Naya Elena Tapper (born August 3, 1994) is an 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 it ...

player. She debuted for the in 2016. She was selected for the squad to the

2017 Women's Rugby World Cup The 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup was the eighth edition of the Women's Rugby World Cup and was held in Ireland in August 2017. New Zealand became the 2017 champions by beating England 41–32 in the final on 26 August. Matches were held in Dub ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Like most of her teammates Tapper began her rugby career while attending her first year of college at the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

. She majored in Exercise and Sport Science with a minor in Spanish. She was an All-American athlete at

West Mecklenburg High School West Mecklenburg High School, colloquially known as West Meck, is a high school located in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. It is part of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School System and was opened in 1951. The sports teams are known as the ...

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

. Tapper made her rugby sevens debut at the 2016 São Paulo Women's Sevens. In the same year she was selected for the Eagles squad to compete at the Women's Rugby Super Series. Tapper was among 12 women rugby players selected to represent Team USA at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. She was selected to represent the United States at the

2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens The 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens was the eighth edition of the Rugby World Cup Sevens organised by World Rugby. The 2022 tournament, comprising 24 men's and 16 women's teams as previously, was played over three days in one venue in September. ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

References

External links

Naya Tapper
at

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 ru ...

* * * 1994 births Living people American female rugby union players United States women's international rugby union players American female rugby sevens players Pan American Games medalists in rugby sevens Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States Rugby sevens players at the 2019 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games Rugby sevens players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic rugby sevens players of the United States 21st-century American women {{US-rugbyunion-bio-stub