Cassie Umali

National Athlete for the Philippine Lady Volcanoes (Rugby)

National Athlete for the Philippine Lady Punishers (American Football)

Most Valuable Player, PRFU Bostik 10s Women's Rugby League 2012

Miss Gold's Gym Philippines

Cassie Says…

My recovery routine

Splashing on some ºA-Game Aftersport Rubdown while having a long cooldown stretch and every week I get a 1.5 hour full body sports massage.

Post-game meal

A juicy medium rare steak, it can be either lamb or beef.

Favorite athletes

Leila Barros. I grew up watching her play world class volleyball. She was graceful power, smarts and beauty all rolled into one! 

What's in my gym bag?

Resistance bands, 2-in-1 foam roller, water bottle, snacks, change of clothes, towel, toiletries, hair tie, training gloves, pocket knife, pad lock, rubber shoes/football cleats, GoPro, monopod, and of course my ºA-Game.

I get my motivation from?

Within. Whenever you want something in life it always starts within yourself first, before it can materialize into something of greatness. It all begins with a dream and that's what motivates me to wake up every morning.

If I wasn't playing rugby, I would most likely be…?

I would most likely be playing a load of other sports. Which I still do since I rotate my sports every season from ultimate frisbee, soccer, touch, American football etc. All that plus traveling to the beautiful and adventurous destinations across the globe.

I never leave the house without…?

My smartphone. It's now become an essential tool for my job as a fitness ambassador in inspiring the world with my #cASSpiration #Fitspiration and just getting around the metro when I use Waze.

People don't know this, but I

I do dance class workouts more than I do weights training! 

I unwind by

Meditating and doing yoga. People underestimate the benefits of having good flexibility and balance to be a better athlete. It's also injury prevention. Plus the meditation helps me focus back to being positively calm after aggressively tackling opponents out on the rugby pitch. 

My cheat day meal of choice

Fried chicken with extra chicken skin on the side. :)

My nickname

My close friends call me just Cass or sometimes by my fitspiration name cASSpiration since they're the ones who coined that hashtag for me. 

I want my legacy to be

Creating an advocacy to teach women basic self-defense which also empowers them and even keeps them fit simultaneously. It's what I consider hitting 3 birds with 1 stone. I thought about this advocacy over a year ago and by talking about it, I've come across other women and even men who also believe in the concept. So at this present being we've collaborated with Dojo Drifter on putting together the "Fight Like a Girl" campaign. In the hopes that we get the word out there, that women have our own strengths and we can fight if needed to because you never know what dangers we might come across just going about our everyday lives in the world. But at the same time also educating the younger generations on equality and respecting one another. So that some day women won't need to fight back because there wouldn't be conflict and abuse to begin with.