Olympic Coaches interviewed Episode 20: Victor Anfiloff 'Better people make better athletes.'

Victor Anfiloff shares the story how he wanted to pursue his childhood dream of qualifying for the Olympic Games. This childhood dream didn’t come true, as an athlete, but years later as a coach, where he coached an athlete to 2 Olympic Games. Victor describes how he believes, that the fear of failure is a detriment to finding one’s highest potential.

In this interview we discuss

? His darkest moment

? His best moment

? What advice would he give his younger self

? His coaching philosophy

? How he extracts the maximum out of someone

? His core values

? What does innovation means for him

? Which person has influenced and impacted him most as a coach and why

? How he manages a team

? How to create alignment

? Has been an athlete helped him as a coach

? His view on motivation vs. discipline

? How he chooses his support staff

? How does a typical day in a life of a technical director look like

? His view on the impact of digitalization in high-performance sports  

? Who he nominates to be interviewed

Intro: Today I'm joined by Victor Anfiloff. Victor has been nominated by David Jones in a previous interview. Victor has missed the Olympic Games as an athlete in beach volleyball. After that moved on to become Head Coach of the Dutch Women’s Beach Volleyball team in the Olympic cycle towards the London 2012 Olympics, later Performance Manager for the Dutch Beach Volleyball Team, Technical Director of Beach Volleyball Australia, and now Technical Director Badminton Netherlands. Before his role as a Head Coach for the Dutch Women’s Beach Volleyball Team, he has led his own Beach Volleyball school in Australia.

Welcome Victor.

Victor: Thank you, Christian. It’s great to be here.

Victor’s darkest moment

Christian: In your life as an athlete or coach, what was your darkest moment?

Victor: I think that every coach and athlete probably has a long list of dark moments.

Sometimes in sports you’ll have a fantastic experience but you also have a lot of deep holes. In the year 2000 I was trying to qualify for the Sydney Olympics. I had played International volleyball for 4 years and we had spent the last 2 years trying to qualify for the Sydney Olympics 2000. We played 25 events in two years, traveled all around the world and we actually had a chance to be in the Olympic Games up until the last event, event number 25. After two years of playing as hard as possible, we missed it by 10 points out of a thousand points.

After two years of playing as hard as possible, we missed it by 10 points out of a thousand points.

I wouldn't you say it was a really dark moment, because actually I gave everything that I possibly could give. I couldn't give any more, therefore I didn't feel like I hadn't done enough. But certainly, it's a moment that I reflect on a lot. I was never actually able to have the chance to play in the Olympics but I do remember in the process of having some dark moments as an athlete, where I was afraid to fail.

I gave everything that I possibly could give, and I couldn't give any more, therefore I didn't feel like I hadn't done enough.

Victor’s best moment

Christian: What was your best moment?

Victor: My best moment, there are two moments. One moment was when I became the National Coach of the Beach Volleyball team of Netherlands for the women. There's a continental process where in Europe you can win the one spot for the Olympic Games, and we ended up getting into the last phase of this and it was in Russia. This was my first time as a national coach for a national team and I remember how we had to make some difficult decisions in the tournament about how we would play it and we took some very large risks.

I spoke about the fear of failure thing, and as a coach it enabled me to empower the athletes to also have that absence of fear of failure at a moment in time where it was critical. This was the moment, if we win, we were in the Olympics. If we don't, we were not in the Olympics.

As a coach it enabled me to empower the athletes to also have that absence of fear of failure at a moment in time where it was critical.

We got the team together, we discussed how we were going to do it, everyone acknowledged there were risks, we took the risks and then we won, and we won a spot in the Olympics. We had already had one spot in the Olympics, but won a second spot.

So it was just glorious because it was a difficult decision. And in addition to that, there was one team of girls, that knew they couldn’t get to the Olympics, because they didn't have enough world ranking points.  But in the Continental System, you need two teams and so the second team that went to this tournament said we're going to play our asses off to try to get a spot for our country, knowing that the other team would go to the Olympics and they wouldn't. And they went out there,  they battled against a team that was better than them and they won. I am getting goose bumps just talking about it.

Victor’s advice to his younger self

Christian: If you could go back in time, what advice would you give to your younger self, with all the knowledge and experiences you now have, not only knowledge but also experiences?

Victor: Yes, that's quite a big question. I would say spend more time listening, really listening and the second one is to not be afraid to show vulnerability. I think that in leadership, that's an underestimated quality. Most leaders want to assume a position of strength but what I've learned is, that there is actually a lot of strength in being able to show your people that you're also human. It took me a long time to get there.

Victor’s coaching philosophy

Christian: As a coach what is your coaching philosophy?

Victor: I have quite a list of coaching philosophies but I will say that one of the things on the top of that list is that better people make better athletes. And that's something that I’ve learned the hard way, when I was only focused on the athletic performance and not focused on the whole person.

           One thing on the top of that list is that better people make better athletes.

If there are qualities that the athlete needs to perform, the person needs these qualities as well, and those qualities are not independent of each other. So if we're talking about having an athlete that is resilient, that means that the source also has to be a resilient person, and that resilience makes that person also stronger in their life.

So I now look and ask questions about the person, not just about the sport itself and that sometimes often starts with "How are you? How's it going?" I didn't ask that question probably for the first 6 years of my coaching career.

The other thing is, that there is nothing more powerful outside of trying to find the highest level of a player, than a player that believes they can. And so my role as a coach is actually to sell that belief to them as well. If they believe it and I believe it, then we're going in the right direction. So people ask me what I do. I don't coach, I sell belief.

There is nothing more powerful, than a player that believes they can. And my role as a coach is to sell that belief to them. So if people ask me what I do. I don't coach, I sell belief.

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