Utah’s rising rugby star eyeing LA for 2028 Olympic Games

SALT LAKE CITY — As the Winter Games wrap up, many athletes are already getting ready for the subsequent Olympic highlight in Los Angeles 2028.

One such athlete is a rising rugby star from Utah who’s now coaching alongside a Utah Olympian.

Utah helped create the Olympic rugby second, and it is had a ripple impact all all through the nation.

Inspiration from Utah athletes

With an unforgettable end on the 2024 Paris Games, Alex “Spiff” Sedrick’s thrilling, last-minute strive gave Team USA its first ever rugby medal — a bronze. Nearly two years later, the Herriman High alum considers it a core reminiscence.

“It was really special,” Sedrick mentioned.

That second caught the eye of younger athletes throughout the nation, like Fane Tausinga from Salt Lake City.

“Spiff was a really big inspiration to a lot of us girls, especially the girls from Utah,” Tausinga mentioned.

Rugby coaching for the Olympics

It’s one factor to look at your heroes on TV, it is one other to coach with them. Now, Tausinga is coaching alongside Sedrick and Team USA’s elite in Chula Vista, California.

While taking part in in a match in New Zealand at age 16, she bought a uncommon rugby invitation. The coach invited her to coach with the Olympic squad.

“When I first got it, it was a big shock, but I was really excited for it,” Tausinga mentioned.

That drive is precisely what Sedrick noticed in her. And now, the 27-year-old is mentoring the subsequent technology as they construct towards LA 2028.

“When I see them come in, I see a lot of myself in them,” Sedrick mentioned. “Fane is all energy. She’s like a little Energizer bunny.”

That power has earned the 17-year-old a few nicknames.

“We got Kiddo, Kid and Playground. I like Playground,” Tausinga mentioned. “I feel like it expresses me very free and open.”

Balancing her targets

But behind the enjoyable is severe sacrifice. When she’s not on the sector in California, Tausinga is again within the classroom at Salt Lake’s East High School. She balances elite-level coaching with schoolwork, and dwelling away from household for weeks at a time.

“My first week, it really like hit me that like these girls are top level and like, it was just really hard, like their speed, their conditioning,” Tausinga mentioned.

But she saved pushing as a result of she has one final aim.

“My dream has always been to just play on the highest level and now being here I just want to work hard to like, be the best I can be and just keep on playing and hopefully one day go to the Olympics,” Tausinga mentioned.

It’s a dream Sedrick is aware of properly and one’s she’s chasing once more on U.S. soil.

“I will definitely be there. Whether or not it’s in cleats,” Sedrick mentioned. “But I think to have a home Olympics, especially growing up like nearby, I think it’s going to be so special to have hopefully a ton of home support.”

She mentioned Utah is a sleeper state with a lot extra expertise to find.

“I think that people kind of underestimate it because, you know, California has plenty of good athletes, Oregon Washington and plenty of good athletes,” Sedrick mentioned. “But Utah has some really good programs, some really good athletes.”

From the medal second in Paris to LA 2028, Utah isn’t solely watching Rugby rise, it is pushing it ahead.