Every year students are transferring to UT, and some of those transfer students are athletes. The positives must outweigh any other deciding factor for these students to leave the place they initially chose.
Yona Lobulu, a transfer from Gothenburg, Sweden, definitely feels as though he made the right choice. Lobulu is a sophomore on the men’s soccer team.
“The high level of play in the soccer team combined with the good education you get (is the best part),” Lobulu said. “Since my school was a lot smaller I find the size of the campus as one of the positives as well.”
Starting this year from the bench, Lobulu feels more motivated to work harder everyday to make the most out of his opportunity.
“My last school was a small NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) school, the level is completely different in the soccer team, and I feel that you have to work hard day in and out here, compared to then my last school. It’s more serious and we have more to play for here,” Lobulu said.
Although there are positive and negative aspects to any college campus, students express their views openly about what they would like to see improve.
A second semester freshman transfer student, Chris Clarke, came from Sydney, Australia. Clarke is on the golf team, and although he thinks the campus is beautiful, some of the aspects of UT make him rethink transferring to somewhere else depending how his golf prospers.
“There is not a whole lot to do around the college, I feel there is a lack of school spirit, the gym is much too small given the volume of students, the array of fines the school can penalize you for is ridiculous, and most importantly, every other sport has a designated area for practice except for the golf team—a few practice nets or chipping green couldn’t hurt the schools expenditures, could it?,” Clarke said.
However, Clarke very much enjoys the diversity of the students and the choice to come to UT was the right choice to initiate his college career.
Overall, the good must be overpowering the negative features of the university because the education the students are getting is just as important as being on a team. Runar Borgen, a sophomore transfer student on the swim team from Bodø, Norway, is appreciative of the opportunity he was given.
“I got offered a scholarship and I have a really good friend who went here,” Borgen said. “He improved with his swimming and told me I should start here because it’s a good environment with a very good swim program.”
The diverse range in students makes this university unique with over 18 percent of students coming from outside of the U.S. from over 130 countries. The experience to be learning inside and outside of the classroom draws students to UT. The Spartan teams have won 13 NCAA II national championships: six in baseball, three in men’s soccer, two in golf, one in women’s volleyball and one in women’s soccer.
As Borgen puts it, “If you have the opportunity to transfer to UT, do it, you will not regret it.”
Michelle Speaker can be reached at michelle.speaker@spartans.ut.edu.