Domino of decisions

How Kristi Kirshe ended up in the Summer Olympics on the U.S. rugby sevens team is a story of several decisions aligning perfectly and creating an unexpected opportunity. If any one of those decisions went a different way for Kirshe, a former Division III soccer star at Williams, she believes she'd be watching these games like the rest of the world. 

"I was just looking to compete," she reflected. "I had no idea (rugby) was going to lead me to getting to the Olympics."

To better understand or appreciate Kirshe's Olympic journey, her youth is a good place to start.

The first Olympic dream

Kirshe grew up as a natural with a soccer ball at her feet. She dreamed of becoming just like the women she watched in the Olympics and World Cups as members of the U.S. women's national team.

When Kirshe got to high school, however, she knew any chance she had at reaching that level of elite soccer would mean giving up the other two sports she enjoyed: basketball and lacrosse. She couldn't do it. She enjoyed playing three different sports too much.

"So, my Olympic dream kind of died a little bit when I was high school," she said. "By the time I was 18, I was kind of, like, 'All right, that might not be what's going to happen for me.'"

Kirshe added that her decision to play all three sports also limited her recruitment in soccer, the sport in which she thrived the most. Many elite recruiting soccer camps or tournaments took place during times she was competing in another sport. Again, in hindsight, Kirshe is thankful for the path she chose.

"Based on the turn my life took, I'm so thankful I did," she said, "because I think if I'd just played soccer my whole life, I wouldn't be sitting here right now."

Williams wins

Kirshe described her college decision like this: She wanted to go somewhere that was as strong academically as it was athletically. She found the perfect fit when Williams soccer head coach Michelyne Pinard pitched her program as a future national power in Division III. At the time, the program had zero national championships.

Pinard was somewhat prophetic. Kirshe helped lead Williams — located in the northwest corner of Massachusetts — to a pair of national championship games in 2014 and 2015. The first time, Williams lost in penalty kicks. The second time, Kirshe's squad pulled through with a 1-0 win for the school's first soccer title. The program has won two more since she graduated.

These experiences, Kirshe said, taught her how to perform under pressure. It's a lesson the two-time All-American is bringing with her to Tokyo.

 "The thing I've learned over and over again is don't let the nerves of the situation take your confidence away, and don't play outside yourself. Do what you know you're good at," she said. "If you put too much pressure on the moment, you're not going to enjoy it. You're going to feel stressed. You're going to feel nervous, and you're not going to play your game.

"It's just remembering that, at the end of the day, it is a game and you've been here before and just do what you do best."

Except four years ago, Kirshe had never been here before. Not even close. She'd never even set foot on a rugby field. Her only experience with the sport had been watching some in the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Little did she know then that someday she'd make a choice to pursue a life in the sport.

An easy decision

Kirshe graduated from Williams with a political science degree in 2017, after which she began working in a Boston law office. She had an "established life," as he put it. But something was missing. Her competitive spirit ached for an outlet. She found one through a high school friend who nagged Kirshe for months to come try rugby.

"I'm so thankful she was so persistent because it changed my entire life," Kirshe said.

That was in 2018. Soon after, she left her stable career to pursue a renewed Olympic dream. Crazy, right? Not to Kirshe.

"It really was the easiest decision I have ever made to just get to play a sport again, get to play a sport for a living, and to be chasing down a dream," she said. "It's something so special that so few people get to do."

Becoming a rising star in Team USA's rugby circuit was somewhat of a happy accident for Kirshe, a byproduct of all these decisions she made earlier in life.

For starters, she said playing three sports throughout high school developed her athleticism in a way that has paid huge dividends in her rugby sevens climb. The seven-on-seven version of the original sport, Kirshe said rugby sevens has a free-flowing feel like soccer but requires hand-eye coordination that she sharpened in basketball and lacrosse.

She credits the rigor at Williams for preparing her to learn a new sport quickly and successfully.

"Playing a sport in college and the diligence that comes with having to balance that academic and athletic schedule," she said. "How I approach going to practice every day, how we approach film, all those kinds of things. That's my biggest (takeaway), especially from my Williams experience of it being an incredibly hard academic school but also being an incredibly great athletic school, so just that balance and learning how to work through that are the biggest takeaways."

Plus, she wouldn't have near the fan base if not for her time at Williams. Kirshe said she's heard from Williams soccer alums who played before her and after her. Pinard, her former coach, has been a constant source of support. Kirshe's former teammates at Williams have continued to be her rock throughout this adventure.

"Some of my college teammates are the people who got me through some of the hardest moments of school, and I'm just not here without them. It's really special," she said. "They're all asking how they can buy my jersey. They've all reached out with congratulations, can't wait to watch. They've all been so amazing, and they're so excited to watch the games. And I'm just so proud that I'm getting more people to watch rugby."