 Kelter during 2017 match between women's rugby sevens teams for U.S. and Ireland | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth name | Leyla Alev Kelter | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | March 21, 1991 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Tampa, Florida, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 6 in (168 cm) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 165 lb (75 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Leyla Alev Kelter ( /ˈleɪləəˈlɛvˈkɛltər/ LAY-lə ə-LEVKEL-tər; born March 21, 1991) [1] is an American rugby sevens and rugby union player.
She won a silver medal at the 2015 Pan American Games as a member of the United States women's national rugby sevens team. [2] [3] She also made the squad at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil.
Kelter was named in the Eagles squad to the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup in Ireland. [4]
In January 2022 the English rugby side Saracens Women announced that they had signed her for the rest of the 2021–22 Premier15s season. [5] She was named in the Eagles squad for the 2022 Pacific Four Series in New Zealand. [6] [7] She was selected in the Eagles squad for the 2021 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. [8] [9] [10]
Kelter has also played for the Northern Loonies in Premier Rugby Sevens, and was part of the 2021 Inaugural Championship team and the 2023 Women's Championship. [11] She won the Finals MVP in 2023. [12]
Kelter won a bronze medal in rugby sevens at the 2024 Summer Olympics. [13]
Kelter played for the United States women's national under-16 soccer team and the United States women's national under-18 ice hockey team and later played both sports at the University of Wisconsin from 2009 to 2013. [14] [15]
Born to Scott and Leyla Kelter, she has two brothers, Erol and Aydin and a twin sister, Derya, who also played soccer and ice hockey. Before she was nine, her family had moved four times because her father was a fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force. [16] Kelter attended Chugiak High School in Chugiak, Alaska. She graduated with a degree in Fine Arts from University of Wisconsin in 2015. [17] [18] At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Kelter got engaged to her partner, fellow Rugby player Kathryn Treder. [19]
Chugiak High School is a public high school located in Chugiak, Anchorage, Alaska, and a part of the Anchorage School District. Chugiak's mascot is the Mustang and the school colors are blue, black, and white. In 2005, Chugiak's student population was split as half their students went to the new Eagle River High School. As of 2020, it has a student enrollment of 905 and 47 teachers.
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Premier Rugby Sevens (PR7s) is an annual American men's and women's rugby sevens competition. The competition follows a touring model and involves 16 teams competing against each other across the country. The league was founded in 2021 and is officially sanctioned by USA Rugby as the highest level of rugby sevens in the United States.
Alexandria Sedrick, nicknamed Spiff, is an American rugby union player who plays as a center. She made her debut for the sevens team in 2021, and competed for the United States in rugby sevens at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, where the Eagles took home a bronze medal. She also won a gold medal at the 2023 Pan American Games.
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