Candi Orsini (born 9 December 1956) is a former American

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player. She participated in the

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

, and

1998 Women's Rugby World Cup The 1998 Women's Rugby World Cup was the first world cup fully sanctioned by the International Rugby Board (IRB) and the third Women's Rugby World Cup in history. The tournament took place in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands and was the first women's ...

. After retiring, Orsini served as an assistant coach of the

United States women's national rugby union team The USA Women's National Team XVs is the senior national team for the United States in the 15-a-side version of rugby. The team was officially formed in 1987 and is nicknamed the Eagles. An international powerhouse during the 1990s— the Eag ...

. She received an honourable mention to the list of the ten greatest North American Women rugby union players.

Biography

A native of

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Orsini attended

Boca Ciega High School Boca Ciega High School (BCHS), commonly referred to as Bogie by students, staff, and county residents, is an American four-year public high school in Gulfport, Florida, just south of the St. Petersburg city line, and is part of the Pinellas County ...

Gulfport, Florida Gulfport is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States, bordering St. Petersburg, South Pasadena, and Boca Ciega Bay. The population of Gulfport was 12,029 at the 2010 census. Gulfport is part of the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater me ...

. She participated in swimming, bowling, golf and track during her High School years. She graduated from Boca Ciega High School in 1974 and then attended

St. Petersburg College St. Petersburg College (SPC) is a public college in Pinellas County, Florida. It is part of the Florida College System and one of the institutions in the system designated a "state college," as it offers a greater number of bachelor's degrees th ...

before she went to

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the st ...

. While at Florida State she competed in volleyball, softball and rugby union. Outside of rugby Orsini is an accomplished

stuntwoman A stunt performer, often called a stuntman or stuntwoman and occasionally stuntperson or stunt-person, is a trained professional who performs daring acts, often as a career. Stunt performers usually appear in films or on television, as opposed ...

. Orsini made her debut for the

Eagles Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

on 14 November 1987 against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It was a historic game in that it was the first women's test match played outside of Europe. In 2017 Orsini and the 1991 World Cup squad were inducted into the United States Rugby Hall of Fame.

References

External links

* Living people United States women's international rugby union players American female rugby union players 21st-century American women 1956 births Sportspeople from St. Petersburg, Florida Rugby union players from Florida {{US-rugbyunion-bio-stub