William Carey University men's soccer coach Nigel Boulton has signed a bevy of international players that will join his team this season. The players will be arriving soon and he wants to know if there are any local families that would be interested in hosting a player for a couple of days.

Boulton, a native of Wales, took the time do an interview with the Hattiesburg American in a question-and-answer format.

Q. How has the off-season been going for the Carey soccer team?

A. I've been real busy with recruiting. We're trying to put together a team that will be nationally competitive.

Q. I understand you have international players in need of a place to stay. What's the status of that?

A. Our dorms will be available on Aug. 5th. Some are going to fly in before they can get in the dorms. We usually can put them in a hotel. But I thought it would be nice put them with a host family for a couple of nights or a week at most. It's a chance to get closer to the community.

Q. What would a family do if they were interested in hosting a player?

A. They can just call the William Carey men's soccer office at 601-318-6401. These will just be male soccer players.

Q. The Carey teams have an international flavor. What goes into bringing those players all the way to Hattiesburg?

A. An awful lot goes into it, especially following 9/11. There has been a tightening on immigration. We have to go through a whole lot more to get kids coming in from other countries.

I make sure my contacts know what type of players we're looking for, whether it's athletically or academics. We have to know that they will represent our college in the correct manner.

Q. Has William Carey become known as a great destination for international soccer players?

A. Yes it has. Once you have some players that have success, obviously the word spreads around. Whether it's from the middle man in Europe or players that talk to other players. We've got an awful lot that e-mail us that have no contact related to us, but they may have heard about us.

Q. Do you have any players right now that approached you without the middle man involved?

A. That is not the way it works for us, simply because we can't get a relationship built with them. We take players that are recommended. I'm usually going over to Europe to see ones that have been recommended.

What we often do with the ones that contact us is put them in touch with other schools like junior colleges.

Q. How high are the hopes for the upcoming soccer season?

A. Well we have some great hopes for the men. We are going to be young. The foreign players that are coming in, all but one are going to be freshmen. They are going to be good players.

We only have two seniors on roster, so our youth will count against us. We will have a lot of talent. I look forward to get keeping this team together over the next four years.