Ilona Maher Is Adjusting to Rugby Life in England and a Newly Broken Nose: 'I Want to Be the Best Player' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Photo:Cameron Spencer/Getty

Cameron Spencer/Getty

The injury came during Maher’s debut in the starting lineup with the Bristol Bears on Saturday, Jan. 18. After colliding with three defenders on the pitch at Ashton Gate, the athlete left the game early, later calling the injury “just a little knock.”

Four days later, the social media star gamely jumped on a Zoom with PEOPLE — video on, and all.

“Give it a little bit more time to rest, but then I’ll be back out there,” she smiles, while sporting significant bruising across her face.

The Vermont native knows something about putting herself out there.

Quaker

“I think it’s just good to get back into 15s because I’ve been playing Sevens for six years, so I wanted to go somewhere where I can really immerse myself and really see the game in that way and feel it out,” she says. “Because if I want to pursue this World Cup thing, I want to be the best player that Team USA needs or that they deserve.”

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Maher adds that there are “many more moving parts in 15s” and that strategy is paramount, while “Sevens is a lot about fitness and those one-on-one battles.”

As she adjusts to a new type of play, she’s also paying more attention to her nutrition, and teaming up with Quaker Oats.

“It’s just the simplicity of that, knowing what you’re eating,” Maher says about her past love for a quick microwaved bowl of oats. “But recently I’ve been into overnight oats. I found this recipe that the guy makes where I train. Freaking delicious, this thing. I was like, this is elevated.”

So far, fans have had an appetite to see Maher in action.

For her debut with the team on Jan. 5, organizershad to move the match from a smaller venue to Ashton Gate, where a crowd of 9,240 spectators took in the action against defending champion Gloucester-Hartpury.

In the meantime, the star can’t help but look back on an epic 2024 that saw herwinning a medal at the Paris Olympics,repeatedly going viral on social mediaandplacing second onDancing with the Stars. Is there anything Maher can’t do in 2025?

“I was so excited to have doneDancing with the Stars,” she tells PEOPLE. “It was very tough, but I also feel like that was great. I did it. What can I do next? What’s another thing that I could try? Another thing to check off and give a go? So it was amazing and I did so many cool things last year, but I am excited to try new things that I haven’t even thought of yet that do scare me in a way.”

“I can’t think of them now, but I know there’s so much,” she says jokingly. “EvenDWTSwas always a no no, no. And then now when it came to me, we agreed to it and it was a great decision for me.”

source: people.com