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When we talk about playing competitive sports and study in Italy, about student-athletes, it is always a very delicate topic, an almost impossible coexistence, a typical Italian paradox.

A quick interview with Carlotta Cartelli: born in 1997, she is the goalkeeper of the Louisiana Tech University women soccer team. "Charlie", as her teammates call her, tells us about her experience as a student-athlete in the U.S.

Why did you decide to become a student-athlete in an American College?

Everyone knows the stories of the undrafted-turned-pro or breakout redshirt senior year but no-one ever talks about the millions of students that take a lesser known route: junior college to traditional four-year university. The opportunity to learn crucial skills both on and off the playing field, in addition to earning a scholarship and making progress towards your degree is invaluable.

The constant growth and popularity of  volleyball and beach volleyball in USA colleges is impressive. Women's volleyball is already one of the most practiced sports in colleges: in the 2018-19 academic year, a total of 1,073 NCAA colleges are sponsoring volleyball teams: 334 of those teams are competing in Division 1, 303 in Division II and 436 in Division 3; NAIA institutions currently sponsor 226 women's volleyball programs along with 456 two-year colleges in the United States.

Our student-athlete Francesca Indoni describes us what happened during the four years she spent in New York, studying and playing volleyball at Queens College.

This is the story of her experience: 

After the thrilled season just concluded, for the Italian volleyball pair Federica Frasca and Margherita Bianchin there is one more achievement: the AVCA BVB All-America Honors.

It was on a visit to the United States for a volleyball tournament when Ludovica realized her next chapter in life would take her to America. After completing her student-athlete experience and graduating with a degree in forensic science with a chemistry minor, Ludovica Centro recalls her days as an athlete at Long Island University in New York.

The Beginning of the American Adventure

Matteo Polimeno, born in 1992, is a student-athlete, that in 2014, decided to further his sporting and academic career in the United States. He left the Italian university of which he was attending to pursue his dream of playing basketball. Matteo is still in the United States, pursuing a Master's degree at San Diego State University. The following article describes his experience as a Sportlinx360 athlete. 

Who said that the end of August is also the end of traveling and adventures around the world? It is definitely not so for our student-athletes, those fortunate young, smart and determined athletes who start a new life far away from home. Even though she's been there since January, for Ester Talamazzi (Virginia Tech women's volleyball) her first season just got started.

Sports have always inspired Hollywood and the world of film making. There are hundreds of movies about sports and athletes and, believe or not, also about student-athletes and college sports. Many of these movies are also based on true events. We thought this could be a fun way of learing more about the American college system and what it means to become a student-athlete in the USA.

High School movies