About Maayke

About Me

I’m Maayke van der Pluijm, a sports psychologist and mental coach with over 20 years of experience helping athletes, teams, and professionals achieve sustainable high performance. My background in both sport and corporate environments enables me to connect deeply with clients navigating high-pressure situations.

I take a direct and pragmatic approach, always prioritizing the athlete’s interests. My work involves observing and supporting athletes in action—during practice and competition—ensuring tailored, actionable strategies.

Recent Projects

  • Swiss Sailing Team: Mental coach for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
  • Alinghi Red Bull Racing: Head of Mental Performance for the 37th America’s Cup.

Education & Certifications

  • DAS Sport Psychology, UNIL (2020)
  • Certified Personal Coach, ICF (2017)
  • Mental Game Coach, IMGCA (2016)
  • MSc Psychology, Leiden University (1999)
    (Full list available upon request.)

Personal Life

I live in Coppet, Switzerland, with my husband and our 14-year-old daughter. We share a love for the mountains and the water, spending our time skiing, hiking, kitesurfing, and, when possible, catching waves. In spring and summer, I enjoy training for triathlons. Family and friends are central to my life, and I value the time we spend together.

Personal Passions

A lifelong athlete, I specialize in endurance sports and mountaineering, with achievements in alpinism, ski mountaineering, and triathlons, including representing the Netherlands at the ETU Triathlon European Championships. I’m also an avid kite-surfer.

Clients

I work with athletes across all levels and sports, including alpine skiing, triathlon, trail running, golf, motorsports, parasports, and sailing. I collaborate with federations such as Swiss Sailing and international organizations like UEFA and UCI.

Teaching & Professional Memberships

I teach mental preparation at Lausanne University (CAS Préparation Mentale) and Macolin (Swiss Coach Education). I’m a professional member of FSP, AASP, and IMGCA.

For more, visit my LinkedIn profile.

For Athletes

Mental Strength Training and Sports Psychology

I support all types of athletes of all different ages and levels to bring out the best in themselves. Whether you want to improve your performance, overcome an injury or need support with a specific problem or preparing a challenge, my commitment is to help you achieve your goals. Every coaching starts with an assessment to explore your development areas and, if needed, during coaching we will make use of tools and questionnaires.

Coaching can take place in my cabinet as well as over the phone, video call or in the field.

For athletes who want to:

  • Strengthen mental capacities to improve their overall performance
  • Learn how to use stress as a performance enhancer
  • Bridge the difference in performance between training and competition
  • Increase their self confidence
  • Understand their personal strengths and weaknesses
  • Better deal with all the aspects of life (training, school, social development, parents)
  • Prevent or deal with injuries
Maayke van der Pluijm

TEAM Development

Learn to understand the types of motivation and characters in the team and to enhance the overall team performance as well as the performance for the individual athlete. We will look at the individuals in the team and how to build a stronger team together. Learn to understand each other better, what drives us and how to optimise our well-being and performance as an individual as well as for the team.

For teams and coaches that wish to:

  • Optimise individual and team performance
  • Optimize team cohesion
  • Connect better as persons in order to improve performance
  • Communicate better
Maayke van der Pluijm

Special Projects

Are you dreaming of doing an Ironman, climb a mountain, run a marathon, ski the epic ‘Patrouille des Glaciers’?

Whether you are running your first 10K or planning to execute a project with a team, I am here to support you and prepare you mentally for the big day.

For individuals and teams that wish to:

  • Prepare themselves mentally for a big sportive challenge in their life
  • Build a stronger team and enhance performance and fun
  • Get better prepared and to be able to go beyond your limits

For Professionals


TEAM and Leadership Development

Thriving teams are teams that have purpose, vitality and connection.

I support you in improving collaboration, developing team values, capitalising on each others’ strengths and capabilities, creating a shared vision and developing thriving teams. Throughout the years I developed successful team interventions and workshop approaches while making use of assessment tools, team building models and systemic interventions.

For teams that wish to:

  • Develop personal leadership
  • Collaborate better
  • Make better use of each others’ strengths and capabilities
  • Improve their communication

Clients a/o AkzoNobel (current), WWF, Océ, DSM, Polis Direct, ING, Canon Europe/ Netherlands, PwC, TMF Group, DVB Bank, AerCap, start ups


Cabinet à Nyon 

Kenzen Centre Sàrl
Chemin des Saules 4A
1260 Nyon

Email: maayke@you-thrive.ch

Tel: +41795573272

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