• Scrum Master

Tim Veldt: From Medalist to Scrum Master

Teun Mulder’s wheels take the inside bend, Theo Bos pounding the pedals right behind him. Shortly behind, track cyclist Tim Veldt rides the boards to splinters. Together they take silver on the team sprint at the 2005 World Championships. After a successful top sports career with multiple medals, Tim Veldt steps off the saddle in 2016 and develops as a Scrum Master. What do elite sports and Agile working have in common? Or where do these worlds differ? Starting shot.

New team sprint

Over 14 years of elite sports. Specialist in sprint events. Medals at National Championships, European Championships and World Championships. Being part of successful trio on the team sprint. Let’s safely call that a successful top sports career as a track cyclist. And yet for Tim Veldt there comes a time when his focus shifts to a different kind of career. Deliberately, “I deliberately took six months to talk to a lot of different people and find out what was going on outside the sport.” Tim picks up training, an Agile training in this case. This is also where the first meeting between track cyclist Veldt and Agile trainer Danenberg takes place. Tim sees comparisons with top sports, sees interesting differences and, above all, sees opportunities. Soon a new starting shot sounds for the Scrum Master-to-be.

“You have to be in front of the group, always sharp and deliver top performance. That brings out the top athlete in me.”

Then there comes that very first time as a trainer in front of the group. A new experience for a new trainer. And a new meaning for the term team sprint. Yet even here the experience in top sports comes in handy. The healthy dose of competitive tension feels familiar and ensures good focus. First meters of a new career are made.

Agile track cycling

False start: we’re getting past something! Because actually, Tim is already introduced to Agile methodologies and training forms during track cycling. Sports physiologist Jos Geijsel is the one who contributes to this exponentially. He is the one who adapts Tim’s training schedule, makes sprints out of sprints, introduces retrospectives and regularly tests his pupil “competitively. It makes the pro track cyclist faster, more agile and more successful.

“Look, often cyclists say after a race that they had ‘bad legs,’ but that’s too abstract. You so put it outside yourself when you should be looking even more closely at yourself and the process. Our Agile approach in training allowed me to work towards a peak moment in a very focused and realistic way.”

To-Do

As a Trainer and Scrum Master, Tim Veldt has been practicing top sport at Scrum Academy for many years now. So he continues to enjoy using his experience in top sport and business. Recently, he also became a Scrum Master at Albert Heijn. And proof that the pros at Scrum Academy don’t like to sit still? Tim is also a coach at BEAT Cycling club, an international cycling club that includes former colleague Theo Bos. “The connection to sports will always remain. Working Agile and working as a Scrum Master also makes me a better cycling coach.” In many sports teams, coaches are portrayed as all-knowing decision makers. With his experience, Tim takes a different approach: as a sports coach, as a Scrum Master, as a trainer and as a human being. Together towards the next team sprints and podium places.

“Cycling is simple, anyone can do it. But what has always motivated me tremendously and why I turned pro? Continually staying tuned and continuously wanting to improve.”