COQUILLARD Andre Jin

General
COMMITTED TO THE NATIONAL TEAM
In 2018 he signed a contract to play rugby union [15-a-side] for Major League Rugby side Seattle Seawolves in the United States of America. Despite the club wanting to renew his contract, he decided to return to the Republic of Korea at the end of the year in order to concentrate on playing for the Korean rugby sevens team. "What I found to be more important to me was the Korean national team, and it was hard to go back and forth. So I just didn't re-sign there and committed to Korean rugby at the end of 2018." (seattleseawolves.com, 27 Apr 2018; news.sbs.co.kr, 31 Aug 2017; koreajoongangdaily.joins.com, 01 Apr 2020)

MOVE BACK TO REPUBLIC OF KOREA
Born in Seoul, Republic of Korea, to a US father and a Korean mother, he spent his early years moving around Asia due to his father's work commitments. He relocated to Canada in 2006 to join a boarding school, before moving on to study in the United States of America. In 2014 he relocated to Shanghai, People's Republic of China, to work in sports marketing. During his time in Shanghai, he enquired about the possibility of representing the Republic of Korea, and moved back to the country in 2017 to pursue a career in rugby sevens. "I played rugby with a club in Shanghai as a hobby. We had a match against a club from Hong Kong, and one staff member told me about my talent for the sport and potential to play for Hong Kong. In the same week, I watched the rugby sevens international tournament in Hong Kong, and found the Republic of Korea rugby sevens team. I had never seen them before. And I thought, 'Oh wait a minute. I was born in the Republic of Korea, I have a Korean mother. And I've always deep down felt that I was Korean'. I knew someone in the Korea Rugby Union, and got in touch. Once I started playing some games for Korea, I took an extended break from my company in Shanghai. The coaching staff and the union kind of convinced me, 'You know you are young, so let's do this. You can be part of our rugby history'. That's when I got back to Shanghai, quit my job and packed my bags for the Republic of Korea." (koreajoongangdaily.joins.com, 01 Apr 2020; sports.chosun.com, 20 Jan 2020; sports.khan.co.kr, 02 Jan 2020; mengnews.joins.com, 11 Dec 2019; news.joins.com, 03 Dec 2019; KBS World Radio, 25 Dec 2019; donga.com, 28 Nov 2019; english.hani.co.kr, 15 May 2015; news.sbs.co.kr, 31 Aug 2017)