Jillion Paige Potter (born July 5, 1986) is an American

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

player. She was the captain of the 2016 USA Olympic women's rugby sevens team.

Childhood

Jillion Potter

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

to parents Scott Potter and Vikki Vranich. She has a twin brother Paul Thomas Potter and older sister Molly Potter Grosskopf.

Rugby career

Potter has played for over a decade including the 2013 Women’s Rugby Sevens World Cup, 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup and 2016 Olympics. She was a recipient of the inaugural Leadership Development Scholarship alongside Ada Milby (Philippines), Samantha Feausi (Hong Kong), Maha Zaoui (Tunisia), Rolande Boro (Burkina Faso), Dr. Araba "Roo" Chintoh (Canada), and

Maria Thomas Roberta Worrick (born Roberta Thomas; July 6, 1941 – August 7, 1989), better known by her pen name Maria Thomas, was an American writer who published a novel, short stories, and essays. Much of her writing was set in, or was about, various cou ...

(Trinidad and Tobago). She began her rugby career at the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25, ...

. In 2019, she was on the first panel to determine the

World Rugby World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rug ...

women's-15s player-of-the-year award with

Melodie Robinson Melodie Robinson (born 25 May 1973) is a New Zealand sports journalist and presenter, and former international rugby union player for the New Zealand women's national rugby union team. She played 18 tests for the New Zealand women's team, the Bla ...

, Danielle Waterman,

Will Greenwood William John Heaton Greenwood, MBE (born 20 October 1972) is an English former rugby union player who played for Leicester Tigers and Harlequins and was a member of England's 2003 World Cup-winning team and the 1997 British & Irish Lions. He ...

, Liza Burgess, Lynne Cantwell,

Fiona Coghlan Fiona Coghlan (born March 3, 1981) is a former Ireland women's rugby union international. Coghlan represented Ireland at the 2006, 2010 and 2014 Women's Rugby World Cups. She also captained the Ireland team that won the 2013 Women's Six Natio ...

, Gaëlle Mignot, Stephen Jones, and

Karl Te Nana Karl Solomon Te Nana (born 15 July 1975) is a New Zealand former rugby union and rugby league footballer, and currently works in broadcasting as a rugby commentator. A professional rugby union player, Te Nana won a gold medal as part of the Ne ...

Personal life

She met her wife Carol Fabrizio in 2011, through rugby. She loves flossing her teeth and has her wife carry dental floss with her everywhere. Potter was diagnosed with stage 3 Synovial Sarcoma cancer in 2014 and has since recovered.

References

External links

Jillion Potter
at

USA Rugby USA Rugby (officially the United States of America Rugby Football Union, Ltd.) is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United States. Its role is to achieve and maintain “high levels of quality in all aspects of rugb ...

* * * * 1986 births Living people Female rugby sevens players American female rugby sevens players United States international rugby sevens players Olympic rugby sevens players for the United States Rugby sevens players at the 2016 Summer Olympics LGBT people from Texas American LGBT sportspeople Lesbian sportswomen LGBT rugby union players Sportspeople from Austin, Texas University of New Mexico alumni New Mexico Lobos athletes Rugby union players from Texas La Cueva High School alumni {{US-rugbyunion-bio-stub