Before Eseta Moala found rugby, getting dressed for sports could make her feel she did not belong.
As one of the “bigger children,” Moala says she felt uncomfortable in fitted outfits for ballet and karate. Until, at 11, she discovered girls and boys her size or bigger in the world of rugby.
“I was able to fit in and finally use my body to my advantage,” Moala says. That sense of belonging carried her to the ongoing Youth Olympic Games for under-18 athletes in Senegal, where Eseta represented the United States with her sister Luisa.
A co-captain of the women’s rugby sevens team, Luisa also carried the American flag at the opening ceremony.
For Eseta, the journey has been encouraged by another US rugby player: Ilona Maher, who helped the US win bronze at the 2024 Paris Olympics and brought new attention to the sport at home.
Maher is the world’s most followed rugby player on social media with nearly nine million followers thanks in large part to her promotion of body positivity and women’s sports. “All body types are worthy from the smallest gymnast to the tallest volleyball player, from a rugby player to a shot-putter and a sprinter.” Maher encourages young girls to “see themselves” in the athletes.
Eseta says Maher’s success on the field and embrace of her muscular build has helped her appreciate her own body. “She uses her body as a source of confidence, I felt like I could do the same thing,” Eseta says. “I got to see other girls do it, too, that are my size or even bigger than me.”
The Moala sisters were part of a US team that finished sixth in Dakar, where Africa is hosting an Olympic event for the first time.
Despite losing their first two games against Madagascar and the Czech Republic by close margins, the team finished on a high with two wins in three games on Tuesday, the last day of the competition. Eseta and Luisa both scored tries.