Jillion Potter

Jillion Potter
Born
Jillion Paige Potter

(1986-06-05) June 5, 1986
Austin, Texas, U.S.
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)

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.

Childhood

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

She began her rugby career at the University of New Mexico in 2005.[2] She had never played rugby before college. However she still made it onto the USA under-19 rugby team. She contiuned playing for the under-23 team in 2006 and the USA Rugby Women's National Team in 2007.[3]

As a Number 8, Potter earned 21 caps, appearances, with the USA Eagles, the US national team, 15s from 2007-2014. She participated in multiple international tours, including the 2007 UK Tour (England), 2008 Nations Cup (England), 2009 Nations Cup (Canada), 2010 CanAm (Canada), and the 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup in France. She served as captain for two years and two tournaments during her Eagles career.[4]

In 2012, Potter transitioned to sevens rugby. She played as a prop, one of two powerhouse players in the front row of a rugby team (wearing jerseys numbered 1 and 3) who anchor the scrum, lift jumpers at lineouts, and act as primary ball-carriers. [5] From 2012-2016, she would appear roughly 60 times with the USA Eagles 7s. She won a bronze medal at the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens. In the 2016 Rio Olympics, she captained and competed for Team USA 7s where they landed 5th place.[1]

[6] 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).[7]

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.[8]

Personal life

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.[9] Potter was diagnosed with stage 3 Synovial Sarcoma cancer in August of 2014. She finished treatment in March of 2015.[10][11][12] After more than a decade of surgeries, radiation, chemotherapy, and clinical trials, Jillion's cancer is now considered non-curative.[13]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Jillion Potter". TeamUSA. Archived from the original on May 2, 2016. Retrieved August 8, 2016.
  2. ^ "Jillion Potter - USA Olympian, Cancer Survivor, UNM Alumnae and More". unmevents.unm.edu. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
  3. ^ "Jillion Potter | US Rugby Foundation". www.usrugbyfoundation.org. Retrieved May 26, 2026.
  4. ^ "Jillion Potter | US Rugby Foundation". www.usrugbyfoundation.org. Retrieved May 26, 2026.
  5. ^ "Rugby explainers: What is a prop?". Rugby World Cup 2025 England. June 6, 2025. Retrieved May 26, 2026.
  6. ^ "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.
  7. ^ "World Rugby leadership scholarships drive gender parity on International Women's Day". www.women.rugby. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
  8. ^ worldrugby.org. "Stars join new-look World Rugby Awards panels". www.world.rugby. Retrieved March 24, 2019.
  9. ^ "Thanks to her wife, Jillion Potter can stop thinking about her teeth". February 13, 2016. Retrieved August 8, 2016.
  10. ^ "Jillion Potter: An inspiration on and off the field". worldrugby.org. Retrieved September 3, 2016.
  11. ^ Chris Borg; Dan Tham; Andy Stewart (July 20, 2016). "Jillion Potter: U.S. rugby's great survivor". CNN. Retrieved September 3, 2016.
  12. ^ 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.
  13. ^ Young, Wendy (February 17, 2025). "Jillion Potter: A Fighter, A Leader, A Friend—How You Can Support Her Now". YSC Rugby. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
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