How tennis led two athletes overseas to MSU

Bobcats come from near and far – with some having developed their skills right here in Bozeman, and others coming from across the country. But what about those that traveled to MSU from outside the country? 

In the U.S. international athletes make up over 20,000, or roughly 4% of the 520,000 collegiate athletes competing under the NCAA banner, according to the NCAA Sports Sponsorship and Participation Database. Further research conducted by the NCAA on international student athletes found that certain sports, namely tennis, ice hockey and golf, are significantly more diverse in terms of their student’s country of origin. Unsurprisingly, over a quarter of international athletes come from Canada. 

As of 2018 the UK, Germany, Australia and Spain round out the top five for nations other than the US producing NCAA athletes. Furthermore, the proportion of international student athletes has generally increased over the past decade. 

MSU rosters a number of student athletes hailing from abroad. Both basketball teams, skiing, golf, both tennis teams and both track teams comprise the slurry of campus teams that have international students competing for them.

Coming from an entirely different nation obviously impacts the student-athlete experience, but what exactly does it entail? Mirte Van Baelen and JJ Chen are both members of the women’s tennis team who share this international bond.

Chen is a senior studying exercise science, with a minor in coaching. Chen is from Adelaide, Australia, where she attended Marryatville High School. She had a short stint at the University of Wyoming before making the trek north to Bozeman. 

Van Baelen is also a senior who studies Biological Engineering. Van Baelen is from Mol, a town in northeastern Belgium. She attended Saint Janberchmans before starting at MSU. 

Tennis has played a big part in both players’ lives. Tracing back the influence of her passion for the game, Chen said “I started when I was five, then dropped it for a few years before picking it back up when I was 11 or 12. I started to get more and more competitive, started playing in competitions and tournaments and pushing myself.” 

“I started when I was six, when it was all just for fun,” Van Baelen said. “And then I changed clubs when I was 10 to go to a better club in order to play competition.”

The decision-making process that went into Chen and Van Baelen determining to pursue a spot on a college tennis team was very similar for both of them, with older home-town athletes leading them to explore the option. 

“It was year 10 or 11 for me in high school, and some of the older kids would come back from college and talk about it, and I just thought, ‘Oh, that’d be a really cool thing, to be overseas competing’. Back home, we don’t have college tennis. Once you’re done with high school, you either go pro, or just quit tennis, I guess. I wanted to keep playing, I knew that for sure. I wanted to see how far I could get,” Chen said. 

“I didn’t really know about college tennis, when I was younger, but there were some people in my club who did it, and I thought it sounded like fun. I started looking into it and I wanted to keep playing tennis, but I also wanted to get a degree.”

Recently, Chen and her doubles partner Felicia Jayasaputra captured a 6-4 win over New Mexico State. In similar fashion Van Baelen and her doubles partner Marta Garcia Reboredo won over Lewis-Clark state early in the semester. Chen and Van Baelen have both been influential for the tennis team, and both were strong players coming out of high school. Van Baelen was even ranked in the top 100 players in Belgium. As a result of their work both had multiple schools hoping to add them to their tennis rosters. So why did they choose MSU?

“I wanted to be in a smaller city, I’m kind of from a bigger city, so I wanted a change. I love the environment here. I’m pretty outdoorsy and I love snowboarding, so I figured Bozeman would be the perfect spot for me,” said Chen. She also mentioned the quality of Montana snowboarding has not disappointed. 

Van Baelen’s reasoning was more academically centered. “For me, the choice was based on my major. They don’t have bioengineering everywhere, at least, not at the other schools that were recruiting me. I also love the mountains, more in summer though. But it’s also super safe here. That’s been a plus.”

When talking about the differences in the sport’s atmosphere between their home countries and the U.S., both cited the energy of the team as a standout point of contrast.

 “A lot more cheering, a lot louder, a lot more fun. Other than that, it’s pretty similar,” Chen said. Chen noted that she required some time to adjust to the new environment. “There’s so much energy, so much fire. But I definitely prefer this a lot more. Going home and playing, everyone is so quiet.” 

“Going home and playing tournaments, it was weird to hear no one cheering,” Van Baelen agreed. 

Outside of the tennis world,  Chen said that she didn't experience any major culture shock. “You fit in pretty fast and just adjust to life. Being a full-time student and a full-time athlete though, it did take a bit of time to adjust to the stress of traveling and keeping up with schoolwork. But then you have so many people here, academic advisors and coaches, that help you adjust pretty fast,” she said. 

Van Baelen did experience a bit of a surprise, but probably not the sort many would expect. “I think the weather was the biggest shock,” Van Baelen said with a smile, “It got really cold sometimes and I was just like: What is this place? But other than that, the biggest thing was when someone would say, ‘Hi, what’s up?’ I didn’t know what to do with that. Were they just asking how I was doing or just saying hi or…?”

Both Van Baelen and Chen say they have greatly enjoyed their time at MSU, and that they’ll look fondly back on the memories that they made here, and the ways that they were able to grow. “We’ve just matured so much faster after coming to the States. We’ve been pushed out of our comfort zones and we’ve had to be independent and do things for ourselves,”  Chen said.