Ellie Park, Multimedia Managing Editor

Yale’s varsity teams might compete on home turf, but their rosters tell a far more global story. Using public data from the online Yale Athletics rosters, the News looked into the geographic backgrounds of the University’s 926 student-athletes. 

Yale athletes come from 41 countries and 40 U.S. states. Curious which team has the most international players or which regions of the country send the most Bulldogs to the field? Dive into the data to find out.

The University’s athletic teams have a rich geographic diversity – 40 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, 2 U.S. territories and an additional 41 countries are represented. One notable exception from the list of home countries is China, which, despite being the most popular country of origin for the University’s international students as of 2023, has no student-athletes listed on public rosters.

The most popular state of origin for domestic student-athletes is California, with 121, followed by New York with 89, and Connecticut with 65. Just under half of the states represented, 17, have more than 10 student-athletes competing on varsity teams. On the other hand, 10 U.S. states currently have no rostered student-athletes.

The number of athletes from a U.S. state strongly correlates with the total estimated number of students from that state.

Just under half of domestic student-athletes — 40.1 percent — come from the Northeast, followed by 21.5 percent from the West and 19.6 percent from the Southeast. Among international student-athletes, the majority — 52.1 percent — hail from Europe, with an additional 24.6 percent from North America and 10.2 percent from Oceania.

Of the 926 student-athletes on campus, 167 — or 18 percent — are listed as having international origins, compared to 11.2 percent of the total undergraduate population.

The majority of international student-athletes come from the nations of the United Kingdom, with 46, and Canada, with 40, making up 51.5 percent of the international pool. The only other country with a double-digit number of student athletes is Australia, with 10.

Of the 32 teams analyzed, 27 — over 80 percent — have at least one international student on their roster. Of the five teams with no listed international players, women’s lacrosse and baseball are the largest, with 38 and 32 players, respectively, all of whom hail from domestic origins. 

The teams, however, have varied domestic rosters, with 11 states represented on the women’s lacrosse team and 14 on the baseball team.

Three teams — men’s heavyweight crew, field hockey and women’s ice hockey — are composed predominantly of international students — 57.6, 54.6 and 53.1 percent, respectively. Exactly half of the teams have a proportion of international students higher than the total undergraduate proportion of 11.2 percent. Women’s rowing has the most global representation, with 12.

Inside the geography of Yale Athletics recruiting

According to the News reporting from 2023, over 85 percent of student-athletes are recruited to play their sport at Yale while still in high school. 

When asked how geography factors into that process, a Yale Athletics spokesperson wrote that each program “tailors its approach based on team needs and the broader recruiting landscape, but the goal remains the same: to find exceptional individuals, wherever they may be.” 

The spokesperson did not comment on the absence of student-athletes from China, but the country’s lack of representation may be a result of the country’s policies surrounding sports. 

The Chinese government has a state-sponsored athletics program, with thousands of dedicated sports schools for children and a goal of having as many of their athletes as possible compete for China in the Olympic Games. This can make Chinese athletes more inclined to continue their college-aged training in the country.

Brian Hamm, head coach of the baseball team, also noted that each sport requires a distinct recruiting process, leading to the varying geographical compositions witnessed in the data. Hamm said that while he “would love to bring international baseball players to Yale” — and had attempted to make inroads with European players while coaching at Amherst College — the baseball scouting process presents unique obstacles to accomplishing that. 

“With baseball, unlike, for example, track or swimming, we’re not able to just go on statistics and timing,” Hamm said. “[If] you run 100 meters in a certain time, that time is equivalent wherever you run it, whether it’s in Dallas or Tokyo. Whereas in baseball, we have to see the guys play in person… Some international students will get to the U.S. to play, but that’s rare.”

Unable to scout extensively abroad, Hamm relies on Yale’s resources and team fundraising to build a nationally diverse team. His current roster includes players from 14 U.S. states.

“College baseball — especially Division I baseball — it’s predominantly White, and if you look at the composition of our team, we’ve done a good job from a racial diversity standpoint of increasing that,” Hamm said.“We’ve also done a really good job of bringing players from all across the country.”

He added that since each region tends to have distinct playing habits, increasing geographic diversity “allows for us to be more dynamic as a team if we bring in players who play a different style of baseball.” 

With the Ivy League’s best overall record (22-12) this season, Hamm’s efforts appear to be paying off.

Several other coaches did not respond to the News’ request for comments on recruiting.

The Yale baseball team plays home games at George H.W. Bush ’48 Field.