Stacey Fluhler

Stacey Fluhler (née Waaka; born 3 November 1995) is a New Zealand rugby union player. She plays fifteen-a-side and seven-a-side rugby union, and is a member of the New Zealand Women's Sevens team and New Zealand Women's National Rugby Union team. Fluhler was a member of the New Zealand Women's Sevens team when they won a gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. She was also a member of the New Zealand fifteen-a-side team which won the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup and the 2021 Women's Rugby World Cup.

Early life
Fluhler was born Stacey Jamie Aroha Kirsten Waaka on 3 November 1995 in Papakura, New Zealand to Raewyn (née Allan) and Simon Waaka. She has four older siblings, Shannon, Bronson and Beaudein and was the only one born in New Zealand as her parents moved the family moved back and forth between Australia and Auckland several times. When she was one years old the family moved back to Australia, and lived in Melbourne for eight years. One Christmas, she and her brother Beaudein spent time with their grandmother Kiri on the farm and didn't want to leave. As a result, her parents decided to move back permanently in 2005 to farm in Ruatoki in the eastern Bay of Plenty.

Her father had 17 siblings, and as a result Fluhler has more than 70 first cousins, many of them resident in the area around Ruatoki Her father played rugby and so did her brothers, while her sister played netball and mother in her youth played athletics, gymnastics, tennis and netball.

in 2011, at the age of 15 Fluhler was on her way home in a school bus near Ruatoki when it was hit from behind by an unladen truck. The impact was sufficient to throw her from her seat, and she came to lying in the aisle of the bus, on top of other children. Using her cellphone she called the police for help before assisting some of the injured children off the bus, including her niece and nephew, She then walked to a nearby Matariki Early Childhood Centre to telephone her mother before returning to the crash site where she helped other children. In all 36 people were injured with 28 taken to hospitals, many of them with broken bones. Fluhler received lacerations to her legs which prevented her playing sports for a few months.

Rugby career
By the age of 15 Fluhler was a New Zealand touch youth international and promising netball player.

While encouraged to consider playing rugby by friends and coaches at school she rejected the game as she had her heart set on representing New Zealand at netball. After she heard through ads on TV in 2012 for the "Go for Gold" programme that Sevens rugby was to be an Olympic sport, she realised she could have an opportunity to play rugby full-time. As a result, despite some concerns over tackling she decided to give rugby a go. At the age of 16 she was one of the 800 young women who attended the "Go for Gold" Sevens trials in 2012 organised to identify talent with the potential to represent New Zealand in the Sevens competition at the Rio Olympics. At the trial she attended she was put through various fitness, rugby skills and character assessment activities. However she wasn't prepared to commit to the Sevens as she wanted to enjoy high school. It wasn't until she began playing for the Waikato women's team that she was noticed in 2014 and was invited to attend a couple of Sevens training camps.

Fluhler debuted for the Black Ferns in 2015, the same year her brother Beaudein Waaka made his Rugby sevens debut for New Zealand.

In 2016, she was selected for the development squad for the women's sevens and made her international debut in that form of the game.

Fluhler was a member of the victorious 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup squad. That year she graduated from the University of Waikato in the Bachelor of Sport and Leisure Studies with a major in Sport Management.

With Portia Woodman out of commission since October 2018 as a result of an Achilles tendon injury Fluhler filled her shoes to become the dominant try scorer during the 2018–19 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series season. She was also selected for four out of five Dream Teams and was also awarded two Impact Player of the Tournament titles. It was during this period that she acquired the nickname "The Smiling Assassin".

Fluhler was named in the Black Ferns Sevens squad for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. She won a bronze medal at the event. She later won a silver medal at the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens in Cape Town.

2021 Rugby World Cup
Fluhler made the Black Ferns 32-player squad for the 2021 Rugby World Cup. She scored a try in the tense 25–24 semi-final clash with France.

In the final against England she scored a try at the start of the second half and later made a skilled offload that allowed Ayesha Leti-I’iga to score in the 72nd minute. After incurring an ankle injury during this action she was forced to leave the field. The Black Ferns went on to claim their sixth Rugby World Cup title. For her efforts she was named player of the match. The recovery from the injury delayed her return to sevens duty until the Hamilton tournament, which was the third in the 2022-23 season.

2023 Premier Rugby Sevens
In May 2023, Fluhler announced she was going to play for Premier Rugby Sevens in the United States. Fluhler signed with the New York Locals where she played alongside Black Fern teammates Manaia Nuku and Tenika Willson.

Fluhler and the Locals finished the 2023 PR7s season in second place after going 3-3 on the year. Fluhler captained the Locals, totaling 15 points, 14 carries, 13 tackles, 4 steals, and 3 tries.

The Locals took second at the Eastern Conference Kickoff at Q2 Stadium in Austin, Tx. and the Eastern Conference Finals at Highmark Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pa. where New York punched their ticket to the PR7s Championship Tournament in Washington, D.C.

At the Championship, they defeated their Eastern Conference rival the Southern Headliners to advance to the title match. The Locals fell 21-10 to the Northern Loonies in the finals, ending the season in second place.

Return to New Zealand sevens duty
She returned to the New Zealand sevens team for the 2023-24 season and played in the first three tournaments before a calf injury forced her to miss the Vancouver and Los Angeles tournaments.

Fluhler announced in early March 2024 that after the Paris Olympics she had agreed to play rugby league for the Brisbane Broncos in the NRLW. As she is contracted to New Zealand Rugby through to 2026 she would remain available to play sevens as the respective codes' seasons don’t overlap.

During the pool play game against Great Britain at the Madrid tournament held on 31 May–2 June 2024, Fluhler scored her one hundredth try in the seven series.

On 20 June 2024 it was announced that she had been selected as a member of the New Zealand Women’s Rugby Sevens team for the Paris Olympics.

Television career
Alongside Liam Messam and Erena Mikaere, Fluhler was presenter in 2021 on Te Ao Toa, a weekly sports show on Maori TV.

Awards and honours
Fluhler won the Junior Māori Sportswoman of the Year award in 2015.

Because of the courage she had shown during a bus crash in 2011 Fluhler was selected in 2019 by World Rugby to be a member of The Unstoppables XV. This was a team of women who've overcome barriers to participate in rugby. It was part of the year long initiative to boost the profile of the women's game globally.

At the 2020 World Rugby Sevens Series Awards Fluhler won the impact player award, the top try scorer awards and was selected as a member of that year's women's dream team.

At the 2023 World Rugby Sevens Series Awards Fluhler was named as a member of the 2023 women's dream team.

Personal life
Of Māori descent, she affiliates to the Ngāi Tūhoe iwi. She married Ricky Fluhler in late 2019. They separated in early 2023, and Waaka now uses her birth name again.