Naya Elena Tapper (born August 3, 1994) is an American rugby sevens player. She debuted for the rugby union team in 2016. She was selected for the squad to the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup in Ireland.
Early life
Like most of her teammates Tapper began her rugby career while attending her first year of college at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She majored in Exercise and Sport Science with a minor in Spanish. She was an All-American athlete at West Mecklenburg High School in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Rugby career
USA Sevens
Tapper made her rugby sevens debut at the 2016 São Paulo Women's Sevens.
Tapper was among 12 women rugby players selected to represent Team USA at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. She was selected to represent the United States at the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens in Cape Town.
Tapper was named a team captain in 2022, leading the USA Women's Sevens to a third place finish and automatic qualification for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Tapper was the first USA Woman to reach 100 tries and is the all time leading try scorer for the USA Women's team. 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.
USA Fifteens
In 2016, Tapper was selected for the Eagles squad to compete at the Women's Rugby Super Series. She was selected for the squad to the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup in Ireland where they would finish in fourth place.
Premier Rugby Sevens
Tapper was named as one of the 10 initial ambassadors for Premier Rugby Sevens in 2021. She was subsequently named captain of the Headliners women's team for the 2021 Championship in Memphis. The team would finish second to the Loonies despite winning in group play.
Tapper was named to the 2022 roster for the Headliners as well, but did not make any appearances during the 2022 season.
Tapper returned to the field for the Headliners in 2023, once again as captain. 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. The Headliners would qualify for the Championship tournament in Washington, D.C. but would ultimately fall to New York Locals in the semi finals. Tapper was named a finalist for the season long MVP but would ultimately lose out to fellow US teammate Alev Kelter.
Personal life
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.