Olive Kilifi returns home, looking for one more title with the Seawolves

Olive “Ollie” Kilifi thought he was done playing rugby after a long and illustrious career.

But when his hometown team came calling after some injuries, Kilifi couldn’t say no, and the 37-year-old prop (comparable to a football lineman) has helped lead the Seattle Seawolves to a 6-1 start in the Major League Rugby season, the best record in the league.

Kilifi is no stranger to Seawolves fans and rugby fans in general, having been part of Seattle’s two titles in the league’s first two seasons (2018, 2019) and playing 31 times for the U.S. national team.

Kilifi played the past three seasons with the Utah Warriors after the Seawolves traded him. He said finishing his career with the Seawolves just seems right.

“The big reason why I came back is this is more of a closure,” Kilifi said. “If I’m going to finish, I would rather finish at home.”

While much of Kilifi’s family still lives in the Seattle area, he and wife Loiti and their six children — four boys and two girls ranging from 4 to 13 — live in Utah. His children were also happy to see their dad finish up in Seattle, and they are big Seawolves fans.

“I’d like to be able to inspire my kids to believe in something and their dreams,” he said. “I am fortunate to play a position, prop, where you can play at an older age. Other positions, it’s kind of tough.”

The reunion has certainly worked for both sides.

“He’s still got that appetite to perform,” Seawolves coach Allen Clarke said of Kilifi. “So we’re delighted to have him as part of the group and obviously he’s got family connections in this area. Seattle rugby and the Seawolves are important to him. Players can look up to him because of what he has done over his career and what he’s still doing.”

Kilifi, of Samoan and Tongan descent, said he comes from a rugby family and he grew up in the game. He played several sports at Evergreen High School in White Center and Tyee High School in SeaTac, including football, wrestling and track and field, but rugby was always special.

“It’s very different than American sports,” he said. “After games, you will buy your opponents a beer, you will talk with them and you will get to know your opponents. In American football, you almost hated your opponents. In rugby, you play hard on the field, but off the field my opponents are some of my best friends.”

Kilifi also credits rugby with helping him stay out of trouble while growing up in White Center with a single mom.

“She was really trying to keep me active in sports, and the rugby program was kind of meant to keep kids off the street,” Kilifi said. “A lot of the kids that I didn’t play [rugby] with are either locked up or they have passed away.”

Kilifi continued to play rugby after high school while also working in construction and later in the plumbing industry.

He played rugby for the U.S. national team from 2013-19 and he participated in two rugby World Cups. Kilifi’s size (5 feet 11, 260 pounds) and power helped him become one of the best players in the country.

“It was a great experience traveling to different places all over the world and seeing how people play rugby in different parts of the world,” he said. For instance, in the Southern Hemisphere, “it’s a lot faster.”

Kilifi said his first two seasons with the Seawolves were special, not only because of the titles, but also the closeness of the players on the team. Kilifi said he sees a lot of similarities with this year’s team.

Clarke said Kilifi is helping the team with his plays and with his mentorship of younger players.

“He emphasizes to them the importance of getting the best out of yourself, what it takes to get the best out of yourself and the consistency that’s required to make it to the top,” Clarke said.

Kilifi said rugby will always be a big part of his life. His children play it, and he has helped coach the national under-18 team. He is also ready for the next phase of life and is finishing up his degree in business administration at BYU Idaho.

But for now, he’s enjoying playing and would love to win one more title with the Seawolves.

“That would be amazing, and I would for sure be done after that,” he said.