Meet ZCHS Rugby Coach Jean-Jacques Oelofse
Photographer / Jon Ellegood
Jean-Jacques Oelofse has lived a life full of rugby.
Born in South Africa, Oelofse grew up with the sport as a major part of his life.
“In South Africa rugby is basically our main sport, so I started playing rugby at a young age,” he says. “I went to one of the top schools in South Africa for rugby, an all-boys school.”
From high school, Oelofse went on to play rugby professionally in the United Kingdom for the Leicester Tigers club. As a forward for the squad, Oelofse won the Heineken Champions Cup twice in five seasons before returning to the continent of Africa, where he was granted an opportunity to coach the Zambia national rugby team.
“Following my time in England, I moved back to South Africa and then moved out to Zambia to start doing some sawmilling and farming,” Oelofse says. “While I was there I did some coaching for a local club, which saw great success. That then got me promoted to being the coach of the national team for Zambia.”
While he was only able to coach the Zambia national team for six months before moving back to South Africa, Oelofse says his time heading up the squad was special.
“It was a fantastic experience,” Oelofse says. “It was a privilege to be asked to do it. We got to play against some of the senior teams in Africa to try and qualify for the World Cup. I got to manage the team, coach the team and build the team.”
Having worked for Wood-Mizer for several years, Oelofse eventually moved to central Indiana, where the sawmilling company was first started four decades ago. Married with two daughters, he and his family now call Stonegate in Zionsville home.
“We feel very blessed to live in Zionsville,” Oelofse says. “We think it’s a great community and a great place to bring kids up. We’ve made great friends here. It’s really a special community.”
Upon moving to Zionsville, Oelofse wanted to get more involved with the community. With his long-standing love for rugby, he decided he’d get involved with the Zionsville Community High School (ZCHS) rugby team.
“I’d wanted to be involved in the community since I arrived here,” Oelofse says. “Obviously, with a passion for rugby I had my eyes peeled to see what opportunities there were. Then I heard about the Zionsville Community High School rugby team, and I approached the club to see if I could come and help them last season.”
Now the head coach of ZCHS rugby heading into 2022, Oelofse is looking to improve on the team’s successes from last season, while also recruiting more players to the squad.
“We obviously want more numbers at the club, so we’re trying aggressively to recruit as many players as possible,” Oelofse says. “The nice thing about rugby is that anyone can play the sport. It doesn’t matter your height or your size. There’s a position for every person of different skills and different abilities.”
Looking ahead, Oelofse also hopes he can help his players find collegiate opportunities to play rugby if they’re interested.
“We have a number of kids with interest in colleges that are offering a rugby program, so we want to try and help develop them so that they can further their rugby careers at college,” Oelofse says. “Louisville is one of the colleges that has expressed an interest in some of our players.”
