| Birth Date: | 3 August 1994 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth Place: | Beaufort, South Carolina, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Education: | West Mecklenburg (Charlotte, North Carolina) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma Mater: | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Relatives: | Mark LeGree (brother) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website: | nayatapper.com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Naya Elena Tapper (born August 3, 1994) is a retired American rugby union player. She was a co-captain of the United States women's rugby sevens team and competed in rugby sevens at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, where Team USA took home the bronze medal.
Tapper was the first USA Woman to reach 100 tries and is the all-time leading try scorer for the USA women's team.[1] [2] Her chase down tackle that saved a try against Ireland at the 2021 Dubai Sevens was named the #1 Play on ESPN's SportCenter Top 10 plays.[3]
Tapper was born in Beaufort, South Carolina,[4] to Norman Tapper and Juanita Nater-Tapper, who are of Jamaican and Puerto Rican descent.[5] [6] She grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she attended West Mecklenburg High School and was an All-American athlete in track and field.[7]
Her older brother, Mark LeGree, played American football in the NFL. As a child, Tapper dreamt of following in his footsteps, feeling drawn to the aggressive energy of the sport, but grew to realize it was not a viable option for a girl.[8]
Tapper began her rugby career at age 18, during her first year of college at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.[9] She majored in exercise and sport science with a minor in Spanish, graduating in 2016.[10] [11]
Tapper was first recruited to join the United States women’s national rugby sevens team only two months after she first started playing rugby in her first year of college. She turned down the offer in order to focus on academics. But in her last semester of college in 2016, Tapper made her professional debut as a member of the United States women’s national rugby sevens team, known as the Eagles, at the 2016 São Paulo Women's Sevens.[12]
Later that year, she was selected to compete in rugby fifteens for the USA Eagles at the Women's Rugby Super Series.[13] She was selected for the squad to the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup in Ireland, where USA placed fourth.[14] [15]
Tapper was among 12 women rugby sevens players selected to represent Team USA at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.[16] She also represented the United States at the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens in Cape Town.[17] [18]
Tapper was named a team co-captain in 2022, leading Team USA to a third place finish and automatic qualification for the 2024 Olympics in Paris, where the team won the bronze medal.[19] [20] [21]
Tapper signed on as a player and ambassador for the inaugural season of Premier Rugby Sevens in 2021.[22] She was named captain of the Southern Headliners women's team for the 2021 Championship in Memphis. The team would finish second to the Loonies despite winning in group play.[23]
Though Tapper was named to the 2022 roster for the Headliners as well, she did not return to the field for the team until 2023, once again as captain.[24] She would lead the team to series wins at the Eastern Conference Kickoff in Austin, as well as at the Eastern Conference Finals in Pittsburgh.[25] [26] The Headliners would qualify for the championship tournament in Washington, D.C. but would ultimately fall to New York Locals in the semifinals.[27] Tapper was named a finalist for season MVP, ultimately losing out to fellow US teammate Alev Kelter.[28]
In July 2024, Tapper announced that she would retire from playing rugby at the end of the 2024 Summer Olympics.[29]
Tapper has been involved with a number of non-profit initiatives around growing participation rates in rugby, particularly in the southern United States. She has been a board member of Memphis Inner City Rugby since 2021.[30]
In 2020, Tapper appeared as a model on an episode of Project Runway, featuring athletes set to compete in the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.[31]
Tapper lives in San Diego, California.[32]