RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (WHDH) - Madison Hughes is the captain of the USA Rugby Team in Rio, and his parents said they are surprised the quiet, book-smart kid ever got to be named “captain.”
Kathy Hughes said her Olympian has always loved competition.
“He likes to play and he plays to win,” she said.
That attitude helped Madison in rugby games, which he started playing at age 7.
Kathy Hughes said Madison’s modesty keeps him balanced. She said she had to drag out of him the fact that he had been named captain.
His father, Stuart, said he knows why Madison has what it takes to be a leader in break-neck rugby games.
“He keeps calm in the middle of that,” Stuart Hughes said. “I think that makes him quite unusual because you can imagine when you are hitting people, you kind of get a bit angry, and he seems to get calmer as the game goes on.”
Even though is mother is America, and his father is English, there is no question who both will root for.
“I’m actually a massive USA fan, I find it very easy to be in the stands and support USA,” Stuart Hughes said.
“He’s definitely got the US flag, I mean it’s so funny,” Madison Hughes said. “We play at the London 7’s and my dad is English, so his family is all English and his mom is standing there with a big American flag. My English grandmother is fully on board, she’s got the whole family on board.”
Madison said when they play the US national anthem before games, all his English relatives tear up as much as his American relatives.
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