Kisi Keomaka "Maka" Unufe (born September 28, 1991) 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 ...

player. He has played over a decade with the

United States national rugby sevens team The United States national rugby sevens team competes in international rugby sevens competitions. The national sevens team is organized by USA Rugby, and was led by Head Coach Mike Friday from 2014-2024, when he resigned and was replaced b ...

. He also played for the

Houston SaberCats The Houston SaberCats are an American professional rugby union team based in Houston, Texas, that competes in Major League Rugby (MLR). The team was founded in 2017. The SaberCats organization was born from one of the founding amateur rugby clubs ...

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 ...

(MLR) as a center.

Early years

Unufe is from

Provo, Utah Provo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Utah County, Utah, United States. It is south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front, and lies between the cities of Orem, Utah, Orem to the north and Springville, Utah, Springville to the south ...

, United States. Unufe previously played

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

as a wide receiver at

Provo High School Provo High School is a public secondary school located in Provo, Utah, United States. It is one of three high schools in the Provo City School District and was the oldest secondary school in the city. In the Summer of 2017 the school district be ...

. Unufe starred for the

Utah Warriors The Utah Warriors are an American professional rugby union team based in Herriman, Utah, that competes in Major League Rugby (MLR). The team was founded in 2010 as the Utah Warriors of the Rugby Super League and re-founded in 2017 by Rugby Ut ...

at the Club 7s Nationals in August 2011, earning a nomination to the All-Tournament team. He was then selected to play at the National All-Star Championships.

Club career

Unufe signed with the Houston SaberCats for the 2022 Major League Rugby season.

U.S. national rugby sevens team

Although only 19 years old at the time, Unufe made his international debut with the United States national team playing as a wing in the

2011 Pan American games The 2011 Pan American Games, officially the XVI Pan American Games () and commonly known as Guadalajara 2011, were an international multi-sport event held from October 14–30, 2011, in Guadalajara, Mexico. Some events were held in the nearby c ...

against Chile in October 2011, scoring a try in his first game. He was the team's top try scorer at the Pan Am games with 5 tries, helping the U.S. national team win a Bronze medal. Following the tournament, U.S. national team head coach

Al Caravelli Al Caravelli (born 1959 or 1960 in Queens, New York) is head coach of the Philippines national rugby sevens team. He was head coach of the United States national rugby sevens team from 2006 until 2012. Caravelli inherited a team that was on a 30 ...

described Unufe as "phenomenal" and "a star in the making." In recognition of Unufe's rapid rise, Rugby Mag named Unufe the 2011 Men's Breakout Player of the Year, and This Is American Rugby named Unufe the 2011 Youth Player of the Year. Unufe made his

Sevens World Series The SVNS, known as the HSBC SVNS for sponsorship reasons, is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as the IRB Wor ...

debut at the

2012 Wellington Sevens The 2012 Wellington Sevens was part of the 2011–12 IRB Sevens World Series and was the 13th edition of the tournament, hosted at Wellington, New Zealand's Westpac Stadium. New Zealand won the title by defeating Fiji 24–7 in the final. Format ...

. With the arrival of speedsters

Carlin Isles Carlin Isles (born November 21, 1989) is an American rugby union player who plays for the United States national rugby sevens team. With 202 tries, Isles is second for the United States in career tries scored, behind teammate Perry Baker. Isl ...

and

Perry Baker Perry Baker (born June 29, 1986) is an American former rugby union player who played for the United States national rugby sevens team. He is a two-time World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year. At the time of his retirement, with 293 tries Baker r ...

, Unufe was moved to center."INJURIES BREED OPPORTUNITY AS EAGLES LIMP TO NEW ZEALAND"
, Rugby Today, Pat Clifton, January 30, 2018. Unufe was named to World Rugby's Dream Team for the

2015 Wellington Sevens The 2015 Wellington Sevens is the 16th edition of the tournament as part of the 2014–15 Sevens World Series. It is hosted in Wellington, New Zealand, at the Westpac Stadium. Format The teams are divided into pools of four teams, who play a roun ...

tournament, due to his "strong defensive plays and hard runs." Unufe played for the U.S. at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where the U.S. finished in ninth place. Unufe was a key piece of the U.S. comeback at the 2017 USA Sevens from a 0–19 deficit against Argentina to win 21–19. Unufe missed the entire 2018–19 season due to a suspension for a banned substance that had been contained in a diet supplement he had taken. Unufe competed for the United States at the

2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens The 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens was the eighth and final edition of the Rugby World Cup Sevens organised by World Rugby. The 2022 tournament, comprising 24 men's and 16 women's teams as previously, was played over three days in one venue in Sep ...

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

. He competed for the

United States 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 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

at the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

References

External links

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Maka Unufe
at

USA Rugby USA Rugby (formally 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 rugby ...

archive June 16, 2021
* * *
Maka Unufe
at the

Paris 2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Unufe, Maka 1991 births Living people Sportspeople from Provo, Utah United States international rugby sevens players Rugby sevens players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic rugby sevens players for the United States Rugby sevens players at the 2011 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States in rugby sevens Rugby union centres Houston SaberCats players American rugby sevens players 21st-century African-American sportsmen African-American rugby union players Rugby union players from Utah Rugby sevens players at the 2024 Summer Olympics Provo High School alumni 21st-century American sportsmen

Early years

Club career

U.S. national rugby sevens team

See also

References

External links