Alaska's hockey rinks and soccer pitches turned Kelter into an Olympic rugby player

Alev Kelter will get her 15 minutes of fame, and then some, at the Rio Games.

One of the most versatile athletes to come out of Alaska, Kelter will make her Olympic debut in a sport that is also making its Olympic debut – rugby sevens.

Rugby sevens has the potential to become one of the breakout sports at Brazil – it's physical, it's action-packed, and you don't need to plan your whole day around it. An entire game lasts 15 minutes – two seven-minute halves separated by a one-minute halftime.

Kelter, 25, is a scrum half who is a top player on the young United States team. She's only been playing rugby for about two years, but her natural athleticism made her an instant contributor.

So did the skills Kelter acquired while starring in soccer and ice hockey in high school and college.

She was a three-sport athlete at Chugiak High, was chosen to play on national age-group teams in soccer and hockey and competed at the University of Wisconsin in Division I soccer and hockey.

"If I could give advice to any kid," she said, "it'd be to continue to play as many sports as you can. I've learned a lot of things from every sport that I played and not one is as fun as rugby. It truly is this mash of every sport.

"I think soccer has helped me tremendously in the rugby kicking game and hockey's helped me in the physical aspect of rugby," Kelter said. "The dynamic that the two play in rugby is kind of the perfect match — a little bit of physicality, a little bit of agility, a little bit of support lines, running lines — it's all basically the same."

Kelter came to rugby after hockey broke her heart.

She gave up her final season of college soccer to concentrate on her bid to make the 2014 Olympic hockey team, but she didn't make the cut.

It was a devastating blow.

"Think about something you've been working for since you were 12 or 13 continuously, religiously, and understanding that this is first chance that you can be in the Olympics and having that shattered in a single 'no,' " she said.

Her anguish gave way to eagerness when she got a call from a U.S. rugby coach who was looking for cross-over athletes – that is, standout athletes from other sports willing to give rugby a try.

Kelter jumped at the chance, and rugby became her road to Rio.

Near the end of her first year with the team, she was named to an all-star team at a London tournament. That's when she started chasing a new Olympic dream.

"I kind of realized how this is a reality," she said, "not just something that is farfetched."

Reporter Stephan Wiebe contributed to this story.