Jen Kish

Jennifer "Jen" Kish (born July 7, 1988) is a Canadian former rugby union player. She was a member of Canada's women's sevens team that were runners-up at the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens in Russia. Kish captained the sevens squad from 2012-2016 until she left the centralized program and while still player, she was replaced by Ghislaine Landry. She is known for her aerial skills and defence (and her ink

Rugby 15s Kish's dream of being an elite athlete started at an early age and in Grade 2, she put down "professional athlete" as her future profession Kish started rugby in Grade 10 at W. P. Wagner High School in Edmonton because her football coach was a rugby player and suggested she should try the sport.

Kish typically played flanker and occasionally 8-man. After the 2010 World Cup, John Tait invited Kish to a sevens camp. In 2013, Kish captained Canada to silver at the 2013 Women's Rugby World Cup.

In 2016, she was named to Canada's first ever women's rugby sevens Olympic team, which won the bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Her favourite pre-match tune is "Watch Me Rise" by Mikky Ekko. Upon the end of her sevens career, Kish played in 134 matches and scored 170 points (34 tries).

In 2019, Kish was on the World Rugby Men's Sevens Player of the Year award and the World Rugby Women's Sevens Player of the Year award voting panels.

Personal life Kish is openly lesbian. During May 2018, Kish was part of a group of four female athletes, including Cassie Campbell, Fran Rider and Kerrin Lee-Gartner to publicly pledge their brain to a Canadian research centre. The posthumous donation shall be made to Toronto Western Hospital's Canadian Concussion Centre to further research on the effect of trauma on women's brains.

Kish married two-spirit Mohawk (Six Nations of The Grand River) musician Shawnee in 2021. They were married in Edmonton, Alberta by former Premier Rachel Notley.