For decades American universities did something unusual.
asserted
universities → do → something
They took young people who were not yet good enough and spent years making them better, and out of that came Olympians, national team members, coaches.
asserted
Olympians → take → that
On Sunday afternoon, I watched Ben Shelton play for the US Open title.
asserted
Shelton → watch → title
He had beaten Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals in a match that ended at 3:33 in the morning, and in the final he took the third set off the top seed before it got away from him.
asserted
it → beat → him
Four years ago he was playing college tennis at Florida.
asserted
he → play → Florida
The last American collegiate player to win a major title was my brother John, who played one year at Stanford.
asserted
who → win → Stanford
Almost none of the kids I talk to will get near either of those careers, and they know it.
asserted
they → talk → it
They are asking something much smaller.
asserted
They → ask → something
Earlier this year I started counting.
asserted
I → start → ?
NCAA research, cited last fall by Senate health committee Chairman Bill Cassidy (R-LA), put first-year Division I tennis rosters at 61% to 64% international, the highest share of any sport.
asserted
research → cite → sport
What I watched this spring is less a tennis recruiting trend than a change in what these programs are for.
asserted
programs → watch → what
Tennis was where the effect was felt first because it is the most international sport we have.
asserted
we → feel → ?
But it is already happening in basketball, soccer, track and field, cross country, golf, and swimming.
asserted
it → happen → basketball
I played alongside international players, competed against them, and later coached them.
asserted
I → play → them
They make American teams better, and they are doing what any ambitious 18-year-old would do with an opportunity in front of them.
asserted
old → make → them
They should continue to be welcomed.
asserted
They → continue → ?
The question is whether we can welcome the world while still preserving a meaningful pathway to develop our own talent.
asserted
we → welcome → talent
But roster spots are finite, and when one athlete fills a spot, another does not.
asserted
another → fill → spot
The families who feel that first are not the ones with money.
asserted
who → feel → money
I talk with juniors and their parents constantly, and almost none of those kids are going to play professionally.
asserted
none → talk → kids
“Can I play in college?”
asserted
I → play → college
That question is what keeps a 15-year-old practicing, competing, studying, and getting up after a loss.
asserted
old → keep → loss
More of those parents now ask me whether the answer is still yes.
asserted
answer → ask → me
A mother I know spent years driving her son to tournaments.
asserted
I → know → tournaments
All he wanted was a scholarship, or failing that, a place on a Division I roster.
asserted
he → want → roster
She told me something I have not been able to put down: she is certain her son and the other boys he trained with would have quit years earlier, and their families would never have invested what they did in developing them, if they had believed college tennis was closing to them.
asserted
tennis → tell → them
Open recruiting has raised the level of play.
asserted
recruiting → raise → play
American teams are deeper and better than they were 20 years ago, and some athletes have gotten a great deal out of competing at that level.
asserted
athletes → get → level
The harder question is who ends up on the roster.
asserted
who → end → roster
A cap written into federal law makes me uneasy, and I would rather the NCAA and the conferences correct this themselves, because they understand their own sports better than Congress does and because a number set in statute will be blunt in places where it ought to be precise.
asserted
it → write → places
But Cassidy put those numbers in front of the NCAA eleven months ago and asked what it intended to do about them, and nothing the association has written since addresses roster composition.
asserted
association → put → composition
Wednesday morning, the House subcommittee took up the question in a hearing titled “Who Gets the Scholarship?” where I testified as a witness.
asserted
I → take → witness
I do not expect one hearing to settle anything.
asserted
hearing → expect → anything
What I would like is for the people who run college athletics to be asked, on the record, what their programs are for.
asserted
programs → like → what
Shelton had a university willing to invest two seasons in him.
asserted
Shelton → have → him
The kids I talk to are all asking whether that same opportunity is still open to them.
asserted
opportunity → talk → them
The answer they get will decide whether they keep playing.
asserted
they → get → ?
The Aporia
