Jaco Koch was recently appointed as the new Head of Rugby at Affies. He was appointed as 1st team coach in 2015 after five years as conditioning coach at Affies. He was appointed after well known Affies coach Sakkie vd Walt resigned.
Jaco Koch matriculated in 2002 at Hoërskool Upington where he the 1stXV as well as Griquas Craven Week for two years. In 2002 he was 1stVX captain as well as captain of the Griquas Craven Week team.
He studied Human Movement Science and Physiology at NWU while also playing rugby. He since completed his Honnors Degree in Biokinetics and Masters degree in Human Movement Science. While at NWU he represented the university and Leopards as loose head prop and captain during his u/19, u/20 and u/21 years. He also represented the Leopards Amateur team, NWU 1stXV and the SA Student team.
As u/21 player Jaco koch was the NWU Rugby Institute as well as Leopards rugby player of the year. In 2009 he was also chosen as the NWU Rugby Institute senior rugby player of the year. Jaco represented the NWU 1stXV in more than 100 games including three seasons in the Varsity Cup.
As student he was appointed as the forwards coach of Potchefstroom Gymnasium u/14 A & B and u/15 A & B teams. He also was head coach of the Patria Mens Hostel. While still a player at the Puk Rugby Institute he was also appointed as the head Biokineticist.
After a serious injury halted Jaco's rugby dreams and he was appointed as Biokineticist and Conditioning coach at Affies in 2010. Since 2010 he was also appointed as Biokineticist and Conditioning coach at the Blue Bulls Grant Khomo team as well as the u/19 Craven Week team. In 2016 he was appointed as forward coach for the Bulls u/19 Academy Week team.
Jaco Koch was appointed as coach of the 1stXV at Affies at the end of 2014. This appointment announced a new era at Affies as Jan-Hendrik Hatting was appointed as assistant coach as well. This team will again coach the Affies 1stXV in 2017. Jaco Koch was recently, Aug 2016 appointed as the new Head of Rugby at Affies.
Jaco believes that although technical and physiologically skills is important in rugby he also wants to play a major part in the player's psychological development. As a coach at a school he feels that he must participate in the education of the players and therefore help in the development and education of his players. He wants to play a big part as a mentor and "life coach".
At a school like Affies he accepts that the performance on the rugby field is very important but will rather measure his succes in the amount of boys that he helped to become a role model for others. Values like loyalty, humility, discipline, confidence, pride and passion will not only ensure success as a rugby team but also in life after rugby.
"Jaco their is some big footprints behind you of some very good coaches, we can not wait for your footprints to be even bigger." - Ruggas.co.za