academic, and social experiences did not meet the varied expectations of American migrants. However, participants valued the transformative experiences as postgraduate athletes. These experiences are somewhat consistent with those of college migrants in the U.S., but the results better reflect perspectives conveyed in research on professional migrants.

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