By Davis Ramage and Jack Haslett
Athletics at Long Beach State may be Long Beach-built, but its reach extends worldwide.
The number of international athletes playing at Long Beach State has grown 186% over the past decade, with athletes now from 27 different countries, including the United States.
The growth was up and down for a few years in the late 2010s but has been upward since the 2021-2022 season.
Some programs are more global than others, with teams like men’s volleyball, men’s water polo and women’s tennis being clear standouts.
LBSU men’s volleyball assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Nick MacRae said his team doesn’t target international players intentionally; they just want “the best and brightest throughout the entire world.”
That sentiment has been echoed by women’s tennis head coach Jenny Hilt-Costello, who has found combinations of talent and excitement for The Beach in the global recruiting pool.
“My philosophy has always been that we want the best available player who wants to be here,” Hilt-Costello said. “It’s not that we don’t recruit American kids, things like that, but it just happens to be; it kind of worked out that way.”
Over the last 10 seasons, the women’s tennis roster has been mostly— if not all— international, a rarity in college tennis.
Hilt-Costello, who plans to retire at the end of this season, feels confident that LBSU women’s tennis will continue with its legacy of international recruiting.
MacRae said that head coach Alan Knipe’s name plays a large factor in international recruiting and recruiting in general, as he is the biggest face in the international volleyball world.
Knipe boasts a program where, in his time as the head coach of The Beach, he has produced six different AVCA National Players of the Year and reached 12 NCAA Championships— an attractive resume.
MacRae has been at the helm of USA Junior National teams and said that his primary focus is to represent his country at the highest level, but at those international tournaments, he is always “looking for the best and the brightest and for those that are interested to come [to LBSU].”
This year’s men’s volleyball team has eight total international players; four are from Bulgaria, and three are from the same school in Bulgaria: Vasil Levski Sports School.
Freshman setter Moni Nikolov was one of three Beach players to attend that school and said that the school is “made so you can study, but it’s made to fit your schedule of prioritizing your sport.”
Freshman settter Moni Nikolov goes up for the set when Long Beach State took on the UCLA Bruins on Feb. 7. The Beach beat the Bruins 3-1 at the Walter Pyramid as Nikolov scored seven aces and five kills in the match. Photo Credit: Samuel Chacko
It was an easier transition for Nikolov than most as the other Bulgarians on the roster made the transition smoother for Moni, and those same Bulgarians helped land him at The Beach.
“The best recruiting for Long Beach State is actually the guys who come and play here and they go out and word of mouth; that’s business 101, word of mouth is the best for any and all businesses,” MacRae said.
The most recent spike in LBSU international men’s volleyball players occurred from the 2022-2023 season where there were four, to the present 2024-2025 season, where there are now eight. Those players are from Bulgaria, Canada, Greece and New Zealand.
MacRae said there is no deliberate plan to keep adding international players to the roster; The Beach just go out and get the best players available.
The men’s volleyball team at LBSU is only allotted four and a half scholarships to give out to players, but thanks to the non-resident tuition fee waiver, international students who get a 3.0 GPA or above qualify for in-state tuition instead of out-of-state tuition— an added incentive for international athletes to come to The Beach.
Taking on an international student-athlete comes with a few more extra challenges in comparison to American students.
There are several forms that international students need in order to study and compete in the U.S. The first form is the I-20, a form that determines whether a student is even eligible for a visa to begin with. Once an I-20 form is approved, a student is then able to secure one of several types of student visas.
The most common visa for student-athletes is the F-1 visa, which, in addition to permitting study in the U.S., also allows students to participate in on-campus work or collegiate athletics.
Student-athletes are also required to check back in and get special approval when they leave the U.S. to be able to re-enter the U.S. again.
For many international students, agencies and recruiting companies exist to connect athletes with universities in the U.S. What follows is months of correspondence between coaches and players through international communication apps like WhatsApp to sell the students on the LBSU experience.
For students coming into the U.S., American colleges like LBSU can provide more professional opportunities post-graduation compared to continuing their education and career in their home countries.
Freshman Daisy Carpenter and doubles partner junior Paulina Franco Martinessi devise a plan in between points on Feb. 15. Photo Credit: Devin Malast
“I was stuck between coming to college over here and staying in the U.K.,” English freshman women’s tennis player Daisy Carpenter said. “But, I’d say, with the opportunities over here… they were too good not to come.”
According to Carpenter, the global nature of American college sports provides those opportunities. The standard of play is elevated when students from all over the world gather to compete.
Hilt-Costello said that LBSU has an advantage over other schools in the nation with its Southern California attractiveness and strong academic record.
While women’s tennis has consistently been a leader in international recruiting, LBSU as a whole has seen a massive uptick in international student-athletes on their teams.
In the 2015-16 academic year, there were just 30 international student-athletes across all LBSU sports; 10 years later, that number has nearly tripled, rising to 86 student-athletes rostered in the 2024-25 academic year.
