Phaidra Knight: Building Youth Fitness Through Rugby and CrossFit

Phaidra Knight of CrossFit NYC is a CrossFitter and USA Rugby champion who was voted the 2010 Rugby Player of the Decade. Knight says the sport has been “my life” ever since she started playing in 1997.

Knight currently works with the organization Play Rugby USA and brings rugby to schools across the U.S. Her focus is getting girls active in rugby at New York schools, and she doubles as a rugby and fitness coach. Her goal is to team up with CrossFit and offer non-profit fitness programs in high schools across the country.

“CrossFit and rugby are so similar, and I think that’s what attracted me to both of them so strongly,” Knight says. “Obviously, the physical act of doing it, it pulls things out of you that you never even thought you had.”

Knight says: “I want to be an inspiration for everyone … . I love inspiring, you know, young folks, older folks, because I enjoy being inspired by young folks and older folks, so it’s a reciprocated energy there, and we just hope to get more and more kids involved.”

Watch her Crossfit video here.

Watch Knight at a recent Strongman competition here.

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