Bay of Plenty sevens player Kelly Brazier used to get mad because she was a girl and wanted to play professional rugby.

As a seven-year-old growing up in Dunedin, she could often be found playing backyard rugby with her older brother Tony and his mates.

Kelly Brazier at a New Zealand Women's Sevens' training. Photo: File.

Kelly admits she used to give 'as good as she got” against the older boys but would often get mad.

'I remember growing up and playing rugby. I've got a brother who is two years older than me. I was always mad because he was a boy and I was a girl, cause you could play rugby for a living but you couldn't if you were a girl.”

She says those matches taught her a lot.

'I was the annoying little sister that followed him everywhere. I was always really little growing up and obviously my brother and his friends, being two years older, would all pick out the girl and run straight at her.

'I had to learn pretty quick. But I remember I gave a couple of his friends a bleeding nose once or twice, so I think I held by own.”

She's right, fast-forward two decades and Kelly is living the dream as a professional rugby player.

Kelly's rugby career is glittered with highs. She's played for the Black Ferns, making her debut in 2009 against England. She has 117 test points and 19 test caps for her country.

It doesn't stop there she's also been a regular in the New Zealand Sevens squad culminating in a Women's Rugby World Cup Sevens championship title in 2013.

Just to add a bit of icing on the cake, she's also played club rugby overseas in Canada.

This week, Kelly has been named in the initial New Zealand squad to contest the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

The 26-year-old is the only Bay player named in the 22 players contracted for this year. From this squad, 12 players will be selected for the New Zealand sevens team to compete at the Olympic Games.

She says it's always been a dream to compete at an Olympics but didn't think it would happen playing rugby.

'Once there was [professional rugby] for women, I thought I'd picked the wrong sport because I always wanted to go to the Olympics and now Sevens is in it too. So it's all sort of coming true I guess.”

Kelly says the team has a great mix of experience and enthusiasm and all the players, including herself, have worked hard to get selected.

'It's been pretty much three years now that some of us have been a part of the team. Each year has gotten harder and harder, especially this last year. A group of us here in the Bay have been training pretty hard.”

She says the work is only going to get harder but she is prepared to do exactly that, work hard.

Kelly moved from Dunedin to Tauranga about two years ago to further her sevens career and normally plays first-five or fullback. But the 15-a-side game for the Arataki Club has had to take a back seat obviously.

Former Steamers coach and now New Zealand Women's Sevens coach Sean Horan says he is pleased with the balance in the New Zealand squad.

'We've got some great experience which has served us really well for more than three years now. It's a solid core and we have some up and coming players who are really exciting and who will bring new energy and enthusiasm.”

Kelly's family are pretty proud of her achievements. Her brother Tony says he taught her everything she knows about rugby.

'Occasionally I'll tell her, she knows where she learnt that side-step from.”

He says their parents are always following Kelly's progress.

'I've heard [Dad] two or three o'clock in the morning streaming Kelly's [matches] over in the sevens' tournaments and I can hear him yelling at his computer. Then mum records her tournaments and watches them about 25 times.”

Kelly says she still has a number of goals she wants to attain in rugby. One is to make the Women's Rugby World Cup again, the Women's Sevens' title and then the Commonwealth Games. If her past record is anything to go by bank on them being ticked off the list.