Kaitlyn Kelly - Assistant Women's Rugby Coach - Women's Rugby Coaches

Kaitlyn Kelly

Title:
Assistant Women's Rugby Coach
Email:
kaitlyn.kelly@westpoint.edu
Phone:
0179

The Army Women's Rugby staff hired Kaitlyn Kelly as an assistant coach in the fall of 2020.

Kelly spent 2019 as the head coach of the All Army Women's Rugby team where she led the team to the inaugural Women's Rugby Armed Forces Championship, finished 3rd overall in the Women's Elite Division at Cape Fear (7s) and posted a 5-1 record and a 152-19 point differential. She had three athletes named to the All Tournament team and had Co-Captain SSG Erica Meyers selected as the All Army Athlete of the Year. In 2019, she became the first female recipient of the All Army Coach of the Year award.

The Arlington Heights, IL, native held a number of different coaching/managerial positions while leading the All Army Women's Rugby team. She also acted as the head coach of the Armed Forces Elite Women's Rugby team where she led the team to an appearance in the National Developmental Invitation Tournament and had two players invited to the USA National team camp, was the Team Manager/Assistant Coach of the Scion Rugby Academy where she assisted in planning logistics of 6 elite level rugby tours and two summer club national seasons, and was the head women's rugby coach at Bell Multicultural High School where she volunteered through the DC Youth rugby organization to create high school rugby program for women in underprivileged areas.

From 2013-2016, Kelly was the head coach of the Southern Pines Women's rugby team and the Ft. Bragg Women's Rugby team. She founded the first ever women's rugby team in Southern Pines, NC and raised over $25,000 in donations within the first 3 months in addition to successfully merging the team into the Carolina Geographic Rugby Union as a Division II Women’ Club. At Ft. Bragg, she led the team to the playoffs for the first time in club history with a winning record two years in a row and assisted in the planning and development of the annual Airborne 7s Tournament.

Kelly was a graduate of the United States Military Academy in 2012, where she was a member of the women's rugby team for all four years. She held a number of accomplishments during her time, including being selected as a Collegiate All American, won a 15s National Championship, a Collegiate Rugby 7s Championship, finished 3rd in the nation twice (2009, 2010), was selected to the Northeast Regional Football Union Select Side (2008) and competed in the regional tournament with NERFU Select, finishing second in the nation. Post graduation, she joined the team briefly as an assistant coach where she helped head coach Bill LeClerc lead the Black Knights to an undefeated regular season and a win over Navy.

After leaving the Academy, she played rugby for Ft. Bragg Women's Rugby Club from 2013-16 where she served as team captain, player, coach and social chair in addition to leading the team in points for all three years. She then went on to play for Scion (7s) where she competed in three summer qualifying tournaments and finished No. 2 in the Nation in Club Sevens. Kelly's has been with the Galaxy DC Touch since 2018 and was a Touch USA Mixed Open National Champion in 2018 and was selected to the Women's 30 World Cup team.