>NCAA College Athletics and Immigration Converge

I particularly enjoy it when my involvement in collegiate athletics and immigration converges.  The New York Times reports today that the NCAA PAC-12 athletic conference is pursuing competition opportunities in China, as a means for PAC-12 universities to generate awareness, goodwill and student interest in China.   I'm sure the student-athletes would welcome the opportunity to visit China and compete there, even if it involves competing against other PAC-12 teams.  But that's a long way to go for away games!  I've seen first hand the intense demands the competition season and year-round training schedule place on NCAA Division I student-athletes, merely with travel restricted to the United States during the academic year.  Even for students who love their sport above all else, athletic competition is disruptive to the student-athlete's education because of missed classes and rescheduled exams and the challenges of studying and completing homework assignments on the road.  And if the competition in China is outside the regular intercollegiate competition season, it will extend the travel and in-season training demands into parts of the year when student-athletes otherwise could remain on campus, focus on studies, connect with friends and family, have internships, or simply recover from all the travel and training during the season.  I truly hope the PAC-12 puts the interests of the student-athletes and education first in this endeavor, ahead of university development, and remembers that while student-athletes welcome exciting new experiences, they really need time to focus on their studies and career plans and  maintain personal connections outside the athletic program.