Ole Miss’ sports teams, like its student body, draw from towns, cities and states across the country. However, there is another subset of student-athletes who are not discussed as frequently, yet are key contributors in several athletic programs — international players.
Though American football is perhaps the most popular sport in the country — FOX Sports claims that approximately 40% of adults in America cite football as their favorite sport — it is much less popular around the world, which makes it all the more remarkable that Ole Miss’ starting punter, Oscar Bird, is from Sydney, Australia.
Bird grew up playing Australian football. Though this variant is more similar to rugby than to American football, Bird did not find the transition difficult.
“The sport I played, Australian football, the kicking elements of that game are very similar to American football punting,” Bird said. “Without knowing much about the sport or college football, there was a pathway to come over here and try and get a scholarship.”
Bird is not the first Australian to play for Ole Miss. Punters Will Gleason (2013-17) and Fraser Masin (2022-24) also played for the Rebels. Bird said that this recruiting pattern helped smooth his entrance into the program.
“Coming into this program, they’ve had an Australian for the last three years,” Bird said, referring to Masin. “Coaches and some of the players are already adjusted to an Australian-style punter, and that just helped me so much more because it wasn’t new for them. It was new for me, but it just allowed me to transition into the program a lot easier.”
Bird explained that Oxford and the Ole Miss community made a strong impression on him during the recruiting process.
“Oxford was probably my favorite town by far, and that was without even having an offer yet,” Bird said. “I really liked Ole Miss, so I was really grateful when the coaches were happy to have me here. I’ve also had family and friends come throughout the year to watch games, and they’ve loved Oxford.”
While American football is not a global sport just yet, tennis is played throughout the world, and Ole Miss’ tennis program reflects this. Emily Welker and Andrea Nova are from the European continent and chose Ole Miss for their collegiate journey.
Welker, who is from Germany, spoke about the connections and friendships she has found within this program, which are essential for athletes who are far away from home.
“I feel like the coaches do a good job of us having the feeling of having a second family here,” Welker said. “(They) try to build a good relationship within the team with all of the teammates, and (we do) different activities together. I think that kind of helps with being so far away from home.”
One of the major differences between domestic athletes and international athletes is the recruiting process. Nova is from the Czech Republic and never visited Oxford before accepting her offer to play here.
“I didn’t come here for a visit, so everything was just a surprise,” Nova said. “I was so open-minded, and whatever is gonna happen, is gonna happen. I didn’t really have any expectations.”
Kai Milburn is a sophomore men’s tennis player from New Zealand and Isac Strömberg is a senior player from Sweden.
“I came to the U.S. because there’s so many resources here,” Milburn said. “The colleges provide so many resources, like nutritionists, coaches, strength coaches, and I feel like it’s pretty tough to get that doing it by yourself.”
Before Strömberg met the former Rebel tennis coach Toby Hansson, he did not know what college was.
“(Toby Hansson) kind of talked to me about college back then, and it seemed like a good fit to me,” Strömberg said. “Tennis is obviously an individual sport, so doing it here with a lot of teammates, we’re 10 people on the team, and it’s way more fun doing it with the team.”
While Milburn’s recruiters are no longer with the program, he still credits them for why he chose to attend the university.
“I feel like the reason why I picked here was just the people,” Milburn said. “Obviously, the coaches that I got recruited by aren’t here, but I really felt that the teammates here were really dedicated and eager to be better.”
Strömberg had no expectations of Oxford or Mississippi. When he first got here, he actually did not plan on staying long, but that changed after a while.
“When I got (here), I really liked it here,” Strömberg said. “Now the time has just flown by, so it was an obvious decision to stay here for four years.”
Milburn had a better idea of American culture, but he still encountered a few surprises when he moved to the U.S.
“Obviously, you have all the stereotypes of how America is and … not bad things, but some of things that people were controversial about,” Milburn said. “I’ve been to America once before, and I felt like a lot of the people were really quite blunt with you and not really friendly. But living here and experiencing it all, I felt like everyone’s more friendly and talkative and really more appreciative than other states.”
