Kelly Griffin has added a place on the Gallagher High Performance Academy (GHPA) RWC 2025 to an impressive rugby CV, that already includes captaining her country at the Olympic Games and a Sevens Rugby World Cup bronze medal.
Kelly was one of the first players to be awarded a full-time contract by USA Rugby in 2012, which allowed her to train at the Olympic Training Centre in California and prepare for the Sevens Rugby World Cup 2013 in Moscow, where a 10-5 victory over Spain secured her a bronze medal.
A silver medal followed at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, where USA were beaten by the host nation in the Final of the Rugby Sevens competition. Kelly was then given the honour of captaining her country at the landmark 2016 Rio Olympics, where women’s rugby was included for the first time.
Kelly also won domestic medals – both team and individual – as a player and has now made the transition into coaching, with roles as Head Coach of women’s rugby at the University of California and Assistant Coach of USA Rugby’s Pathways Programme, for women’s Sevens and Under-18s 15-a-side rugby.
She will be sharing her knowledge and experience with other talented women coaches on the GHPA RWC 2025, and hopes to broaden her own skill base to help her achieve success in the latest phase of her rugby career.
“I am excited to come into the programme with curiosity, to learn as much as possible,” Kelly told World Rugby.
“I’m specifically looking forward to learning more about coaching 15s at a high performance level, as well as gaining experience, at a pinnacle event, from the staff - rather than from an athlete’s point of view.
“I look forward to pushing myself to grow my ‘soft’ skills in coaching, as well pushing my technical knowledge of the game.
“I’ve been so fortunate to have had a myriad of experiences, that will help me on my coaching journey. One is being coached and mentored by other coaches, who challenge me to continue pushing myself to improve every day.
“Having played at an elite level gives me direct knowledge about the level of commitment, mental skills, physical durability and rugby it takes to be a successful team.”
Kelly first took up rugby in her first year at the University of California, but only after she had realised she was unlikely to progress in two other sports.
“I was looking for a new team sport, as I was not good enough to play for the basketball or soccer teams at school. Rugby looked fun, so I went to an open practice and never looked back,” she said.
What started out as fun has since become a rewarding career, and with her desire to continue learning and improving, Kelly’s rugby journey is not over.
“I had always taken leadership roles throughout my playing career, and as I transitioned out of the national side I took on a player/coach role with a high performance domestic programme,” she said.
“I really enjoyed the coaching part of it. I jumped into the coaching side and have loved it ever since.
“I have had so many light bulb moments as a coach. Early on, it was learning how to practice and plan effectively with progressions and regressions. That was a huge leap for me and something I continue to work on, to improve.
“More recently, a key learning I have been working on is improving my ability to assess athletes for their potential, and more efficiently identify their key strengths and areas of growth.”
