Foreign athletes have been major factors on several NCAA championship teams and account for some of the best performers in collegiate sports.

They also account for much internal debate and controversy within the NCAA.

“Certainly there are a few more things that we have to clear up with the European players, because they’re not playing in our own backyard,” UCLA men’s tennis coach Billy Martin said. “Consequently, we are a lot stricter on getting all of the information ... because we don’t want to bring a black eye to UCLA or our athletic department.”

Everyone from high-ranking NCAA officials to the lowliest student manager has a different opinion about whether the the number of foreign-born student-athletes on a given team should be limited.

More and more schools are recruiting internationally, but, with the exception of a few sports – notably men’s tennis – UCLA hasn’t had to actively recruit international student-athletes.

“UCLA hasn’t had a lot of foreign athletes, basically because we’ve done a good job recruiting Southern California and America,” said UCLA Assistant Athletic Director Mike Sondheimer, who oversees recruiting. “Generally we don’t recruit foreign athletes as a primary means. We look at them as a last resort.”

UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrero has also echoed this recruiting philosophy in the past.

Only 23 out of UCLA’s 530 athletes (4.3 percent) were born in a country outside of the United States – five of those from men’s tennis.

In comparison, fellow Pac-10 member USC, which has won almost as many championships as UCLA, has 41 foreign athletes out of 516 (7.9 percent).

“There are more and more schools who are recruiting worldwide right now,” Sondheimer said. “That’s never going to be our style.”

The style may be hurting some UCLA teams though.

UCLA men’s and women’s water polo coach Adam Krikorian has remained consistent with his American-based recruiting philosophy.

“Long Beach State and USC have foreign players, but it all comes down to each individual coach’s philosophy,” Krikorian said. “I love to develop our own (American) players, and give them the scholarships, and ultimately develop the players for the national team.”

And his philosophy has worked, as both the UCLA men’s and women’s teams are annual championship contenders, and the USA water polo national teams are littered with UCLA players.

But rival USC had four foreign players in key roles to help them win the 2003 NCAA Championship.

And while the UCLA women’s team won the national championship in 2003, USC with its three foreign stars is currently ranked No. 1 in the nation.

“When the national team does well, it increases the sport’s attractiveness,” Krikorian said. “Ultimately, it is great for expanding our sport’s following.”

Another reason coaches sometimes choose not to recruit foreign athletes is the potential hassle involved.

Becoming eligible to play NCAA sports can be problematic for foreign athletes. The NCAA Division I Manual and the Guide to International Academic Standards for Athletics Eligibility both claim that U.S. and foreign athletes are kept to the same standard.

Quantitatively, the NCAA is correct.

The NCAA requires 13 year-long courses of core subjects in high school, with a 2.0 grade point average or its equivalent for both American and international athletes, and requires both to earn a sufficient test score in the SAT or the ACT, based on a sliding scale with grades.

However, the list of courses is based off the U.S. educational system, where every core subject is taught to every student. At many European secondary schools, students specialize in one subject and might not take the other ones, hurting their NCAA eligibility.

The NCAA does outline acceptable degrees and grades from 148 different international educational systems. But there are no exceptions to the rule about core classes.

Since the NCAA does not generally grant interviews to student newspapers, the Daily Bruin could not get a comment from a co-author of the Guide to International Academic Standards for Athletics Eligibility, Kathy Yurk, who is listed as the contact for foreign students on the NCAA web site.

Foreign student-athletes also have to send the NCAA Eligibility Clearinghouse original copies of their transcripts, and line-by-line translations with them if they are not in English – and both of them have to be verified by the proper people.

With reports from Jeff Eisenberg, Raffi Martinian and David Regan, Daily Bruin senior staff.