Strong, Fast, Fearless: A Pacific Northwest Leader on the Rise
Jainaya Masunu still remembers the first time she ran the ball in rugby.
She grew up in a football family. Her brothers played. She played. She spent four seasons as a two-way lineman and dreamed of taking the sport as far as she could. Then someone told her something simple and limiting: girls couldn't play in the NFL.
So in eighth grade, she tried rugby. The first time she carried the ball and passed it, something clicked.
"It was the intensity," she says. "It was faster than football. I liked the contact. The first time I ran the ball and passed it, I fell in love with it."
Football felt structured; certain players passed, certain players carried. In rugby, everyone touches the ball. Everyone runs, defends, adapts. The game moves. It breathes.
That freedom hooked her, and what could have been the end of one dream became the beginning of another.
Jainaya didn't pick one sport and close the door on everything else. She built herself layer by layer.
Track and field sharpened her explosiveness; as a thrower, she developed real power through her legs and hips. Wrestling transformed her tackling. Football strengthened her upper body and taught her how to take contact against bigger opponents. Volleyball improved her footwork and balance.
"Every sport helped my rugby," she says.
Now in her fifth year, she plays as a forward – strong in contact, comfortable with the ball, quick to adapt when play breaks open. She is proof that multi-sport athletes build range and resilience that single-sport athletes might have to find elsewhere. Rugby became her main sport, but it carries the fingerprints of every field, mat, and court she stepped onto first.
Leadership found Jainaya early. Over four years of rugby, she served as captain on each team she played for: Lady Liberty as a freshman and sophomore, Eastside Lions as a junior. Leadership, she says, is about flexibility.
"You have to adapt to every player," she says. "Everyone learns differently. Everyone comes from different experiences."
As captain, she sees herself as the bridge. Coaches don't always have eyes on everything happening inside a teenage locker room. Teammates carry school stress, family situations, injuries, friendships, and expectations all at once. A captain stands in the middle, translating in both directions.
Last season tested her more than any other. Eastside Lions didn't have enough girls for a full roster, so she stepped in and helped teach new players who had never learned to pass. On Saturdays, other teams sent players to fill gaps so games could happen. Some of those girls asked to stay on her side. She made sure everyone played.
The games didn't always count toward state qualification, which could've made it easy to check out. Instead, she leaned in. They won some, lost others. What mattered most was that every player felt included, and left with a little more confidence than she'd arrived with.
"That season made me more open," she says. "More focused on bringing people together."
Winning matters, but connection lasts longer.
Jainaya's development has never happened in a vacuum.
Before she was old enough to officially make Selects teams, she was already attending Pacific Northwest camps, watching, learning, and competing against older players. As an eighth grader, she earned a spot with Selects PNW and later traveled to Canada and Oregon. This year she competed in California and Florida.
Every trip deepened her pride in representing Washington. "I'm proud to represent and showcase PNW talent," she says.
Jainaya credits much of her development to the coaches who invested in her early: Coach Gabriella, Coach Heidi, Coach Gabby. These fantastic women took her through tournaments against teams from Oregon, Canada, and powerhouse California programs. Seawolves camps also played a role. Hearing from professional players and seeing what training looks like at the next level gave her clarity.
One message stuck: Keep playing. The more you play, the more connections you build, the better you get.
Even as she travels coast to coast, Jainaya carries the Pacific Northwest with her – the coaches, the teammates, the support system that helped her rise.
Ask Jainaya what makes rugby different from the other sports she has played, and she doesn't hesitate. "There's always a connection," she says.
In football, roles are fixed. In wrestling, you stand alone on the mat. Rugby feels different. Yes, there are positions and structure, but everyone runs, passes, and defends. A forward can break the line. A winger can step inside. The game demands trust, and it demands respect.
"You battle on the field," she says. "Then it's hugs and friendship."
She calls it a game built on love. Across the West Coast, she stays in touch with players she’s competed against in Oregon, California, and Canada. They hit hard on Saturdays, then laugh together afterward. It feels like a sisterhood.
One moment in Florida stands out. Jainaya was breaking through defenders when she heard a voice to her left: Kendall Ford, a teammate she'd played alongside since the beginning. Loud. Fearless. Calling for the ball.
Jainaya popped it to her. Kendall broke the line and scored.
The commentators didn't know the history, but Jainaya did. On the other side of the country, in a high-level tournament, it felt like they were back where they started. That is what rugby gives her: competition, growth, and a bond that carries beyond the scoreboard.
Now is her final season of high school rugby, and the road here has not been straight.
Her path to this point has not been straight. As a freshman, she lost to Kent in state. As a sophomore, a concussion kept her out of half the season and she missed the state run entirely. As a junior with Eastside Lions, the team could not field a full roster consistently enough to make it to state.
So for her senior year, she made a choice. She joined Kent Crusaders.
"I want to play in state this year," she says. "That's why I chose Kent."
But her perspective has grown beyond that goal. Rugby is not only about going pro or earning invitations to higher levels. "It's about the club side. The community. Playing for love of the game." If one opportunity closes, another exists. Rugby is everywhere, she says. You just have to look for it.
If a young girl told Jainaya she wanted to try rugby but felt nervous, her answer would be this: "There's always another girl who feels the same way."
When Jainaya first started, one of the girls she met was Kendall Ford – small, not the type you'd expect to take on big tackles, but fearless. Two nervous girls walked onto the field together and built confidence together. That belief shapes how Jainaya leads, how she includes new players, and how she sees the sport.
Jainaya Masunu is a rising star leader in Seattle rugby. A multi-sport athlete who refused to shrink when one door closed, a captain who brings others with her, a Pacific Northwest player proud of where she comes from and determined to leave it stronger.
"Even if I've played in other states," she says, "Washington is home. These are my people."
She may still be in high school. But she's already bringing everything back – the travel, the tough seasons, the Florida sideline moment with Kendall – and laying it down for the girls coming up behind her. Somewhere, another girl is watching, and if Jainaya has anything to say about it, she won't be watching alone for long.
