One week from Wednesday, the New England Patriots will report to Gillette Stadium for training camp. Nate Ebner won’t be among them — and for very good reason.
Ebner, a safety/special-teams ace, instead will be competing in the first-ever Olympic rugby sevens tournament at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro. The 27-year-old was one of 12 players selected Monday to the United States squad, which will battle the likes of New Zealand, South Africa and Fiji for a spot on the Olympic podium.
Two days after his selection, Ebner spoke with “SportsCenter” anchor Hannah Storm about becoming an Olympian, which he called the fulfillment of a lifelong dream.
“It means so much to me,” he said. “Just through my journey in life and what rugby meant to me growing up, and to have the ability to play a game in the Olympics that I grew up playing my entire life, and the timing for it to work out like this, it means the world to me and my family and my friends. I just want to make the most of the opportunity.”
Unlike most of his fellow NFLers, who first donned helmets and shoulder pads at age 6 or 7, Ebner didn’t make his gridiron debut until his junior year at Ohio State, when he joined the Buckeyes football team as a walk-on. Before that, it was all rugby, all the time.
“I grew up with rugby,” said Ebner, who was drafted by the Patriots in 2012 and won a Super Bowl with the team two years later. “I’m not like many kids in America. But my dad played rugby his entire life pretty much, and I picked up the game from him. Around 6 or 7 years old, I started playing, and it’s been such a big part of my life since then. The only time I really haven’t played rugby is when I walked on to Ohio State and the years I’ve been in the NFL.
“But even with that, I’ve trained in the offseasons, playing a lot of touch rugby just to cross-train and do something different. So, it’s always been a huge part of my life and something that I’ve always loved, and it’s something that really has a big bond between me and my father.”
Ebner’s father, Jeff, was killed in an attempted robbery at his family-owned auto reclamation shop in 2008, two years before Ebner left the Ohio State club rugby team to take up football. He struggled to put into words what his Olympic selection would have meant to his dad, with whom he was very close.
“I don’t really know,” Ebner said. “To be honest, we were so tight, he was happy for me for anything that I did or anything that I do in my life. He would support me, as long as it made me happy, no matter what. But just to see it come back to rugby, I think he would have got a special kick out of that. …
“I think he might actually be speechless for once.”
The men’s portion of the Olympic rugby tournament begins Tuesday, Aug. 9. The U.S. will take on Argentina, Brazil and Fiji in pool play.
Thumbnail photo via Steve Mitchell/USA TODAY Sports Images
