• Agile Coach

This is what brings Scrum Master Tim Veldt to the Olympics

Team pursuit, keirin, sprint, omnium or pair race. Anyone who turns on the television these weeks will see orange stripes flashing across the screen. Is it a bird, is it a plain? No, it is the track cyclists of TeamNL competing for medals at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. We at Scrum Academy have developed a particular fondness for track cycling. Why do you ask? Fellow trainer and Scrum Master Tim Veldt has a great track cycling career on his resume and now coaches top athletes like Kirsten Wild, Jeffrey Hoogland, Harrie Lavreysen and Laurine van Riessen along the track in Tokyo. In this article, (top) athlete, sports coach and Scrum Master Tim Veldt talks about why working Agile, both in business and on the track, will help you strike gold.

“Top sports and business can learn a lot from each other and inspire each other. Both worlds are all about top performance”

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. Well-considered: “I deliberately took six months to talk to a lot of different people and discover 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 Tim Veldt and Agile trainer Gert-Jan 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 Trainer and Scrum Master, Tim Veldt has been practicing top sport at Scrum Academy for many years now. His experience in top sport and business therefore he continues to enjoy using it for various clients of Scrum Academy. And proof that Scrum Academy pros don’t like to sit still? Tim is also coach at BEAT Cycling club, an international cycling club and also purveyor of the Olympic Games with cyclists Laurine van Riessen, Matthijs Büchli, Yoeri Havik and Jan-Willem van Schip.

“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, as was recently revealed about the coach of the Dutch Hockey team. But with his experience, Tim takes a different approach as a coach, as a Scrum Master, as a trainer, as a human being and certainly at the Games in Tokyo. 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 became a pro and later a coach? Continually keep tuning up and continuously wanting to improve.”