Janne: Thijs, thank you for taking the time to chat with us today. Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Thijs: My name is Thijs Rentier, I am 30 years old and live in Zierikzee (Zeeland, The Netherlands) together with my girlfriend. I am a sport psychologist and the business owner of Thijs Rentier – Sport Psychology and Coaching. I was born and raised in Zeeland and despite having lived in Amsterdam during my studies, the quiet serene nature of Zeeland called me back after graduation. I have always enjoyed playing football (soccer) and used to play for the youth academy JVOZ (Jeugd Voetbal Opleiding Zeeland) whose aim is to develop young talent and facilitate the possibility of a transfer to a professional club. Besides football, I have a broad interest in both watching and participating in many sports. So for me, this past summer was a really interesting summer filled with amazing performances in the Olympic Games and the European championships. Furthermore, other hobbies I have include gardening, particularly in my vegetable garden, and I enjoy cooking! My hobbies act as a form of self-care to help me to recover mentally from a work day. It’s also a way to “practice what I preach” as I often recommend to my clients to engage in other activities unrelated to their sport or performance.

Janne: When did you realize you wanted to pursue an education and a career in sport psychology?

Thijs: When I was a teenager playing football at JVOZ, I realized that to become a professional football player I needed more than just great football skills to balance my secondary school life with the competitive requirements of the sport I loved. I remember after getting injured I completed the necessary return to play protocols. During the protocol I worked with physical therapists and coaches to get my physical fitness and ability back, but no attention was given to the mental side of returning to play. Once I had been cleared to play, my first game back I noticed I was afraid of getting reinjured. This experience led me to seek out the help of a sport psychologist. The work we did helped me feel free on the pitch to compete and cope with the pressures. I then realized that youth talent development programs needed to focus more on the mental aspects of competing. This experience was a pivotal moment in my personal life that sparked my continued interest in the field of sport psychology.

Janne: You mentioned that you attended a university preparation secondary school. What did your educational journey look like to get to where you are today?

Thijs: I started my bachelor’s degree in psychology at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam. In the third year you have to pick a specialization/direction and I chose organizational psychology. I had already envisioned my pathway to sport psychology, so therefore I chose organizational psychology as it has a lot in common with sport psychology, specifically the motivational theories. I graduated after three years with my bachelor’s and completed some additional sport psychology courses in order to apply for the Master of Sport and Performance Psychology at the University of Amsterdam. The master’s program at the time was quite competitive as it only accepted 20 students due to the limited amount of work for sport psychology professionals in the Netherlands. Luckily, I was accepted to the program and completed my internship with the Ado Den Haag (a professional football club) youth academy, for whom I still work with today. This was a key experience that helped kickstart my professional career in sport psychology.

During my master’s one of the first things they mentioned was that “if you wanted to become a full time sport psychologist, you have to create it yourself.” This is quite a challenging task, but I am enjoying the challenge and know this is what I want. After completing my master’s my goal was to become a full-time sport psychologist within five years. This goal helped me to not put too much pressure on finding full time work within the first few years after graduating. So, I funneled all my energy, focus, and time into building my own sport psychology business. Luckily, I was able to start out at Ado Den Haag with their youth academy and reconnect with coaches from my past sport network.

Janne: You mentioned utilizing your network. You are currently a practicing sport psychologist and business owner in Zeeland, The Netherlands. What does utilizing your network look like? And how does it influence your day to day?

Thijs: It’s kind of a cliché, but every day is different. During my master’s there wasn’t a lot of emphasis on the business side of being a sport psychologist. So, I had to navigate what it takes to be a business owner, which includes doing things right and making mistakes along the way. Part of my experience being a business owner has led to connecting with other businesses in the area and working with a business coach to help me build up my own practice. I do most things myself but outsource the bookkeeping and ask the right people for advice or direction when I need it (e.g., my website). It’s good to develop yourself in those kinds of skills.

