Recruiting international wrestlers

[cangemi]

Not sure rules either. But PSU usually getting are best. Similar to NBA basketball. Is there a way to get more international wrestlers. Then I guess does it translate to folk style . 3 point takedown. Should be OK.

 

Just thinking outside box. PSU dominating.  Love to see parity.

 

 

Edited Saturday at 07:54 PM by cangemi

[ionel]

3 minutes ago, cangemi said:

Not sure rules either. But PSU usually getting are best. Similar to NBA basketball. Is there a way to get more international wrestlers. Then I guess does it translate to folk style . 3 point takedown. Should be OK.

 

Just thinking outside box. PSU dominating.  Love to see parity.

 

 

Who has Penn St got?

[CHROMEBIRD]

The problem is that international athletes aren't eligible for NIL under their F-1 visa. There were loopholes to the employment & compensation restrictions, but it sounds like it's even more  of a grey area after the House settlement and the risk would shift from the athlete to the school now:

"Historically, NIL-related immigration compliance was seen as a concern only for individual athletes. If international student-athletes violated the terms of their F-1 visa, the consequences —- visa revocation, deportation, or reentry denial —- were theirs alone to bear... [But] with schools now positioned to directly compensate athletes, they face heightened exposure to legal risks, including civil and criminal penalties, reputational harm, and potential loss of federal funding, if they directly compensate international student-athletes on their rosters who are not authorized for employment by the Department of Homeland Security."

Programs like the Ivies, Stanford, Northwestern, UM, UVA, etc. with elite academics could sidestep this and sell international recruits on the piece of paper they'd receive upon graduation, but obtaining an F-1 under the current administration is a far more burdensome (and slow, because they're backlogged) process now, with the screening & vetting, travel bans, and wait times. The DHS has also proposed changes to F-1 rules that would require international students to reapply and go through the process all over again, before their academic term is complete. I like the idea of bringing in more athletes from overseas, but competing here just isn't a super attractive option for international wrestlers.

[CHROMEBIRD]

Also IIRC someone suggested previously that Ono would be on a J-1 (cultural exchange visa) with PSU, but I don't think it gets him around NIL & compensation. He's going to PSU because he loves the sport and is willing to wrestle under Cael on his own dime. Probably not a ton of guys out there like that.

[HokieDave87]

On 8/16/2025 at 6:00 PM, CHROMEBIRD said:

Also IIRC someone suggested previously that Ono would be on a J-1 (cultural exchange visa) with PSU, but I don't think it gets him around NIL & compensation. He's going to PSU because he loves the sport and is willing to wrestle under Cael on his own dime. Probably not a ton of guys out there like that.

Historically the workaround was pay the athlete while they're not in the US, not sure if that's changed at all. I wouldn't be surprised to see a small increase in Japanese wrestlers competing in the NCAA. We have had guys train at VT's RTC and Henson spent a week or two at NSSU, assuming this is happening somewhat regularly at other schools. The more exposure the more likely it is that we'll see guys coming in.

[Truzzcat]

NC state just got the cadet champ at 55kg from Japan. A lot of it seems to come down to if the coaches have relationships with these guys either personally or their coaches. Esposito knew Okonogi I believe through KD and PJ who have a very good relationship with NC state.

[manatree]

On 8/16/2025 at 3:53 PM, cangemi said:

Just thinking outside box. PSU dominating.  Love to see parity.

 

 

Dominating? Abe graduated 29 years ago and Ono hasn't wrestled a single match. Who am I missing?

 

Edited 6 hours ago by manatree

[ionel]

On 8/16/2025 at 3:55 PM, CHROMEBIRD said:

The problem is that international athletes aren't eligible for NIL under their F-1 visa..

They are academic institutions, kids enroll to get an academic degree, it's an academic issue not NIL and NIL is relatively new.  Some countries with good wrestling just don't provide the course work in high school to be accepted into US universities.  Russia etc are examples hence a good path is the JC route.  Japan students have better acceptance if they pass the English requirement.  

[CHROMEBIRD]

19 hours ago, HokieDave87 said:

Historically the workaround was pay the athlete while they're not in the US, not sure if that's changed at all. I wouldn't be surprised to see a small increase in Japanese wrestlers competing in the NCAA. We have had guys train at VT's RTC and Henson spent a week or two at NSSU, assuming this is happening somewhat regularly at other schools. The more exposure the more likely it is that we'll see guys coming in.

I think in basketball the loophole was to compensate international players with "no labor" gigs, like dropping their name or image somewhere without the athlete having to actually do anything. Dunno how it would work now if the institutions rather than just the athletes bear the risk. Would love to see more of it, though. The RTC model is a great entry point

[CHROMEBIRD]

2 hours ago, ionel said:

They are academic institutions, kids enroll to get an academic degree, it's an academic issue not NIL and NIL is relatively new.  Some countries with good wrestling just don't provide the course work in high school to be accepted into US universities.  Russia etc are examples hence a good path is the JC route.  Japan students have better acceptance if they pass the English requirement.  

Frank was asking if there are ways to bring in more international wrestlers today, not 10 years ago. Re-read the last paragraph of the post you just quoted.

[ionel]

3 minutes ago, CHROMEBIRD said:

Frank was asking if there are ways to bring in more international wrestlers today, not 10 years ago. Re-read the last paragraph of the post you just quoted.

Have countries like Russia changed their high school course work in the last 10 years to align with the US? 

[CHROMEBIRD]

3 minutes ago, ionel said:

Have countries like Russia changed their high school course work in the last 10 years to align with the US? 

Academic qualification and US academic prestige become lesser concerns when it's harder for wrestlers to get a visa to study here, aren't eligible for pay while everyone else on the team is, and have to mostly ditch their style of wrestling.