Jillion Paige Potter (born July 5, 1986) is an American rugby union player. She was the captain of the 2016 USA Olympic women's rugby sevens team.

Jillion Potter
Born
Jillion Paige Potter

(1986-06-05) June 5, 1986 (age 37)
EducationLa Cueva High School
Alma materUniversity of New Mexico
Height5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Weight174 lb (79 kg)
Rugby union career
Position(s) Flanker, Prop (7s)
National sevens team
Years Team Comps
2007–present United States 22 (285; 57t)

Childhood edit

Jillion Potter Austin, Texas to parents Scott Potter and Vikki Vranich. She has a twin brother Paul Thomas Potter and older sister Molly Potter Grosskopf.[1]

Rugby career edit

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.[2] 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 (Trinidad and Tobago).[3] She began her rugby career at the University of New Mexico.[4]

In 2019, she was on the first panel to determine the World Rugby women's-15s player-of-the-year award with Melodie Robinson, Danielle Waterman, Will Greenwood, Liza Burgess, Lynne Cantwell, Fiona Coghlan, Gaëlle Mignot, Stephen Jones, and Karl Te Nana.[5]

Personal life edit

She met her wife Carol Fabrizio in 2011, through rugby.[1] She loves flossing her teeth and has her wife carry dental floss with her everywhere.[6] Potter was diagnosed with stage 3 Synovial Sarcoma cancer in 2014 and has since recovered.[7][8][9]

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Jillion Potter". TeamUSA. Archived from the original on May 2, 2016. Retrieved August 8, 2016.
  2. ^ "WORLD RUGBY LEADERSHIP SCHOLARSHIPS DRIVE GENDER PARITY ON INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY." States News Service, March 7, 2018. Academic OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A530260070/AONE?u=yorku_main&sid=AONE&xid=6ba669a4. Accessed November 9, 2018.
  3. ^ "World Rugby leadership scholarships drive gender parity on International Women's Day". www.women.rugby. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
  4. ^ "Jillion Potter - USA Olympian, Cancer Survivor, UNM Alumnae and More". unmevents.unm.edu. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
  5. ^ worldrugby.org. "Stars join new-look World Rugby Awards panels". www.world.rugby. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
  6. ^ "Thanks to her wife, Jillion Potter can stop thinking about her teeth". February 13, 2016. Retrieved August 8, 2016.
  7. ^ "Jillion Potter: An inspiration on and off the field". worldrugby.org. Retrieved September 3, 2016.
  8. ^ Chris Borg; Dan Tham; Andy Stewart (July 20, 2016). "Jillion Potter: U.S. rugby's great survivor". CNN. Retrieved September 3, 2016.
  9. ^ Meyer, John (August 7, 2016). "Surviving a broken neck and cancer, Jillion Potter becomes an Olympian and part of history". The Denver Post. Retrieved September 3, 2016.

External links edit