LOS ANGELES – Fourteen-year-old Nia Tolliver is only a freshman in high school, but already shows speed, strength and endurance worthy of competing in the Olympics for rugby someday, her coach Stuart Krohn said.
“She’s a phenom. She’s our fastest, strongest girl,” said Krohn, director of the Inner City Education Foundation’s rugby program. “She’s also a scholar.”
Tolliver is one of about 200 students who play competitive rugby for ICEF Public Schools, a K-12 charter school system centered in South Los Angeles that seeks to prepare students to attend top colleges and universities.
“That’s how she expresses herself … through rugby,” Krohn said of the View Park Prep Accelerated Charter High School student. “You just can’t keep her off the field.”
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Tolliver and 19 other ICEF Rugby players are scheduled to compete in the Hong Kong International Youth Sevens tournament, which attracts hundreds of teams to China from around the globe. The 10 boys and 10 girls on the trip are competing in the U-18 varsity division of the tournament from March 22 to 24.
Although the trip is ICEF’s first time visiting Asia, the rugby program has traveled overseas for competitions since 2006, playing in countries such as New Zealand and South Africa.
Students must apply for the program, now in its 10th year. Players are selected to travel after submitting a letter of intent, along with grades and teacher recommendations.
“They have to be doing their best with everything and just show exceptional character as well,” Krohn said.
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