The traveling student-athletes, coaches and faculty celebrate their arrival in Australia. Photos provided by trip attendees.
From early-morning workouts to weekend competitions, student-athletes often operate on tightly packed schedules. That can make studying abroad—one of higher education’s most transformative experiences—hard to fit into four short years.
Rather than asking student-athletes to choose between competing on the field and exploring the world, Eckerd College’s Risser Center for Global Education works with faculty members and coaches to design study abroad experiences that fit within athletic schedules. The programs are built around students’ interests and are supported by scholarships and financial assistance, helping make international travel more accessible.
That commitment to global education recently took 24 members of Eckerd’s baseball and softball teams more than 9,000 miles from campus to Sydney and Melbourne, Australia.
From May 20 through June 3, students immersed themselves in Australian culture as part of Business and Sport in Australia, a faculty-led course taught by Sandra Graҫa, DBA, professor of international business and marketing and chair of Eckerd’s Comparative Cultures Collegium.
“The primary objective was to provide students with plenty of direct contact with Australian organizations and individuals to help develop students’ cross-cultural skills,” Graҫa says.
The group spent time in Melbourne’s East End district, known for its Victorian architecture.
The itinerary offered a front-row seat to Australia’s sports culture. At a National Rugby League match between the St. George Illawarra Dragons and the New Zealand Warriors, for instance, students learned how teams attract fans, members and sponsors. They later attended an Australian Football League game at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium, where they experienced firsthand the energy surrounding “footy,” the country’s most popular sport.
The baseball and softball teams visited numerous iconic locations, both natural and manmade, including the world-renowned Sydney Opera House.
“The students were surprised at how crazy Australians, especially people from Melbourne, are about their sports,” Graҫa says.
That enthusiasm was impossible to miss at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, known locally as “The G.” During a one-hour tour, students learned how the iconic sporting venue has evolved into a year-round entertainment destination and economic driver for the city, hosting everything from cricket matches and Australian Rules Football games to a Taylor Swift concert.
The group also met with members of the marketing team behind the Australian Open, who gave them a behind-the-scenes look at the strategy and planning required to grow one of the world’s premier tennis tournaments.
For Molly Scott, a rising junior biology student from Crown Point, Indiana, that visit was one of the highlights of the trip.
“They talked to us about how they make the Australian Open very different from other tennis events around the world and how they continue to attract more and more people every year,” Molly says. “It was cool learning about the business side of a sports event like that.”
Among the cultural traditions experienced by the student-athletes was a boomerang throwing demonstration.
Head baseball coach Joshua Beauregard ’03 says these cultural experiences offered something invaluable: an opportunity for students to see the world through a different lens.
“I hope a lot of our athletes leave Eckerd with the travel bug—that desire to get outside their bubble and explore,” he says.
The trip also gave players uninterrupted time together away from practices, games and the pressures of a competitive season.
“Being together that long—almost every second of the day—really brought the girls together,” says head softball coach Michelle Frew ’91. “They’re going to be talking about this trip forever.”
For Molly, those memories are only part of the lasting impact. As a first-time international traveler, she came home with greater confidence navigating unfamiliar places, a deeper appreciation for another culture, and a broader perspective on the world beyond campus.
“It was so much more than a vacation,” she says.
