If you’re into adorable accents and sports where the players have to wear teeny tiny shorts then you will love this week’s Campus Celebrity. Jackson Muir is a third year foreign exchange student all the way from Auckland, New Zealand. Not only is he foreign, but he’s also on the rugby team! We were lucky enough to sit down with him and pretend to understand what he was saying because honestly – that accent is thick.
What brought you here to UCLA?
I was at the University of Otago in New Zealand and my school gave me a scholarship in order to study abroad. I first started in Barcelona and then came over here to play rugby for UCLA.
When did you start playing rugby?
I started playing when I was 5 because my dad had played before, so I naturally started playing. My position is called wing, which is the guy on the outside who’s usually the fastest on the team.
How was the assimilation onto the rugby team?
There are a lot of foreign players on the team like myself, so it wasn’t too difficult, and when I made the squad it was easy to make friends with the guys on the team. It was pretty difficult starting back as a rookie though.
Do you have any pre-game rituals?
I always listen to the song Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield before playing a big game to calm my nerves.
What’s the worst injury you’ve ever gotten from playing the sport?
I’ve broken and dislocated quite a few bones, but once when I was 17, I got knocked out so badly that I woke up in the hospital.