How Team USA Rugby Star Ilona Maher Stays Strong

When you’ve come throughout 27-year-old Group USA Rugby star Ilona Maher’s TikTok movies, you know the way charming she might be. Contemplating her web page has over 1.1 million followers and 87.7 million likes, there is a good probability you have come throughout a video or two in case you’re on the platform. In reality, after I shared that I would just lately interviewed Maher to a buddy, she gushed: I like her TikToks. 

“If you wish to make a profession out of rugby or if you wish to make sufficient cash as an expert athlete in rugby, it’s a must to have a social media presence. I deal with it as a second job, if not proper up there with my first job of being an athlete. As a result of on the spot we’re as a sport and a ladies’s sport, I am not going to get an excessive amount of of a livable revenue with simply rugby,” she advised me about why she’s made social media a precedence.

Ilona Maher: I do not really feel dangerous about consuming. I have been coaching my thoughts and coaching myself to [get to that mindset]. Even being an expert athlete—however I believe all ladies expertise this—we take care of consuming and our our bodies. For me, it has been actually releasing to study what meals it takes to be at my prime efficiency. The meals really feel good after I know I would like this meals to gasoline myself. 

I am extra about perform versus type. As a result of proper now I am speculated to be massive. I am speculated to be highly effective. And I am utilizing these meals to do it. 

However my favourite meals must be those that my mother makes. It is homey. It is what I grew up on. It is what sort of made me into the athlete I’m at this time. 

Maher: It is attention-grabbing as a result of I strive to not let rugby management my thoughts the entire time. When individuals are like, “Oh, how do you do social media with the rugby?” Nevertheless it’s truly about discovering that stability as a result of if I used to be occupied with rugby on a regular basis, it could be rather a lot. I believe generally it may be a pleasant escape. 

However to get into the sport, earlier than it begins, I do must amp myself up. It is such a tough sport. I really feel so drained continuously. I am getting beat up on the market. And we play in these sizzling locations.

I say to myself earlier than I am about to expire, “If it have been straightforward, everyone would do it. This can be a very onerous sport, and I am so honored that I can do it.” It type of places it into perspective after I’m drained. 

Maher: I do not know if that is actually intense, however warmth coaching. We play in such sizzling environments generally—like Singapore; Hong Kong; Perth, Australia, throughout warmth waves, and as excessive as 114 levels—so we get into warmth acclimation. Getting ready your self to have the ability to carry out in that surroundings begins again dwelling. So even now I do warmth acclimation simply to arrange myself for summer time in Paris. 

Maher: That is been one thing I’ve positively been studying, like continuously. It by no means will get simpler, however you learn to take care of it higher in a means. Within the final Olympics, we misplaced, and that was very onerous, however I have been studying find out how to play it to my benefit.

After we lose, one factor I give attention to is connecting with my teammates.

As a result of a variety of instances individuals put issues on themselves like, “Oh, I knocked that ball on,” or “I missed that sort out that led to [the loss].” It is vital to do not forget that nobody second loses a recreation for us. We’ve so many moments all through a recreation, and it is by no means that one second. Like, yeah, perhaps somebody missed that sort out, however what about earlier within the recreation after I missed it? 

Maher: I believe what’s enjoyable about being on a group is having these totally different personalities round you. You want the individual who’s going to go quiet and needs to get of their head earlier than a recreation. Or myself earlier than a recreation, I am loud, I need to dance, and I need to join with individuals. So it is vital to acknowledge there are such a lot of totally different teammates and personalities that make up a group—and that is what makes a group particular. You don’t need all the identical athletes on the market. 

Being teammate can also be about serving to others stand up as effectively. For instance, what I have been attempting to do on social media has been for myself, nevertheless it’s additionally been for my teammates. I attempt to deliver them into any video I can or encourage them to put up. 

Maher: I’ve nearly needed to discover a stability. If you wish to make a profession out of rugby or if you wish to make sufficient cash as an expert athlete in rugby, it’s a must to have a social media presence. I deal with it as a second job, if not proper up there with my first job of being an athlete. As a result of on the spot we’re as a sport and a ladies’s sport, I am not going to get an excessive amount of of a livable revenue with simply rugby. 

I do receives a commission for rugby, and it is superb that I’ve that chance for me within the U.S. However all of us need to make more cash, and all of us need to get sponsored. And after the [Tokyo] Olympics, I noticed, Oh that is how I can try this. I’ve to make use of this device to my benefit. 

My teammates and I speak about this on a regular basis, “I need to make more cash,” or “I need to get sponsors,” and the factor is: You need to put up. It is a very weak state, however it’s a must to put your self on the market. It is scary generally, however I view it as That is how I make this profession sustainable. 

Maher: Nicely, I believe the very first thing is that rugby is simply a males’s sport—that it’s so bodily, it isn’t meant for girls and it’s a must to be a person to play it. And to play rugby as a lady, there’s this concept that it’s a must to nearly reject your femininity and go on the market and be a masculine model of your self.

And for lots of sports activities, that stops women from taking part in. As a result of they will assume, I do not need individuals to consider me this fashion or I do not need to threat my femininity or how lovely I really feel. 

These misconceptions cease individuals from taking part in sports activities. They cease individuals from actually understanding what their physique’s able to. Sports activities give your physique a goal that is not simply to be checked out and objectified. I believe sports activities offer you an appreciation on your physique. 

I believe for me, being that rugby athlete within the limelight, I need to present that I might be this very massive, highly effective individual, however I can even put on lipstick on the sector to indicate you can deliver your femininity on the sector too. I do know that in our seventh circuit now, we’ve got a variety of women who placed on a full face of make-up and who need to go on the market and be fairly. I like that as a result of I do not assume it’s a must to sacrifice that to play this historically very “manly” sport. 

Maher: I have been utilizing Medalist, which is a brand new model that is by athletes for athletes. We have been testing out the merchandise—like No Fric Stick Anti Chafe + Cooling Balm—which I take advantage of on and off the sector. It has been actually useful for my pregame, pre-practice, and after-practice routine.