Olympic coaches interviewed Episode 25: Bas de Bever ‘The team makes the individual stronger.’

Bas de Bever successful Mountain Biker, and BMX racer as an athlete, and successful Head Coach of the Dutch National BMX for 4 Olympic cycles.

I had the pleasure of working with Bas de Bever for 9 years, and there were two things that have always impressed me. How did he manage to have his athletes at the top of the world for over a decade? And second, why was there so little drama in the group, and how did he create a team of athletes, that work for each other, even though they compete in an individual sport and are actually rivals in the competitive arena.

Next to that we discuss

·      His darkest moment

·      His best moment

·      What advice would he give to a younger Bas de Bever

·      His coaching philosophy

·      His core values

·      How using MBTI or action typing helped his coaching

·      Which person has influenced him the most and why

·      How he manages a team

·      Why there is hardly any drama in his team

·      How he manages team expectations and individual expectations

·      How he managed to always have athletes at the top of the sport for over a decade

·      Has being an athlete helped his coaching

·      His take on motivation vs. discipline

·      How he chooses his support staff

·      How does a day in the life of a head coach look like

·      Who he nominates to be interviewed

·      Where can you find Bas de Bever

Intro: In this interview it’s my pleasure to interview Bas de Bever who was nominated by Raymon van der Biezen in a previous interview. I've been fortunate enough to work with Bas for the last 9 years as a strength and conditioning support during his role as a head coach for the Dutch National BMX team. Bas has been such a successful athlete himself, the most notable achievements include a bronze medal at the World Championships in Mountain Bike in 1996, Bas retired from professional cycling in 2003, and started as a Head Coach for the Dutch National BMX Team after his professional cycling career.

In his role as a head coach for the Dutch National BMX team, he is currently in his fourth Olympic cycle.

Welcome Bas.

Bas: Thanks for the invitation.

Bas’ darkest moment

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

Bas: I don't try to look at my sporting career or coaching career and emphasize on these darkest moments or best moments. Obviously, these moments do exist, and you can look at them in terms of the results, but you could also look at them based on the processes that led up to these results, and that's what I normally do.

I don't look at my sporting career or coaching career and emphasize on these darkest moments or best moments. Obviously, these moments do exist, and you can look at them in terms of the results, but you could also look at them based on the processes that led up to these results.

But if you ask me the question, “What’s your darkest moment?”, obviously Jelle's crash  which happened earlier this year is the first thing that pops up. 

But then going back to results there are a few things, there was World Championships in Holland in 2014, where no Elite man made it to the final.  That's not really what you want on your home turf at World Championships. I could name a few results that were disappointing, but I like to focus on the process, so if that doesn’t work the results don’t come.

In the 15 years that I've been doing this, you’re working on that process every day. So, every day there is a dark moment and every day there is a good moment. But in the context of the question that you've asked me, Jelle's accident is by far the darkest moment.

Every day there is a dark moment and every day there is a good moment. But in the context of the question that you've asked me, Jelle's accident is by far the darkest moment.

Bas’ best moment

Christian: What was your best moment?

Bas: I can name a few results that were really good over the last 15 years. In this case, like I had said for the darkest moment, it's the process that really attracts my attention.

I can name a few results, but it's the process that really attracts my attention.

Results could be Niek's [Kimmann] World Championship as a first-year elite in 2015, it could be the Cruiser Championship in Australia in 2009, European Championships, World Cup wins, World Cup titles, just results that we have accomplished over the year. But the underlying process before you get to that result is more interesting to me. And what goes for the darkest moment goes for the best moments, I try to find one every day or every week, every block of training, stuff like that.

Christian: One thing I have always really admired about you was, that even in the moments of defeat you could always find something positive that helped you to take the next step and move on.

Bas: Yes, but that's also my biggest downfall, I think. I always look at things from my character, from who I am, and the glass is always half-full. Obviously, that helps to give you positive energy, but it sometimes makes you deny the bad things, that you have to deal with personally or as an athlete.

I always look at things from my character, from who I am, and the glass is always half-full.

But in general, I always try to look at the negatives but really try to find the positives and connect them to my next move to improve the athlete.

Bas’advice to a younger Bas de Bever

Christian: If you could go back in time 10, 15 or 20 years, what advice would you give your younger self?

Bas: I would tell my younger self that these processes, that we've been talking about, take time. I'm a very impulsive person. I started out as a coach 15 years ago. I was an athlete for 25 years before that, and at that time, as an athlete, it was just me. When you’re an athlete, the world revolves around you; at least that’s what you think. So, if a decision was to be made, I would make one and then five minutes later we would go that way. But as a coach, it's a bit different. You still have your own views and philosophies, but you have to deal with 10, 15 athletes who are way younger with totally different personalities.

When I was an athlete, it was just me, I made a decision, and 5 minutes later, this would be the way forward. But as a coach, it’s different, you deal with 10 or 15 athletes, so starting a process takes much longer.

I would tell younger Bas to be aware, that these processes take time and don't try to force these processes to happen within a week's time. That's the biggest advice I would give myself.

Check out the full interview