Fresh off her big podium finish at the Olympics, Maher got an offer to compete on season 33 of Dancing With the Stars. She was a big fan, having grown up watching the show with her close-knit family, but the rugby star says she was “definitely hesitant” to accept. “I knew how hard it was going to be. I was not fooling myself that this would be an easy time."
But Maher has never been one to take the easy way out. "I was like, 'Okay, I want to do it, but I'm very scared to do it because I'm completely out of my comfort zone.'"
But Maher has never been one to take the easy way out. "I was like, 'Okay, I want to do it, but I'm very scared to do it because I'm completely out of my comfort zone.'"
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00:00I was definitely hesitant to do Dance With The Stars because I knew how hard it's gonna be.
00:05Come on, feel the noise.
00:08I was not fooling myself that this would be an easy time and you just get to dance.
00:11I used to watch it all the time with my family.
00:13We got to stay up late on Mondays to watch it.
00:16And I remember watching it and knowing those guys are working extremely hard.
00:20Every week they have a new dance that's crazy.
00:22And for like the past three years now my teammate Spiff has been like,
00:26Oh, you know, Alona, you gotta do Dance With The Stars.
00:28And I'd come in the locker room like, No, Spiff, that's way too hard.
00:31I can't be doing that.
00:32So when this offer came, I was like,
00:35Okay, I want to do it, but I'm also very scared to do it
00:39because it's something that I'm completely out of my comfort zone.
00:42I also felt like it'd be very hypocritical of me to not do it
00:46because I tell all these young girls to try things that could show you what your body's capable of.
00:51I tell them to, you know, play rugby and play sports.
00:54And yet here I am not wanting to try dancing
00:56because I'm afraid I might look stupid or not be able to do it.
00:59So it felt like if I'm saying it, I gotta do it as well.
01:02And I'm so happy I did. I'm learning so much.
01:04I'm having a lot of fun. It is extremely hard.
01:07I knew it. And it is exactly as I thought it was.
01:10But I think it's making me a better person.
01:13And I'm really having the time of my life.