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'Rugby's unbelievable... I have done things I only thought were possible in movies'
Kiki Morgan is feeling overwhelmed. The USA sevens player has just come off stage in Dublin at a launch event attended by World Rugby big-wigs Bill Beaumont and Brett Gosper and the enormity of it all is only hitting home while she struggles to slowly chew some food.
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One of 24 American athletes who have been training full-time since January at their Olympic training site in California, the 24-year-old has come a long way in a short space of time.
Not until she was 17 and a few months into college at Brown University in 2012 did she first pick up a rugby ball, but the sport has effectively changed her life.
Her backstory growing up in Rhode Island is why she has now been chosen as one of the 15 examples of unstoppable women in rugby who have been chosen to front a campaign aimed at dramatically growing the profile of a sport that Beaumont feels will be rugby’s biggest growth sector in the next 10 years as the attempt to monetise it and increase the global playing base.
The promotional Unstoppable XV is diverse and wide-ranging, drawn from around the globe with each character coming to the party with a very different tale aimed at giving some girl somewhere the nudge to come forward and give the game a chance.
Our very own Kiki Morgan is an inspiration to #WomenInRugby ??
HER STORY » https://t.co/HUcQIrGeYo #TryAndStopUs | @WorldRugby pic.twitter.com/pDvWHpDo1L
— x-USA Rugby (@USARugby) May 21, 2019
Morgan’s own narrative focuses on bereavement and how she eventually battled through to blossom. She was 18 months old when she arrived in America from Jamaica and life then changed dramatically aged 10. Her mother Karlene passed away from ovarian cancer detected when she became pregnant with Morgan’s younger brother. The devastating effects were long lasting.
“She was my form of strength, my confidante. I looked up to her as the strongest person I knew and to just watch here fade away before my eyes and then have no way of expressing that afterwards really caused me to close in on myself,” said Morgan to RugbyPass.
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Overnight, her personality changed. “I became very introverted, was very much living my life in my head. Afraid of the world and afraid of feeling. I still don’t like reading books unless I know it is a happy ending because life is sad enough, so why put myself through that in a story?
“I use a story as a form of escapism, I don’t want to feel sad. But rugby has changed that. I don’t need that form of escapism as much because I’m happier, I’m more present and enjoying every day.”
Morgan’s transformation was pure opportunism. Coming from a place where track and field and soccer were the only sports for girls, her introverted mind convinced her she would spent the rest of her life in Pawtucket Island just a few miles away from the house she grew up in.
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Then came rugby and the world suddenly became her oyster. “The reason people stick with a sport such as rugby is because of the social aspect, because of their friends, because of the community. That was the reason I tried out rugby.
Life will hurt sometimes. This game will give you strength.#TryAndStopUs #WomenInRugby
Start Rugby. Become Unstoppable. https://t.co/smZYTw71Ol pic.twitter.com/udDSiy1zH7
— World Rugby (@WorldRugby) May 21, 2019
“When I first saw it, I didn’t think I was good enough. I didn’t think I was strong enough or fast enough but it was my friend who said, ‘You need to come out, you need to try out his sport with me and I guarantee that it will be the best decision that you have ever made’.
“I tried it and loved it… but if it wasn’t for my friends and their encouragement to try the sport, my life would have been completely different.”
It took Morgan a while to fully realise she had potential, her first invite to step on the representative circuit greeted by incredulity on her part. “A few months after I started playing I went to a camp in Boston and the then USA head coach, Rik Suggitt, was there.
“We’d a nice talk and after that camp I got an invite from the Olympic committee to go to San Diego to a US rugby camp there. I thought it was a joke. I responded to the email, ‘Are you kidding me?’ They responded back, ‘No, we are serious. We’d like to invite you out for a camp’. I said ‘Yes’.”
Ever since, rugby has taken Morgan on a journey far greater than she could have ever imagined, not only allowing her to grow as a player but more importantly as a person, the memory of her mother driving her on to this day.
“One of the only mementoes I have left of her is her ID and I always carry that around with me so that she is physically always with me.
Start Rugby. Become Unstoppable
?? https://t.co/smZYTw71Ol #TryAndStopUs #WomenInRugby pic.twitter.com/UF1reaYs1M
— World Rugby (@WorldRugby) May 23, 2019
“Rugby’s now full time. I started in January of this year. I graduated with a degree in theatre and sociology and I would have stayed in Rhode Island. I would have explored life there, but now there is so much more open to me.
“It’s unbelievable. I have friends in Japan, I have friends in Australia, I have seen the amazing buildings in Dubai, I have done things I only thought were possible in movies.”
Her script is set to become even more dramatic. As soon as the USA steps on the pitch at the season-closing sevens event in Biarritz next month, they will have done enough to qualify for next year’s Olympic Sevens in Tokyo.
Those Games will be massive. So, too, the recently planned world series shake-up. Up to now, the men’s and women’s sevens have been at different stages of development. Ten pit-stops for the men, all in high-profile destinations, but just a half-dozen for the women.
While there is an overlap of the two circuits in Dubai and Sydney, the women have largely ploughed their own furrow. Colorado, Kitakyushu and Langford have been curious destinations on a calendar that culminates in Biarritz on June 15/16, the same weekend the sold-out Top 14 league final takes place in Paris.
Next year, though, there will be more equality. The women’s calendar jumps from six events to eight, with Dubai, Cape Town, New Zealand, Sydney, Hong Kong and Paris hosting combined men’s and women’s events in the first year of a new four-year cycle.
After @BlackFerns tight win, it keeps them at the top of the @HSBC_Sport Women's Sevens Series standings pic.twitter.com/O2iTy3Fl6E
— World Rugby Sevens (@WorldRugby7s) May 12, 2019
This alignment is part of the reason why World Rugby is keen to strike now and get the message out there that it has some inspirational women involved who can greatly help grow playing numbers and profile.
