One thing that we have frequently noticed with the junior tennis players that we speak with is that they either want to go to a division 1 school to play tennis, or they want to go to a division 3 school that meets their academic needs. We refer to this as the division 2 "gap". This raises the question: What is wrong with division 2 schools and why aren’t student athletes as interested in them?

As the saying goes, one man’s loss is another man’s treasure. That is exactly what has happened in division 2 tennis. SFA researched the rosters of 15 ranked Men’s and Women’s division 2 tennis teams to see how many international athletes make up their rosters. The results may be surprising to some.

59 of the 125 Women players were international athletes and 109 of the 139 Men players were international athletes.  This means that almost half of the Womens rosters along with nearly 80 percent of the mens rosters were filled with international players.  These percentages should give student athletes and their families a good idea of how big the D2 gap really is in college tennis.

Most people would argue that the academics are not as strong at division 2 schools however the tier system from US News and World Report shows that these schools are in fact places where athletes can get a great education along with a great athletic experience. The chart below shows the tier levels for each of the schools that we researched.  (The tiers range from 1 to 4 with 1 being the highest).

Click here to learn more about how the rankings are calculated.

The numbers show that the international athletes have found a niche where they can compete, get their school paid for, and get a great education. Simultaneously, thousands of American athletes overlook these opportunities. Why is this? Is it because they are lacking knowledge about division 2 schools? Is there a lack of prestige associated with division 2 schools that are not as main stream?

The reality of the situation is that while many Americans choose to overlook these great opportunities, thousands of international athletes are capitalizing off of our unawareness and our disregard. This is not to say that there is any problem at all with international athletes playing college sports, it just exemplifies the opportunities that are passed over because everyone wants to play at the same 200 schools. Why pay a tremendous amount of money to go to a school and get minimal playing time or sacrifice the level of play just for social merit? There are many good schools on and off the court at the division 2 level. Eventually, there will be a wave of student athletes that will realize what they’re missing out on.