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    • Who are Ilona Maher’s parents? Meet Mike and Mieneke
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    Who are Ilona Maher’s parents? Meet Mike and Mieneke

    Vaseline Posted on

    “I get very nervous, because you always want the very best for your child,” says Mieneke Maher.

    This is the second time that American rugby star Ilona Maher will compete at the Summer Olympics, having made her international debut at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Originally from Burlington, Vermont, Ilona grew up around the sports, although she didn’t start playing rugby until she was 17.

    Previously, the athlete played hockey, basketball and soccer alternately during her high school years, until her father convinced her to play rugby.

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    Now, 10 years later, she’s competing for the United States in the international sports tournament – ​​but she couldn’t have done it without her parents’ training. Here’s what we know about Ilona’s parents.

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    Ilona Maher’s parents often attended her sports competitions during her childhood.

    Ilona’s parents, Mike and Mieneke Maher, were very supportive of their daughter’s sporting activities during her childhood and in an interview with WCAXMieneke remembers the years she watched games from the stands at Burlington High School.

    “It’s horrible sitting on those wooden planks or those horrible stamps and, you know, you have to, you know, you have to eat your food or not, but enjoy it because before you know it, it’s over,” Mieneke told the outlet.

    It was actually her father Mike who convinced her to try rugby when she was 17. Whilst at Saint Michael’s College, Mike was also a rugby player, playing 15s, while his daughter played 7s. The move came after years of being an elite athlete in the other sports she competed in, and she was keen to try something different.

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    “In the spring of my senior year (of high school) I felt like I was done with softball,” she said Forbes. “I was taking pitching lessons in the winter and spending my time in the outfield. I was just tired of not getting much exercise.”

    After trying rugby in her first impromptu match, she said the sport “was a perfect fit for her, it just suited my body.”

    “I had three tries and then I made a couple of tackles straight away,” she continued. “My dad will tell you, he was really excited about it.”

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    From there, she quickly developed into a starter and was eventually recruited by Quinnipiac University, where she was named a NIRA All-American and was a finalist for the MA Sorensen Award as National Player of the Year.

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    Her parents will see her compete in the Summer Games for the first time at the 2024 Olympic Games.

    Although this is Ilona’s second Olympic Games, it is the first time her parents are able to travel abroad to support their daughter. Mike and Mieneke were unable to accompany her on her trip to Tokyo for the 2020 Olympics, as the COVID-19 pandemic severely limited travel options for family members who wanted to visit and support their Olympians.

    “I think my heart is racing, I can’t sit down. I can never see, I’m always moving and I can’t do that,” Mieneke said before she went to the games. “I get really nervous because you always want the best for your child.”

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