AUSTIN, Texas - Some athletes are just destined to play rugby. For others, their passion for the sport is born of coincidence. That was the case for Premiere Ruby Sevens player Madison Hovren, because prior to her debut on the pitch, she was lacing up on the hardwood.
As toddlers, some are learning to run. Hovren was learning to dribble.
“I actually played basketball for 19 years. I started when I was 3 years old, and then I was recruited by West Point for basketball,” she said.
Hovren committed to Army after a promising high school career, but when she reached her senior year, she had to make an important life decision.
“West Point had a rule that you had to serve two years before you could play a professional sport,” Hovren said.
Not wanting to put her athletic career on pause, Hovren found a loophole. The Army’s World Class Athlete Program, or WCAP, would allow her to continue competing during her service – as long as she was on a U.S. national team. The problem was basketball wasn’t on the list of eligible sports.
“I went to the WNBA combine just to get some interest from the WNBA, but USA Rugby was there recruiting for crossover athletes, so they invited me out to a camp field, their training center,” said Hovren.
And the rest was history. Setting aside 19 years of basketball for a new sport came with a learning curve, but she wasn’t starting from scratch.
“I mean, it’s such a different sport, but there’s so many things that carry over from the aerial stuff, the jumping and just a lot of the footwork. So it was a whole new sport to learn, but so much stuff carried over and I’m really enjoying it. It’s a really exciting sport,” she said.
Hovren’s coach and former USA Rugby captain Kelly Griffin also made the same transition from the hardwood to the pitch. She agrees those skills helped her make the change smoothly.
“It’s not that uncommon and there’s a lot of transferable skills, like the hand-eye coordination, the seeing the angles, seeing the space, being able to run, especially her being a forward and post player, having that natural physicality. I think it’s a really good fit for her,” said Griffin.
In fact, having a background on the court has been beneficial to Hovren on the field.
“Using her size, using her footwork, really also just in the off-field stuff, the culture piece, she’s super coachable. She really fits in with the team and I think we’ve created a really strong culture and she’s been an important part of that,” said Griffin.
Hovren knew deep down that making the switch would be the right decision.
“It was definitely crazy to kind of shift gears from playing basketball, after almost 20 years of playing it, to playing rugby, but I saw this exciting opportunity with rugby, and I was like, you know what? Imma try something new. There’s always basketball if it doesn’t work out. But for now, I gotta trust my gut and challenge myself with this new sport," said Hovren.
Playing for the first women’s professional rugby league in North America was just the cherry on top to the start of her rugby journey.
“[It’s] so cool to be a part of. Just to be at the same playing level as the men. I’m just so honored to be here and honestly, the atmosphere is so exciting, so high up and just like a party, so everybody works hard but they have fun doing it, and so I’m honestly just honored to be here and it’s been such a great time,” said Hovren.
With dreams of making the USA national rugby team, Hovren continues to inspire peer and future athletes who want to try something new.
“Just go for it. If you have a feeling like this could be a really good opportunity, you just gotta take the leap, even if you’re kind of leaving something behind that you’ve known for so long. At the end of the day, you just gotta go for it. You can always fall back on the other thing, but you gotta give it a shot,” she said.
