mbg Magnificence Director
mbg Magnificence Director
Alexandra Engler is the wonder director at mindbodygreen and host of the wonder podcast Clear Magnificence Faculty. Beforehand, she’s held magnificence roles at Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, SELF, and Cosmopolitan; her byline has appeared in Esquire, Sports activities Illustrated, and Attract.com.
July 01, 2024
We love celebrating ladies on high of their recreation. In our new collection Recreation On, we’re interviewing high athletes about their well-being routines—overlaying all the things from vitamin that makes them really feel sturdy to the moments that convey them pleasure.
In case you’ve come throughout 27-year-old Staff USA Rugby star Ilona Maher‘s TikTok videos, you understand how charming she will be. Contemplating her web page has over 1.1 million followers and 87.7 million likes, there is a good probability you have come throughout a video or two in case you’re on the platform. In truth, once I shared that I would lately interviewed Maher to a pal, she gushed: I really like her TikToks.
“If you wish to make a profession out of rugby or if you wish to make sufficient cash as knowledgeable athlete in rugby, it’s a must to have a social media presence. I deal with it as a second job, if not proper up there with my first job of being an athlete. As a result of on the spot we’re as a sport and a ladies’s sport, I am not going to get an excessive amount of of a livable revenue with simply rugby,” she informed me about why she’s made social media a precedence.
The rugby middle’s exploding recognition could also be due to her social media prowess, however make no mistake: Her power will take center stage during this year’s Olympic Games in Paris. As she gears up for her second Olympics, I used to be in a position to chat along with her about how she stays sturdy, what fuels her, and why she wears lipstick on the sphere.
mindbodygreen: What meals make you are feeling strongest?
Ilona Maher: I do not really feel dangerous about consuming. I have been coaching my thoughts and coaching myself to [get to that mindset]. Even being knowledgeable athlete—however I believe all ladies expertise this—we take care of consuming and our our bodies. For me, it has been actually liberating to study what meals it takes to be at my high efficiency. The meals really feel good once I know I would like this meals to gas myself.
I am extra about perform versus kind. As a result of proper now I am imagined to be massive. I am imagined to be highly effective. And I am utilizing these meals to do it.
However my favourite meals must be those that my mother makes. It is homey. It is what I grew up on. It is what sort of made me into the athlete I’m at present.
She will be able to prepare dinner a steak like nobody else, and she or he makes this hen satay that is superb. She marinates the hen, grills it, after which makes this peanut butter sauce that you simply dip it in by the spoonful. I’d say that is my favourite.
mbg: How do you mentally put together for a recreation?
Maher: It is attention-grabbing as a result of I attempt to not let rugby management my thoughts the entire time. When individuals are like, “Oh, how do you do social media with the rugby?” Nevertheless it’s truly about discovering that steadiness as a result of if I used to be occupied with rugby on a regular basis, it could be so much. I believe typically it may be a pleasant escape.
However to get into the sport, earlier than it begins, I do must amp myself up. It is such a tough sport. I really feel so drained consistently. I am getting beat up on the market. And we play in these sizzling locations.
I say to myself earlier than I am about to expire, “If it had been straightforward, everyone would do it. It is a very arduous sport, and I am so honored that I can do it.” It type of places it into perspective once I’m drained.
It is also about connecting with my teammates and getting to do that with my greatest buddies.
mbg: What’s essentially the most intense factor you have ever tried to optimize your efficiency?
Maher: I do not know if that is actually intense, however warmth coaching. We play in such sizzling environments typically—like Singapore; Hong Kong; Perth, Australia, throughout warmth waves, and as excessive as 114 levels—so we get into warmth acclimation. Making ready your self to have the ability to carry out in that atmosphere begins again residence. So even now I do warmth acclimation simply to organize myself for summer season in Paris.
For instance, we’ll sit within the sauna after we did a motorcycle session in a heated room with sweatshirts and sweatpants on. Or we get right into a sizzling tub with our sweatpants on.
mbg: How do you rebound after a troublesome recreation?
Maher: That is been one thing I’ve undoubtedly been studying, like consistently. It by no means will get simpler, however you learn to take care of it higher in a approach. Within the final Olympics, we misplaced, and that was very arduous, however I have been studying the best way to play it to my benefit.
After we lose, one factor I concentrate on is connecting with my teammates.
As a result of quite a lot of instances individuals put issues on themselves like, “Oh, I knocked that ball on,” or “I missed that deal with that led to [the loss].” It is necessary to keep in mind that nobody second loses a recreation for us. We have now so many moments all through a recreation, and it is by no means that one second. Like, yeah, perhaps somebody missed that deal with, however what about earlier within the recreation once I missed it?
You are not on the market alone, and you are not shedding by yourself. You are shedding with this different group of ladies who’re going by way of the identical stuff. So it is actually necessary to be with them and join with them, snort about it, speak concerning the elements that went properly, the elements that went dangerous, what to take from it.
mbg: I needed to ask you about teammates anyway. One of many issues that enjoying sports activities teaches us is the best way to be teammate and the best way to present up for different individuals. So what makes teammate? How do you present up on your teammates?
