From playing touch with pool noodles during COVID to scoring against Samoa in pool play of the Rugby World Cup, Erica Coulibaly’s mercurial path from rugby noob to rising star is the result of sheer happenstance.
A high school soccer standout from Sycamore, IL, two-and-a-half hours from the University of Iowa, Coulibaly was lured to Iowa City on an academic scholarship. She joined the soccer club the spring of 2020, the same semester the world stopped spinning. That fall, the soccer club still wasn’t training, while others were, and Erica was getting restless.
“I had gotten an email from rugby and ultimate frisbee. It turned out the rugby training was before the ultimate frisbee training, so I ended up going to the rugby training,” recalled Coulibaly. “It was a good environment. Everybody was really kind, and it was easy to jump right in even though I’d never played before.”
Her first glimpse of rugby didn’t look a whole lot like the actual sport, with everyone carrying pool noodles to maintain a six-foot difference. Her first-ever taste of full-contact? The 2021 Collegiate Rugby Championship in New Orleans.
“It was really funny, because I had heard of what a ruck was, but never really had to play the rules around the ruck, so there was a ruck in front of me, and I saw the ball andI just went up, grabbed it, and I was running to score a try, but the ref called me back, and I was like, what’s going on,” recalled Coulibaly.
“That’s always something funny to think back about. I didn’t really start tackling. I started with pool noodles, and even when I got into the tackling and contact bit, I was like, yeah, this is awesome.”
Immediately, she was awesome, too, helping Iowa to a quarterfinal appearance while making the all-tournament team in her first-ever competition. Coulibaly was named Iowa’s player of the year as a rookie, and that fall she made first-team All-Big Ten in her first 15s season.
She was Iowa’s player of the year twice more, all-conference again, and would be named team captain and an All-American before graduating in 2023, attending her first national team camp later that year.
With a degree in computer science, Coulibaly took a software development job in Des Moines, wreaking havoc on social teams while playing for the local club. But she wasn’t progressing toward her ultimate rugby goal – becoming an Eagle.
“I realized in order to make the national team, I would have to go and seek out just another team that would give me more opportunities, so in 2024 I made the move to Denver halfway through the Women’s Premier League season. From there, it kind of snowballed,” said Coulibaly, who’d lead the Grey Wolves in tries, helping them win the league title while earning MVP honors.
“In Denver, they had some USA training sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and slowly toward the end of 2024 I got invited to those. Got to know the coaches and got invited to the talent ID camp in January.”
In April, four years and 11 months after playing her first game of rugby at the CRC, Coulibaly earned her first international cap, starting for the USA against Japan in Los Angeles. Though the Eagles lost, the Hawkeye scored on debut. She also started and scored against Fiji in D.C. in July, having just found out she made the World Cup roster.
The craziness of turning a COVID pastime into an international career isn’t lost on Coulibaly and her family.
“The support’s been amazing, because it kind of just started out as this, ‘little hobby that Erica does,’ and then now it’s like, ‘Oh my God, it’s a professional career Erica has,’ so it’s been awesome, Coulibaly said.
And it all started with an email from the rugby club at the University of Iowa, whose training (thank goodness) was before ultimate frisbee’s.
“Everyone at Iowa taught me all the basics I needed to be successful. They also taught me the love for the game, because I feel like as we get to this high level, it’s tough to remember why we’re playing,” said Coulibaly, who’s in seemingly constant contact with her former Hawkeye teammates and coaches.
“Just the memories and connections I’ve made along this path, I’ve always had people cheering me on and supporting me through the hard times and the good times, so Iowa will always be my home team.”
Her next quest?
“There’s a lot of different paths I’m thinking about. I’ve been invited to the USA 7s combine in November, so I’ll be heading there to throw my hat in for the Olympics,” she said.
“Hopefully, I’ll get a contract, but if not, then I’m looking to play 15s overseas, whether that’s in New Zealand or in the UK, just to get some more exposure to different playing styles and to grow my game.”
Written by Pat Clifton