Kelly Griffin (born November 7, 1986) is an American rugby sevens player and Olympian. As a member of the

United States women's national rugby sevens team The United States women's national rugby sevens team competes in international rugby sevens competitions. The team finished second at the 2015 USA Women's Sevens, after defeating Russia in the semifinals. They competed at the 2016 Summer Olympi ...

, she won a bronze medal at the

2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens The 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens was the sixth edition of the Rugby World Cup Sevens. The tournament was held at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia. New Zealand won the tournament, defeating England 33–0 in the final. Attendance for the tourname ...

, and a silver medal at the

2015 Pan American Games Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music *Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak alb ...

. She was also captain of the United States Women's Rugby Sevens team for the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

Early life and high school

Kelly Griffin was born and raised in Berkeley, California and played soccer and basketball starting at the age of 6. She attended Berkeley High School in Berkeley, California, where she played basketball for coach Gene Nakamura, who called Griffin's 2003 team the group he was "most fond of" from his 24 seasons as head coach.

Collegiate rugby

Griffin moved from Berkeley to Los Angeles to attend

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

in 2004, and her freshman she year joined the UCLA Women's Club Rugby team, known as the UCLA Bruin Rangers. She helped lead UCLA to several national playoff appearances, and was named a USA Rugby AIG Women’s Collegiate All-American in 2007 and 2008. Additionally she was selected for the USA Rugby Under-23 team in 2006 and 2007.

Women's Premier League

After graduating from

with an applied math degree in 2008, Griffin returned to the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

and joined the Berkeley All Blues Women's Rugby Club. During the 2011 season of the Women's Premier League, Griffin won the 7s National Championship with the All Blues and was named tournament Most Valued Player. The All Blues also won the 2011 Women's Premier League Championship, with Griffin leading the league in tries scored. Additionally, Griffin won the 2011 Women's All-Star National Championship with Pacific Coast team, rounding out her three championships in a six-month period.

USA Rugby Eagles Women's Sevens

In early 2012, Griffin signed a full-time training contract with

USA Rugby USA Rugby (officially the United States of America Rugby Football Union, Ltd.) is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United States. Its role is to achieve and maintain “high levels of quality in all aspects of rugb ...

, and along with 7 other women, became the first professional female rugby players in the United States. Griffin moved to Chula Vista, California to train at the

Olympic Training Center The United States Olympic & Paralympic Training Centers (OPTCs) are two campuses created by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) as training facilities for its Olympic and Paralympic athletes. They are located in Colorado Spri ...

with the rest of the contracted 7s players. From 2011/2012 on, Griffin has played in the

World Rugby Women's Sevens Series The World Rugby Women's Sevens Series, is a series of international rugby sevens tournaments for women's national teams run by World Rugby. The inaugural series was held in 2012–13 as the successor to the IRB Women's Sevens Challenge Cup held ...

, captaining the USA team for several tournaments. Additionally, going into the

, Griffin leads the country in appearances on the World Sevens Series Circuit, and is the only athlete of the "original eight" to have remained in residency throughout the four-year lead up to the 2016 Olympics. In addition to the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series, Griffin competed with the USA Eagles Sevens at the

. After an undefeated campaign in pool play, the USA went on to claim the bronze medal by beating Spain in sudden death overtime 10-5 in the 3rd place match. In June 2015, Griffin was selected as captain of the USA Women's Sevens team for the North American and Caribbean Rugby Association Championship, which also served as an Olympic qualifying tournament. The USA would win the NACRA gold medal, and also qualify for the 2016 Rio Summer Olympicss by beating Mexico in the Championship game, 88-0 . In July 2015, Griffin competed as part of Team USA at the

in Toronto. The United States women's 7s team lost to Canada in the gold medal match, leaving the tournament with silver. On July 18, 2016, Griffin was named as captain of the USA Women's Olympic Rugby Team, which competed in the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, the inaugural Olympiad to include women's rugby.

Competitive History with the USA Eagles Women's Sevens

World Rugby Women's Sevens Series

* 2011/2012 IRB Women's Sevens Challenge Cup (Precursor to the Women's Sevens Series) * 2012/2013 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series (USA: Finished 4th) * 2013/2014 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series (USA: Finished 7th) * 2014/2015 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series (USA: Finished 5th) * 2015/2016 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series (USA: Finished 6th)

Rugby World Cup Sevens

(USA: Bronze Medal)

NACRA Women's Sevens Championship

* 2015 NACRA Championship, 2016 Olympic Qualifying Event (USA: Gold Medal)

Pan America Games

(USA: Silver Medal)

Olympic Games

(USA: 5th)

References

External links

Kelly Griffin
at

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Griffin, Kelly 1986 births Living people United States international rugby sevens players American female rugby union players American female rugby sevens players Female rugby sevens players Olympic rugby sevens players of the United States Rugby sevens players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States Pan American Games medalists in rugby sevens Rugby sevens players at the 2015 Pan American Games UCLA Bruins athletes University of California, Los Angeles alumni Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games 21st-century American women