Maher: I believe what’s enjoyable about being on a crew is having these completely different personalities round you. You want the individual who’s going to go quiet and needs to get of their head earlier than a recreation. Or myself earlier than a recreation, I am loud, I need to dance, and I need to join with individuals. So it is necessary to acknowledge there are such a lot of completely different teammates and personalities that make up a crew—and that is what makes a crew particular. You don’t need all the identical athletes on the market.
Being teammate can also be about serving to others stand up as properly. For instance, what I have been attempting to do on social media has been for myself, nevertheless it’s additionally been for my teammates. I attempt to convey them into any video I can or encourage them to put up.
My teammate as soon as informed me “a rising tide lifts all boats,” which is a good way to consider it. It is about lifting up others, lifting my teammates, and making them really feel good.
mbg: The social media facet of it’s attention-grabbing as a result of we’re undoubtedly on this second through which ladies athletes are receiving extra—and far deserved—consideration. And for a lot of athletes, social media could be a instrument to make sure longevity of their profession or after their profession. You talked about earlier that it is about discovering a steadiness between the 2—how do you discover that steadiness?
Maher: I’ve virtually had to discover a steadiness. If you wish to make a profession out of rugby or if you wish to make sufficient cash as knowledgeable athlete in rugby, it’s a must to have a social media presence. I deal with it as a second job, if not proper up there with my first job of being an athlete. As a result of on the spot we’re as a sport and a ladies’s sport, I am not going to get an excessive amount of of a livable revenue with simply rugby.
I do receives a commission for rugby, and it is superb that I’ve that chance for me within the U.S. However all of us need to earn more money, and all of us need to get sponsored. And after the [Tokyo] Olympics, I spotted, Oh that is how I can try this. I’ve to make use of this instrument to my benefit.
My teammates and I speak about this on a regular basis, “I would like to earn more money,” or “I need to get sponsors,” and the factor is: You need to put up. It is a very susceptible state, however it’s a must to put your self on the market. It is scary typically, however I view it as That is how I make this profession sustainable.
For lots of athletes after they retire, they only return to common jobs—like this was all a fever dream of touring the world to play rugby. However I need to make this my profession long run.
Picture by mbg Inventive / courtesy of supply
mbg: This touches on a subject I needed to debate anyway: What are the double-standards that exist for ladies versus males in rugby that you simply need to handle?
Maher: Properly, I believe the very first thing is that rugby is barely a males’s sport—that it’s so bodily, it is not meant for ladies and it’s a must to be a person to play it. And to play rugby as a girl, there’s this concept that it’s a must to virtually reject your femininity and go on the market and be a masculine model of your self.
And for lots of sports activities, that stops women from enjoying. As a result of they’re going to assume, I do not need individuals to think about me this manner or I do not need to danger my femininity or how stunning I really feel.
These misconceptions cease individuals from enjoying sports activities. They cease individuals from actually understanding what their physique’s able to. Sports activities give your physique a objective that is not simply to be checked out and objectified. I believe sports activities offer you an appreciation on your physique.
I believe for me, being that rugby athlete within the limelight, I need to present that I will be this very massive, highly effective individual, however I also can put on lipstick on the sphere to indicate that you would be able to convey your femininity on the sphere too. I do know that in our seventh circuit now, we now have quite a lot of women who placed on a full face of make-up and who need to go on the market and be fairly. I really like that as a result of I do not assume it’s a must to sacrifice that to play this historically very “manly” sport.
I believe what’s cool about our recreation is that individuals are like, “Oh, properly perhaps it is not like the boys’s in each approach, It is completely different in some methods and completely different doesn’t suggest dangerous. They’re nonetheless each very thrilling video games to observe.”
mbg: That is a extremely necessary message as a result of while you have a look at the analysis, the explanation younger women drop out of sports activities at the next fee than boys is normally due to confidence points. So to indicate that you would be able to be assured in each side of your self is admittedly useful. Talking of embracing completely different sides of your self: I do know you like magnificence merchandise. What merchandise do you like utilizing proper now?
Maher: I have been utilizing Medalist, which is a brand new model that is by athletes for athletes. We have been testing out the merchandise—like No Fric Stick Anti Chafe + Cooling Balm—which I take advantage of on and off the sphere. It has been actually useful for my pregame, pre-practice, and after-practice routine.
What I actually love is that we’re working with athletes of all talents, all sports activities, and all disciplines. Athletes are available really all sizes and styles and want their skincare routines!
mbg: Being knowledgeable athlete has a novel problem of it being this factor you clearly love doing however is—on the finish of the day—a high-pressure job. In what moments do you discover that childlike pleasure once more?
Maher: It is humorous, earlier than practices, we’ll play enjoyable video games. It is actually grown ladies—you realize, some in our late 20s or 30s—enjoying tag with one another. We’re laughing and laughing. I made a joke that my pal simply bought married and purchased a home, however I am right here enjoying tag with my mates within the solar. However that brings me again to love why I like it.
I really like the neighborhood of sports activities, the way it brings you in, and the way it makes you are feeling about your self. I believe that these are the moments the place I actually get again to why I really like rugby and love the individuals I get to do it with.
