Students from around the world have answered the call to become ISU athletes.

The ISU athletic department is home to almost two dozen international athletes from Europe, Africa and Canada. Each athlete has his or her own reason for attending Iowa State.

“I had to look around for opportunities and I took a chance,” said Petra Plaminkova, junior in Russian studies.

Plaminkova is on the ISU women’s swim team and a native of Prague in the Czech Republic. She came to Iowa State so that she could continue to swim competitively.

“Swimming in the U.S. was challenging,” Plaminkova said. “I knew that I could be better here and improve.”

For Susanne Notbohm, a three-year member of the swim team, coming to Iowa State from her hometown of Oppenheim, Germany, meant being able to swim and study at the same time.

“At home, club swimming is not correlated with the university,” said Notbohm, senior in physics. “It was a good opportunity to do both swimming and studying and to improve my English. I wanted to stay one year but I have stayed on the team for three years.”

Students are also recruited to Iowa State from Canada. Greg Stephanson, a senior on the ISU men’s golf team, hails from Edmonton in the province of Alberta. Freshman Laura-Kay Powell, a member of the women’s gymnastics team, is from Orleans, a suburb of Ottawa in Ontario.

“I was recruited by five or 10 other schools,” Stephanson said. “I liked the coach and the schedule that Iowa State played. We got to travel a lot and that appealed to me.”

“I came here in the fall on a recruiting trip,” Powell said. “I liked the team and the coaches. Iowa State has a good gymnastics team.”

ISU men’s cross country and long distance track coach Corey Ihmels said he has about three or four international athletes on his teams each year.

“We have a number of athletes from Kenya and Europe,” Ihmels said. “We also have a strong tradition of English athletes.”

Ihmels said these athletes are recruited through correspondence, and the Internet makes the process much easier.

“Back in the day we recruited through mailings and competition lists,” Ihmels said. “Now through the Internet we can find kids who are interested, send them questionnaires and get feedback. We also have athletes go home and see people who they think would work out and refer them to us.”

Athletes then schedule visits to Iowa State. Plaminkova said her first impression of the ISU campus was that it was very beautiful.

“I really like the campus,” Notbohm said. “At home campuses are spread out. Here the buildings are really close.”

International athletes sometimes travel long distances and must spend months at a time away from home. Notbohm said it takes her about 13 hours to get to Des Moines from the Frankfurt, Germany, airport, depending on layover times.

“It takes about 15 hours and three flights to get here,” Plaminkova said. “You fly Prague to Munich, Munich to Chicago and Chicago to Des Moines. The main flight takes about nine hours but then you have waiting plus the small flights.”

“It takes about six hours [to fly here] from Edmonton,” Stephanson said. “I have driven it a few times and the last time it took 24 hours. I left at 6 a.m. and drove for 24 hours straight.”

The athletes said it was hard for them to be so far away from home and their families but it became easier for them over time.

“I go home for Christmas and for the summer,” Notbohm said. “It was very hard at first but you get used to it.”

Plaminkova said technology has made the transition easier for her.

“I know why I am here and what I’m doing here,” Plaminkova said. “Thanks to phone calls and e-mails it’s easier. Sometimes I miss a hug from my mom.”

The companionship they have through their teams also makes it easier for the athletes to adapt to a new country.

“I’ve made so many good friends,” Plaminkova said. “To feel part of the team is the feeling of family that I don’t have. My family isn’t here so I get that feeling from the team.”

“I wouldn’t have left home if it wasn’t for the team,” Powell said.

For the students that were learning English as a second language, communication was sometimes difficult.

“I came here barely knowing English,” Plaminkova said. “I spent the first three months listening and trying to figure out what people were saying. After my freshman year everything was OK.”

Notbohm had a similar hitch.

“I had nine years of English but I still had some troubles when I came,” Notbohm said. “For me, everyone spoke so fast. I had a hard time speaking because I was afraid I would say something wrong.”

There was more to adjust to than just the language difference.

“The lifestyle is very different here,” Plaminkova said. “Swimming is different. I think if my teammates saw how it was at home they would be surprised. And the teaching is different.”

“They expect you to take notes,” Notbohm said. “I would take 10 minutes trying to figure out how to spell a word and the instructor is already 50 pages ahead. I thought to myself ‘Oh my God, I’m not going to make it!’ “

Powell said there are not many differences between schools in Canada and schools in the United States.

“The way we speak is different,” Powell said. “I got made fun of for saying ‘eh.’ “

Added to the difficulties faced by every college freshman, including being away from home and living on their own for the first time, was the task of adapting to a new culture. International athletes have the extra burden of juggling academic schedules with practice times.

“My first year there was something new for me every day,” Plaminkova said. “Now I’m taking things home and my parents are like, ‘What are you doing?’ “

“I’m coordinating classes and swimming,” Notbohm said. “Trying to do both very well is challenging.”

Stephanson said that the main difference between Canadian universities and U.S. universities is the emphasis placed on athletics. He said before he came to Iowa State he had never been to a college football game.

“I went to the University of Alberta for a year,” Stephanson said. “Football would get maybe 300 people at a game. My first visit to Iowa State I went to a football game and there were 50,000 people there. It was really crazy.”

Athletics are also treated differently in Germany, Notbohm said.

“At home they are like ‘I don’t care what you do in your free time,’ ” Notbohm said. “Here they put so much time into it. It’s nice when your classmates and teachers appreciate what you do.”

Ihmels said he had been able to experience working with international athletes both as a teammate and as a coach. Ihmels was an All-American runner for Iowa State from 1992-97 before becoming a coach.

“They have a different perspective,” Ihmels said. “It has been extremely good for me to work with these athletes and it adds a lot of diversity to the team. It opens doors for students to travel overseas to visit their teammates.”

These athletes agreed that though it can be tough at times, deciding to come to Iowa State was the right choice.

“There are ups and downs,” Plaminkova said. “But if I had to choose between staying at home or coming, then I would come.”

“The team is like a family,” Notbohm said. “I would never switch.”