Ahmad Kamal Harajly (born 20 January 1994) is an American

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

center, fullback and

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

international. Harajly played for the U.S. national rugby sevens team Wellington, New Zealand tour as an

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recruitment standout in January 2015. Soon after the Wellington, New Zealand HSBC tour Harajly was then sent to Las Vegas, Nevada where he captained the

USA Falcons The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

. He was also a part of the United States national team select tour to Uruguay in 2016. He has played for Ohio Aviators in the US PRO Rugby competition. Ahmad joined the

Major League Rugby Major League Rugby (MLR) is a professional rugby union competition in the United States. The league comprises 11 teams. While operating outside of the governance and oversight of the national governing body, the league is officially sanctioned ...

on a short-term contract playing with

New England Free Jacks The New England Free Jacks are an American professional rugby union team based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Rugby (MLR). They were announced in September 2018 and began to compete professionally in October 2018. They co ...

having started at the outside center position in the Cara Cup against

Connacht Rugby Connacht Rugby is one of the four professional provincial men's rugby union, rugby teams from the island of Ireland. Connacht competes in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the IRFU Connacht B ...

Ulster Rugby Ulster Rugby is one of the four professional provincial rugby union teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the Irish regional pool of the United Rugby Championship and in the European Rugby Champions Cup, each of which they have won ...

Munster Rugby Munster Rugby () is one of the professional provincial rugby union, rugby teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the Irish Rugby Football Union, ...

and

Leinster Rugby Leinster Rugby () is one of the four professional provincial club rugby union teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the Leinster Branch, one of t ...

. Harajly has most recently re-signed with

for the 2020 season. Harajly began playing rugby in high school in suburban Detroit for the Dearborn Silverbacks, and then played club rugby with the Division I Detroit Tradesmen."A Look at the New Guy, Ahmad Harajly"
Rugby Today, Pat Clifton, February 3, 2015.

Early life

Harajly was born in

Dearborn, Michigan Dearborn is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring Metro Detroit, suburb of Detroit, Dearborn borders Detroit to the south and west, roughly west of downtown Detroit. In the 2020 United States ...

to parents Hanadi and Kamal Harajly. He grew up on the East end of the city, with his 3 siblings. He attended Maples, Stout, and Dearborn High School all a part of the Dearborn Public Schools district. Harajly was raised in an American football dominated community, playing Street football (American) through his years along with organized athletics such as

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

, and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

at his local school sports teams. With his sporting background, Harajly's transition to

Rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

quickly excelled him to national recognition, capturing the attention of national selectors at the age of 20. After which he was selected to represent USA Rugby at the

Wellington, New Zealand Wellington is Capital of New Zealand, the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the List of cities in New Zealand, third-largest city ...

tour of the 2014–15 Sevens World Series.

Physical

As of 2016, Harajly could dead-lift 220 kg, squat 190 kg for 3 reps, bench-press 145 kg for 3 reps and do pull-ups with a 40 kg weight between his legs. Having a body-fat percentage of 7.5%

Rugby league

On 10 October 2019 Harajly was named in the

squad for the

2019 Rugby League World Cup 9s The 2019 Rugby League World Cup 9s was the first staging of the Rugby League World Cup 9s tournament and took place on 18 and 19 October 2019 at Sydney's Bankwest Stadium. The tournament featured teams from 12 International Rugby League membe ...

, due to both his parents originating from Lebanon;. During the

Harajly helped

achieve shocking victories against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

scoring 6 points total and being an X factor under the high ball in both games. Harajly sustained a shoulder injury towards the end of the England clash that left him out of the final pool match vs

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

failed to close out its pool with a loss to

. With a 2-1 pool B record

was eliminated due to point differential, with

advancing to the knockout round;.

References

https://www.usarugby.org/match/25527-usa-eagles-v-canada-a/#Vgw10QPFOCddYmM6.97

External links

Usarugby.orgRugbytoday.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harajly, Ahmad 1994 births Living people American people of Lebanese descent American rugby league players Lebanon national rugby league team players New England Free Jacks players Ohio Aviators players Rugby league players from Michigan Rugby union players from Michigan Sportspeople from Dearborn, Michigan Sportspeople of Lebanese descent