"Might be still growing – Ilona Maher shares a hilarious anecdote amid busy schedules

Ilona Maher shared a funny and relatable moment from her life as she prepares to represent the USA women’s national rugby team, the Women’s Eagles, in the 2025 Pacific Four series. The next match is scheduled to take place on Saturday, May 17, at GIO Stadium, Canberra, Australia.

The American athlete recently shared a hilarious take that resonates with adults who suddenly find themselves needing more sleep than usual. Maher posted that she’s been getting a lot of sleep lately, 10 hours for the fourth consecutive night.

She added a humorous note to this by associating it with teenagers who often sleep a lot during growth spurts. On her Instagram story, Maher posted a selfie in a black hoodie with the caption,

"Morning I just slept for ten hours for like the fourth night in a row. Might be still growing. Who knows?"

Screenshot of Instagram story (Image via IG/@ilonamaher)

Ilona Maher recently played with the Women’s Eagles against Canada in the 2025 Pacific Four Series. The match broke the highest attendance at women’s rugby in the US, drawing 10,518 fans to the CPKC stadium. Despite the team’s strong defense, the USA lost to Canada,14-26.

After the match against Australia, the 28-year-old will focus on butting heads with team New Zealand on May 24.

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“Style has been kind of like left out of rugby, “Ilona Maher opens about fashion in sport

Ilona Maher at Allianz Premiership Women's Rugby - Source: Getty

Ilona Maher represented Team USA in Rugby Sevens at the Paris Olympics and helped the team win a bronze medal. She started playing rugby when she was seven.

In a recent episode of the House of Maher podcast, she shared that in rugby, she doesn't get many opportunities to show off her style, as she often wears team-issued gear like jerseys. She explained (0:03 onwards).

"I think, like, whenever I get the chance to look put together, I try to use it because in my job it's like I'm never able to, you know, I'm wearing team-issued gear. I'm wearing jerseys and whatnot. I mean, we don't even do like, you know, how WNBA's gotten into, like doing their walks into games where they have style and get to show their personality. I think in our sport it's not really a thing.

Maher further added,

"Only recently for the Bristol Bears did we do a day where we got to dress up and walk into the stadium together, like walk in wearing our outfits. But I think style has been kind of like left out of rugby. And I think it's slowly making its way in because, as we know, style can be such a way to show your personality as well."

Ilona Maher was also a Dancing with the Stars season 33 finalist, where she partnered with Alan Bersten.