“This presentation has been very important,” said Morgan, reflecting on a morning’s mingling with administrators such as Beaumont and fellow players who have been making waves in the game just like her. Stints at clubs in Japan and Australia in the last year were what helped yank her into the full-time USA set-up.
“As I was growing up there wasn’t many female role models for me to look up to, especially in the rugby community because it was just starting out, just gaining momentum.
“This game will give you strength” – A message from @USARugby’s Kiki Morgan #TryandStopUs #WomenInRugby pic.twitter.com/6iyfHgLkDC
— World Rugby (@WorldRugby) May 21, 2019
“I didn’t know about the sport until I arrived at college, so sharing my story is not about me, it’s about giving voice to those who normally don’t get the chance to… I’m unbelievably honoured, just meeting everyone and hearing their stories. It has inspired me.
“I’m embracing the uncertainty of the future. I have no idea where rugby is going to take me. All I’m worried about is becoming the best player I can and learning as much rugby as I can.
“We’re really exited USA is embracing rugby and we just want to continue to build on that excitement to create more opportunities in rugby and to really go even further from here.”
WATCH: World Rugby launches its new Women in Rugby initiative in Dublin
Comments on RugbyPass
“South African franchises would be powerhouses if we had all our overseas based players back in situ. We would have the same unbeatable aura the Toulouses, Leinsters or Saracens of this world have had over the last decade or so.” Proof that Jake white does not understand the economics of the game in SA. Players earning abroad are not going to simply come back and represent the bulls. But they might if they have a springbok contract.
22 Go to commentsA lot of fans just joined in for the fun of it! We all admire O'Gara and what he has done for La Rochelle
3 Go to commentsThe RFU will find a way to mess this up as usual. My bet is there will be no promotion into the the Premiership, only relegation into National League One. Hopefully they won’t parachute failed clubs into the league at the expense of clubs who have battled for promotion.
2 Go to commentsWell that’s the contracts for RG and Jordie bought and paid for. Now, what are the chances we can persuade Antoine to hop over with all the extra dosh we’ll have from living at the Aviva & Croke next season…??? 🤑🤑🤑
3 Go to commentsWow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
3 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
14 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
3 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
2 Go to commentsHe seems to have the same aura as Marcus Smith - by which I mean he’s consistently judged as if he’s several years younger than he actually is. Mngomezulu has played 24 times for the Stormers. When Pollard was his age he had played 24 times for South Africa! He has more time to develop, but he has also had time to do some developing already, and he hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much talent in that time as one would expect. If he is a generational talent, then it must be a pretty poor generation.
4 Go to commentsThe greatest Springbok coach of all time is entirely on the money. Rassie and Jacques have given the south african public a great few years, but the success of the springbok selection policy will need to be judged in light of what comes next. The poor condition that the provincial system is currently in doesn’t bode well for the next few years of international rugby, and the insane 2026 schedule that the Boks have lined up could also really harm both provincial and international consistency.
22 Go to commentsJake White is a brilliant coach and a master in the press. This is another masterclass in media relations and PR but its also a very narrow view with arguments that dont always hold water. White wants his team to win, he wants the best players in SA and wants his team competitive. You however have to face up to the reality of a poor exchange rate and big clubs with big budgets. SA Rugby cant compete and unless it can find more money SA players will keep leaving regardless of Springbok eligibility and this happened in 2015 - 2017. Also rugby is not cricket. Cricket has 3 formats and T20 cricket is where the money is at. When it comes to club vs country the IPL is king but that wont happen because the international calendar does not clash with the club calendar in rugby. So the argument about rugby going down the same path as cricket is really a non-starter
22 Go to commentsNZ rugby seem not to have learnt anything from professional rugby. Super rugby was dying and SA left before they died with the competition. SA rugby did a u turn on their approach to international players playing overseas and such players are now selected for Bok teams. As much as each country would love to retain their players playing in local competitions, this is the way the world is evolving my friends. Move with it or stay 20 years behind the times. One more thing. NZ rugby hierarchy think they are the big cheese. Take a more humble approach guys. You do not seem to have your players best interests at heart.
3 Go to commentsBeaches? In Cardiff? Where?
1 Go to commentsHe is right , the Crusaders will be a threat. Scott Barrett, ( particularly), Fergus Burke , Codie Taylor, ( from sabbatical) etc due back soon for the Crusaders. There are others like Zach Gallagher too. People can right the Crusaders off, Top 8 , here we come !!
1 Go to commentsWe will always struggle for money to match the other sides but the least the WRU can do is invest properly in Welsh rugby. Too much has been squandered on vanity projects like the hotel and roof walk amongst others which will never see a massive return. Hanging the 4 pro sides out to dry over the last decade is now coming back to bite the WRU financially as well as on the pitch. You reap what you sow.
1 Go to commentsWhat do you get if you cross a doctor with a fish? A plastic sturgeon
14 Go to commentsWhat happened to feleti Kaitu’u? Hasnt played in a while right?
1 Go to commentsGregor I just can’t agree with you. You are trying to find something that just isn’t there. Jordie Barrett has signed until 2028. By the end of that he would have spent probably 11-12 years on Super Rugby and you say he can’t possibly have one season playing somewhere else. It is absurd. What about this scenario, the NZR play hard ball and he decides to leave and play overseas. How would that affect the competition. There seems to be an agenda by certain journalists to push certain agendas and don’t like it when it’s not to their liking. I fully support the NZR on this. Gregor needs to get a life.
3 Go to commentsHope he stays as believe he can do a great job.
1 Go to comments