Ilona Maher shares a glimpse of Bristol Bears teammates' reactions to 'hype' songs as she reveals their pre-game playlist

Bristol Bears centre and two-time Olympian Ilona Maher shared a glimpse of her teammates singing different songs through one of her recent posts on Instagram.

The US women's rugby star revealed the songs her teammates listen to and sing before their games. The team tuned in to different songs throughout the video and sang them to stay motivated. To maintain their mindset, the Bears preferred songs like the Riff Off from the movie Pitch Perfect.

"What do you know about the riff-off from Pitch Perfect?," she wrote in her caption.

“Them: what do you listen to to get hype before a game? My teammates: umm…,” read the text in the video.

In December last year, Ilona Maher joined Premiership Women's Rugby League side Bristol Bears on a three-month contract. Her arrival in the league was favourably received as her debut match garnered increased demands for tickets . Following this the game had to be rescheduled to a different venue to accommodate a larger crowd. Although the Bears lost their match against Gloucester-Hartpury Women, they won their next against the Exeter Chiefs.

Maher completed her first try for the team in her full debut match against the Chiefs. The Bristol Bears have also qualified for the Premiership Women’s Rugby semi-finals after defeating the Harlequins. They will face Gloucester-Hartpury once again for the playoff semi-final match.

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Ilona Maher reflects on her mindset while learning to play rugby

Ilona Maher at the Harlequins v Bristol Bears - Premiership Women's Rugby - Source: Getty

Ilona Maher started playing rugby at the age of 17 at the South Burlington School Rugby Football Club. She was then recruited to play for the Quinnipiac Bobcats with whom she won three National Intercollegiate Rugby Association championships. During her appearance in The Comment Section with Drew Afualo, Maher shared her thoughts on her athletic mindset.

“I've always had like a mind of an athlete. I guess I could always pick, like you could go to a sport be like 'Okay I kind of understand the little bits, how it gets it’ you understand, like fields awareness. Even when I play sports now, I just don't understand people who don't get sports, like even playing ‘What's the spike ball?' I'm like, 'This is your first time?’ you know, it's just, I don't get it,” she shared [11:14 onwards].

Maher was nominated for the NIRA All-American team consecutively for three years and was also honored with the MA Sorensen Award (2017), which is awarded annually to the top women's collegiate rugby player in the United States. The center of the USA Eagles shared that she has a clear understanding of sports, as she has the mentality of an athlete.