My day-to-day looks different every day, but there is a weekly routine with individual sessions, team sessions, and a day for back office administration built in. This routine varies depending on if I give workshops for teams or parents as these usually happen in the evening. This was one of the eye openers for me when I started. It’s not normal to work a 9-5. In the beginning I felt like I had to be productive when my girlfriend left for work at 8:30 and then continue to be productive till the end of the day, which is easy to do as a business owner and a sport psychologist. There is always more literature you could be reading or new interventions to research or cool things to do with your website. It was a challenge for me to keep my work-life balance, but I’ve learned to fit in self-care and rest, often through my hobbies. I feel more focused on my work when I take care of my mental space. Like we discussed in the beginning, it’s important to practice what you preach. I “work” as a sport psychologist but it’s not that “I am” a sport psychologist. There is a big difference. This also translates over to the athletes that I work with. You are “not only an athlete, you are you and part of that is sport.” It can be problematic when you equate your performance to your identity.

Janne: From an international perspective, much of sport psychology research is published in English. How do you utilize research published in English when working with Dutch speaking clients? Are there some of the challenges?

Thijs: Good question. While I was doing my master’s we worked in groups with a problem-based learning approach. We read the literature in English and then discussed it in our groups in Dutch. This was a good start to understanding the underlying theories and then translate it into your own words. I also try to engage in “intervision” with some colleagues five times a year where we discuss cases or new research/theories. This helps a lot when trying to understand new published work in English while discussing it in Dutch.

Overall, in my work with clients, I don’t often need to discuss how theories work but instead explain how the mechanism works and how they can utilize it in their performance. For example, when I discuss a growth mindset, I’m not explaining the term growth mindset but instead I try to pay attention to the principles of developing a growth mindset. There is a danger that clients can develop a false growth mindset by being told they need one – the clients telling themselves they have one, meanwhile their behaviors say otherwise. I think this is a good example of why underlying mechanisms and principles are more important to understand than direct translation of theories. Of course, some clients are interested in the underlying constructs, but most of the time it isn’t a huge challenge for me. Besides, Dutch people are often quite good at understanding English!

Janne: Having experience working with international athletes, what is some advice you could give to a novice sport psychologist/mental performance consultant working with this group for the first time?

Thijs: My advice would be the same as starting any new client interaction. Get to know the person behind the athlete. Once you get to know the athlete, then ask questions to learn about their culture and what some of the differences might be. For example, differences in training systems or coaching hierarchy. I don’t think you have to necessarily change your approach but getting to know your client needs more emphasis. This is so that you and your client can accept that there might be differences, and you can work together to address underlying issues. Coming to a mutual understanding that there are going to be differences is okay.

Janne: Lastly, are there any sport psychology skills you utilize personally that you recommend to the readers?

Thijs: Yes, after my master’s I completed some courses in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) which has changed the way I personally approach my work with my clients. I found there to be a lot of eye-openers in ACT. I think nowadays we too often try to think only positively, and to have no negative or uncomfortable thoughts or feelings. I believe this to be a misconception in sports or in life. When you are competing with others in a high performance environment, it’s only natural to have uncomfortable thoughts. I prefer to frame it as uncomfortable thoughts instead of labeling them as negative thoughts and feelings.
I believe diffusion techniques are good skills to have to embrace the uncomfortable thoughts that arise. For example, giving a nickname to your mind. So that it’s not you saying “I can’t make mistakes” instead it’s Hank saying, “you can’t make mistakes.” That way you can diffuse your thoughts and behaviors and try to formulate for yourself how you want to behave with all your thoughts and feelings. “Despite being nervous, I can still play a great game.” In that way, self-confidence is more of a consequence of your actions, not something you have or don’t in order to complete the action. Instead of fighting to control your thoughts you can redirect your focus onto the task at hand. Looking back into my past while playing football, I realized I was often fighting against these thoughts. Even now, I notice that since I have been labeled as a sport psychologist, I, therefore, need to be successful. I learned to diffuse these thoughts and make choices for the long term. This includes setting professional boundaries and not over committing myself for work that could be detrimental. My mission is to normalize mental training and coaching, not only when problems arise but as a preventative skill.