Having left the Costa Rican jungle, Joe van Niekerk is excited for what’s next, writes SIMON BORCHARDT in SA Rugby magazine.
Joe van Niekerk needs a new nickname. Known as ‘Big Joe’ in South Africa and ‘Le Grand Joe’ in France during his 13-year professional rugby career, and then ‘Jungle Joe’ during his seven-year stay in Costa Rica, the former Springbok loose forward has entered a new phase of his life since returning to South Africa last November. Perhaps ‘Daddy Joe’?
‘When my partner Cato fell pregnant, we decided to spend some time in Cape Town,’ Van Niekerk tells SA Rugby magazine from his Noordhoek home. ‘Cato is from Belgium, so we’re going there for the birth – her parents live in Ghent – and then we’ll head back to South Africa at the end of the year. Cato loves South Africa so much that I sometimes feel she’s more South African than me!’
The couple are set to have a boy, and Van Niekerk feels ‘super ready’ to become a father.
‘I’m on the right trajectory in my life. We’ve chosen the name Ragnar for him, because he’ll be born during the year of the dragon, and we intend to raise a boy with Viking power, great strength, humility and leadership, but also with a beautiful open heart. We feel this name reflects this energy so beautifully.’
It’s certainly not your average name, but then Van Niekerk has been anything but an average Joe since retiring from rugby in 2014 after winning the French Top 14 and European Champions Cup with Toulon.
With ‘Big Joe’ suddenly gone, the then 34-year-old struggled with a loss of identity.
‘It happens to a lot of rugby players when they retire,’ says Van Niekerk. ‘They’re not in the public eye anymore and have lost something so integral to their life. One of the most challenging things is for former players to find that kind of passion again. What else can bring them that feeling of aliveness? I think that’s why a lot of them stay involved in the game, and look for ways to give back and add value.’
However, instead of doing that, or finding a new profession to throw himself into straight away, Van Niekerk spent two years of solitude in France. This did not, as some may think, involve heading into the mountains, living in a cave and not seeing a single soul for two years. For Van Niekerk, ‘solitude’ meant getting off social media and spending a lot of time by himself.
‘It was a very reflective period for me,’ he says. ‘My daily routine involved meditation, yoga and a lot of self-enquiry with questions like “Who am I?” It was like being in a cocoon of transformation.
‘Having had a very strong identity as a rugby player for many years, I had to find another passion in this life, something that could make me feel a similar way. I knew I could never replicate the feeling rugby gave me, because it’s a very unique, physical and intense sport. So I had to really go within to connect with myself and make peace with ending my rugby career.
‘It was a hard period of my life, to let that go; it’s almost like a part of you dies in that process. It was about coming to terms with it and dealing with the finality of it, while taking out all the goodness and golden nuggets from my rugby journey.
‘It was about dealing with the pain of losing my identity while trying to discover that peace within myself. It was about rediscovering what makes me a great human being and who I am. And it was about figuring out that as Joe the human being, without all of the rugby success and accolades, I am enough, I am worthy.’
During that period of solitude, someone took a photo of a much thinner Van Niekerk – he had lost 15kg – which went viral and led to speculation about his health and state of mind.
‘I didn’t take any offence to it,’ he says. ‘I was so into my inner process that it didn’t really matter to me what people said. The messages I got [from family and friends] came from a place of concern. I wasn’t on social media or talking to many people, so they just wanted to know what was happening and if I was alright.
‘The weight loss was part of my inner transformation. It sparked a desire in me to become healthier and change unhealthy patterns. I was experimenting with a vegetarian diet back then and trying to find what would give me the most balance.’
Van Niekerk emerged from solitude a much happier person.
He and his partner at the time hired a camper van and travelled from France to Amsterdam, while stopping at little towns along the way. Once in Amsterdam, they spent time in nature. They did that a couple of times, and also took a life-changing trip to Costa Rica.
‘The Costa Rican nature is incredible,’ says Van Niekerk of the Central American country. ‘The earth is so alive … we were drawn to the energy there.
‘We had started doing our own healing work and decided we wanted to contribute to humanity and the planet as much as we could. So we ended up buying a 25-hectare organic farm that had been producing fruit and vegetables for about seven years, and slowly turned it into a retreat centre, a health and wellness space.’
Over the next seven years at Rama Organica, Van Niekerk helped hundreds of people, ranging from burnt-out businessmen to physically exhausted builders.
‘We had a variety of guests, many of whom were struggling with mental health issues – I discovered that 99% of those issues stem from childhood trauma. Others were struggling with their own well-being and physical health. A lot them needed to reconnect with themselves because of the busyness of their lives and being so in their world, so they came to us to be in nature while being helped by healing modalities like sacred medicine.’
Rama Organica in Costa Rica
Van Niekerk regards those seven years as ‘a beautiful period of life’ but having entered ‘a different phase of life with a baby on the way’ he’s in the process of selling it.
However, his healing work continues in his roles as a life coach, body practitioner and holistic health mentor.
‘When I look at health and well-being these days, I take a holistic approach,’ he explains. ‘In other words, I look at it from all aspects – physical, mental, emotional and spiritual – as a whole. That’s how I’ve come to an understanding of what true health really is.’
Van Niekerk enjoys helping individuals, but says his ‘true love’ is working with bigger groups – and teams.
‘My real passion lies within sport, so I see this as potentially a new role within rugby,’ he says. ‘Rugby players have to perform at a high level, week after week, and my dream is to be a coach and health mentor to these players.
‘I would look at the human being, not the rugby player, and how his performance would improve if he was in a good space in his personal life. I would connect with each player individually and give them a safe space or haven where they can put whatever they want on the table. They would come into that space as a human being, and not have their rugby persona or identity be the main thing, or be told to be tough and strong.
‘But I’m not sure if there is a role like that within rugby structures at this moment in time …’
I point out that Bok boss Rassie Erasmus is known for thinking outside the box, and if anyone would consider creating such a role to improve team performance, it’s him.
‘I think Rassie has been so instrumental in his players’ lives,’ Van Niekerk responds. ‘He’s been a father figure to some of them in terms of how he’s guided them and been there for them. That’s one of the things Rassie’s got right – how does he motivate each guy and get each guy to play at their absolute best and keep them consistently at that apex of performance?
‘That’s what interests me – how can we make a team better, and what makes one team better than another team, especially when they’re all pretty similar in terms of things like size and speed? What gives them the edge? I’d say mental health, well-being, and what is happening in their private lives.
‘After all, rugby players are not machines, they’re human beings,’ adds Van Niekerk, who has perhaps reached a point in his life where just ‘Joe’ will do.
– Follow Van Niekerk on Instagram @junglejoe333 and visit joevanniekerk.com
– This article first appeared in the April issue of SA Rugby magazine. Subscribe here to the print or digital edition.
The post ‘Jungle Joe’ embarks on new adventure appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Src: sarugbymag.co.za
