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Perry Baker | Tokyo 2020 Olympic Profile

Team USA rugby player Perry Baker shares his journey from college football to the Philadelphia Eagles and eventually to becoming one of the top Rugby players in the the world.

Video Transcript

[DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]

My name is Perry Baker. I grew up in Daytona Beach, Florida where football was my first love. I had an older brother and that made everything very competitive. From there I went to college, played football in college. Had a criminal justice degree and then from there I signed with the Philadelphia Eagles and due to an injury, I was cut from the team. And that's when I transitioned into rugby and fell in love with the game. I became a two time World Rugby sevens player of the year. Also a two times HSBC World Series dream team and the 2016 Olympian. I played wide receiver in high school. I also went to college and played wide receiver there. And I'll say the transition was pretty similar, I mean, like, you have to be able to have a good agility in football. Same in rugby. You got to be able to think in football. Same in rugby. The only difference was for me was the contact part, which was the tackling part. In rugby you accept the form tackle, meaning you accept the wrap up your opponent. You lead with your shoulder. In football, that wasn't the case, you know, like, you just dive to take someone's legs out and stuff. So that was like my biggest transition part for me with going into rugby.