Ada Milby (; born July 6, 1983) is a Filipino rugby player who plays for the Philippine national women's team. She is also the first female member of the World Rugby Council. Ada is the first woman to be appointed to the World Rugby Council, in 2017 she serves on the Regions Committee and Rugby Committee; and she is also a member of the Asia Rugby EXCO since 2016. She heads the Women Advisory Committee and serves on the Admin and Finance Committee. She is now also the President of Philippine Rugby Football Union, being on the board since 2013.

Early life and education

Milby was born to an American father and a Filipino mother in

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, south-west of Çan ...

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

in the United States. Ada Milby has a younger brother

Sam Milby Samuel Lloyd Milby (; born May 23, 1984) is a Filipino-American actor, musician, guitarist, model, recording artist, and businessman. In 2005, Milby decided to seriously pursue a career in show business and modeling. Biography Samuel Lloyd Milb ...

who would later be an actor in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. She grew up in Tipp City in

where she attended high school. In high school she played

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

for the boys' team of her school as a left half back or safety. She described the experience as "unwelcoming". She only stayed in the team for a year due to gender discrimination she encountered from her own male teammates. Prior to playing American football she was a competitive

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are m ...

for 12 years. She attended the

DeVry University DeVry University () is a private for-profit university with its headquarters in Naperville, Illinois. It was founded in 1931 by Herman A. DeVry and is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. DeVry is predominantly an online educator bu ...

for her college studies. It was on her first year of college when she decided to take up rugby when she encountered a booth of girls recruiting rugby players at the

Wright State University Wright State University is a public research university in Fairborn, Ohio. Originally opened in 1964 as a branch campus of Miami University and Ohio State University, it became an independent institution in 1967 and was named in honor of aviatio ...

. She graduated from DeVry with a degree in "Business Management, Klemmer & Associates in Leadership". After graduating from Devry, Milby entered the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, c ...

in 2005 and was stationed in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

for a year. She held the rank of staff sergeant. In Iraq, she served in a 500-personnel battalion, with only 25 women. She would later come to the Philippines in 2011 to reside with her brother who had settled in the country.

Playing career

Milby made her international debut for the Philippines in 2012 and was designated captain of the rugby union team later that year. She also captained the sevens side. She was part of the rugby sevens squad that competed at the Asian Women's Sevens Series in 2013. She has also competed at the

Southeast Asian Games The Southeast Asian Games, also known as the SEA Games, is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with supe ...

having competed at the 2015 Southeast Asian Games where she helped the team secure a bronze medal, the

2017 Southeast Asian Games Seventeen or 17 may refer to: * 17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18 * one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017 Literature Magazines * ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine * ''Seventeen'' (Japanese ...

., and reclaimed the podium in the 2019 Southeast Asia Games with a silver medal finish.

Rugby administration

Milby is involved with the Philippine Rugby Football Union having served as its Secretary General. In 2013, he was the head of development for grassroots rugby in the country, launching the "Get Into Rugby" program in the same year. This led to her nomination as a member of the Philippine Rugby board of directors. She then became a member of the Asia Rugby Executive Committee and the Women's Rugby Chairperson of the continental body. The World Rugby Council decided in 2017 to allow for 17 new members provided that all of them would be women.

Asia Rugby Asia Rugby, formerly the Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU), is the governing body of rugby union in Asia under the authority of World Rugby. Founded in 1968 by eight charter nations, the Union today has 36 member unions in countries across Asia, ...

was the first one to respond to the move of the global body naming Milby as the first woman member of the World Rugby Council in mid-November 2017. In 2020, she was named to ''Rugby World Magazines list of Top 50 Most Influential People in Rugby. Milby was elected as the President of the Philippine Rugby Football Union on December 15 2020, succeeding Rick Santos.

Personal life

As of 2017, Milby has two daughters with the younger born in 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Milby, Ada 1983 births Living people United States Army personnel of the Iraq War Female United States Army personnel Female rugby union players Female rugby sevens players DeVry University alumni SEA Games bronze medalists for the Philippines SEA Games medalists in rugby union Competitors at the 2017 SEA Games Filipino sports executives and administrators United States Army non-commissioned officers