Kelsie Thwaites ( ''née'' Wills; born 8 January 1993) is a New Zealand

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 previously represented New Zealand in Beach volleyball before switching to

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

Volleyball career

Thwaites completed an indoor volleyball scholarship in the United States, and played professionally in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. Thwaites and playing partner Shaunna Polley represented New Zealand at the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

. They were the nation's first women's beach volleyball team to compete at the Games. The pair won a bronze medal at the

Ulsan Ulsan (), officially the Ulsan Metropolitan City is South Korea's seventh-largest metropolitan city and the eighth-largest city overall, with a population of over 1.1 million inhabitants. It is located in the south-east of the country, neighboring ...

Open in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

on the

2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour The 2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour was the global elite professional beach volleyball circuit organized by the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) for the 2017 beach volleyball season. The 2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour ...

Rugby career

Thwaites made a switch to

in 2019. She made the Bay of Plenty Volcanix squad in her debut year for the

Farah Palmer Cup The Farah Palmer Cup (formerly known as Women's Provincial Championship until 2016), is the highest level domestic women's rugby union competition in New Zealand and is named after the former Black Ferns captain, Farah Palmer. This contest is hel ...

. She wore the black jersey for the first time in two non-test matches against the NZ Barbarians in 2020. She made her international debut for the

Black Ferns The New Zealand women's rugby union team, called the Black Ferns, represents New Zealand in women's international rugby union, which is regarded as the country's national sport. The team has won six out of nine Women's Rugby World Cup tournamen ...

against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

on 31 October 2021 at

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

. Thwaites was named in the

Chiefs Manawa The Chiefs Manawa (officially called the Waitomo Chiefs Manawa for sponsorship reasons) are a New Zealand women's professional rugby union team based in Hamilton, New Zealand that competes in the Super Rugby Aupiki competition. Chiefs Manawa won t ...

squad for the

2023 Super Rugby Aupiki season The 2023 Super Rugby Aupiki season was the second season of Super Rugby Aupiki (known as Sky Super Rugby Aupiki for sponsorship reasons), a professional women's rugby union club competition organised by New Zealand Rugby. The competition ran from 2 ...

References

External links

Black Ferns ProfileChiefs Manawa Profile
* * 1993 births Living people New Zealand women's international rugby union players New Zealand women's beach volleyball players Beach volleyball players at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for New Zealand New Zealand female rugby union players New Zealand women's volleyball players Place of birth missing (living people) {{volleyball-bio-stub