EMBA Cheta

General
MISSING OUT ON RIO
Within a year of taking up rugby she was invited to take part in a USA Sevens training camp in January 2015. She was invited to additional camps later in the year, but wanted to focus on finishing her degree at Harvard University. "It was a priority for me to graduate that spring [2015]. I took the time to focus on doing that and I didn't go to [rugby] camps for the last couple months of the school year. Academics are a priority for me, so I told myself I'd see that through and then go full force after rugby." But despite making the US rugby union [15-a-side] team in 2015, she was left out of the roster for the US women's sevens team at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. "I was pretty devastated. But I made the decision right then and there to stay true to who I was. I could have just been upset and quit, but I still had the opportunity to train and be with the team and to get the most of the ability to train with the best players and grow my game." She said she used the disappointment of missing out on Rio as motivation, and went on to make her sevens debut for the US team in December 2016 at the Dubai Sevens Series. (thescrum.aedelhard.com, 11 Apr 2020)