Levy reverts to SA roots on Olympic rugby field

When searching for a Jewish South African competing in the Olympic Games, look no further than the United States women’s rugby team, which includes winger Sarah Levy, who started her rugby journey only about 10 years ago in her first week of university.

Her team this week beat Australia to take home the bronze medal, which was the first time the United States have ever won a medal in rugby. The team then lost its semifinal game to New Zealand.

“Being a women’s rugby player in the United States, no one watches our games much, and now we’re highlighted alongside the amazing US athletes,” says Levy. “It’s cool.”

With rugby passion in her family and her heritage as a South African, Levy understood and loved the game. But, she says, it isn’t the game of choice in the US. “… but they understand how important the Olympics are,” she told the SA Jewish Report this week. “Every month, we play a sevens tournament in a different location, but no one pays attention and now it’s the Olympics, and all eyes are on us. It’s huge.”

Levy had been involved in sport throughout her childhood, but everything changed when she started studying at Northeastern University and saw that women’s rugby was available.

“My dad, Denis, and everyone in his family played rugby growing up in South Africa, but up until I got to university, I had never seen a women’s team,” said Levy, “I always grew up thinking I wanted to play American football if there was a women’s version or something like it. And when I saw rugby, I was drawn to it just because of the South African connection.”

Levy was born in Rondebosch in Cape Town to a South African father and American mother. When she was two years old, her family made aliya to Israel, and then moved to San Diego, California.

“I’ve visited South Africa a few times over the years, the last time being in 2020, and I loved it there,” she said. “My grandfather and a few cousins still live there, so I cannot wait to go back and visit, hopefully soon.”

It was on her visits that she realised just how important rugby was in South Africa and to her family. “My dad’s older relatives started talking to me about the sport and our family’s history with it, and I realised that I was only one part of my family’s rugby history.”

Levy’s father and uncles Rob, Nelson, and Peter, all played rugby in their youth in Milnerton. She joins the legacy of her great-grandfather, Louis Babrow, who became one of the first Jewish Springboks.

It took playing one game at university on her first weekend there to become hooked on the sport. “I fell in love with it right away. It was something I could connect with my South African family members about, and we often talk about it at family braais,” she said.

“I grew up wearing a Springbok jersey, even though I didn’t fully understand how important that jersey was until I started playing,” she said.

“Rugby was always something I could talk about to my dad about when I called home from university. It was a good topic of conversation, like how our game went and what I had learned that week in rugby. As that has gone on and it has now become my job, he still wants to give me advice, which I take willingly.”

When Levy graduated in 2018, she moved to Connecticut to play with the New York women’s rugby team in the women’s Premier League, where she was scouted and was invited into the fold of the US women’s national team at the seven’s camp, where she could train full-time.

“It was perfect. It all fell into place right at the same time that I started graduate school in San Diego, where I grew up. I got invited to train full-time at the sevens centre, and got to be close to family, which is important to me.”

At the time, the 2020 Olympics had just been postponed. Levy knew she wouldn’t be part of that Olympic team and decided to put her all into training for the Paris Olympics this year.

“Being part of the sevens programme opened the door to the Olympics,” said Levy, “It has contracts, and we have about 23 girls. The team is then down to 14 for the Olympics. You’re training throughout the year. And then, as we get closer to the Olympics, you cut it down. It’s 12 active players and two travelling reserves. So you’re competing for that spot.”

When Levy got the news that she was one of the 14 players going to Paris, she felt almost numb. “You’re just making it to the next tournament and playing consistently enough to make it to the next one and the next one, building experience. Then eventually, when it happened, I just was like, that’s the next checkpoint. I didn’t even think anything of it even though this was my greatest goal since I started playing.

“It got real the second we set foot in the Olympic village in Paris,” said Levy. “We still had training leading up to leaving for Paris. Nothing is for certain in rugby, there’s a lot of contact, and a lot of random things that could happen like injuries. I knew I had made it when I was in the Olympic village.

“When I saw that they decorated our rooms with a collage of all the girls from back home and letters from previous players and future players like younger girls, it was a beautiful setup. That was when it hit me, and I was emotional. It was like all the emotions I had bottled up came spewing out,” she said.

Levy compares the community she has created through sport to her Jewish community. “What drew me to rugby was that everyone is inclusive. Everyone shares similar values to the Jewish community,” she said.

“Being in the Olympic village was overwhelming at the start. There are just so many people everywhere, and from countries you haven’t even heard of. Amazingly, our staff allowed us two days of taking everything in. I remember not being able to sleep because it was so exciting.”

Levy is excited to play against the South African team. “I know a couple of girls on the team. It’s always exciting to see them out there, especially because in South Africa, men have dominated for so long, so it’s great to see the women start to dominate.”