As his personal motto, Sjoerd has taken, “What you’re not changing, you’re choosing”, aware that each of us is always the master of our own destiny, despite the curveballs thrown at us. Sjoerd developed his personal resilience the hard way: through significant trauma in his latter childhood. Sjoerd was born in Nijmegen in the Netherlands, close to the German border, and as a consequence has familiarity with the German language though he comprehends more that he speaks.  He was the second child in his birth family, with an elder sister. When Sjoerd was four, his parents divorced and his mother subsequently remarried and gave Sjoerd three younger siblings.  Sjoerd chooses not to include “step” or “half” in their designations.  They are brothers and a sister, end of explanation! Sjoerd’s mother worked as a professional ballet dancer and dance teacher until a back injury brought that to a halt. The family were well-provided-for by Sjoerd’s step-father, “until the bomb went off”, as Sjoerd puts it, and his step-father left the family abruptly, leaving them without a home when Sjoerd was just 18 years of age.

Sjoerd is a dedicated lifelong learner, especially as his mother made him promise that this disruption would not be allowed to derail him following his learning passions and reaching the personal goals he was setting as he hit adulthood head on. Sjoerd has faithfully kept that promise and even today, more than 20 years later, he still continues with his studies relating to both the body and the mind. Sjoerd studied cognitive behaviour therapy and is a CBT practitioner.  He also engaged in two years of study in physiotherapy to have a solid understanding of bodily functioning. Sjoerd’s most recent interest has been learning more in the field of neuroscience, to study the interaction of mind and body, which is an abiding interest. 

As well as being optimistic, disciplined, active and healthy, Sjoerd admits to being competitive.  He rises by 4.30am each morning to find time, usually in solitude, to complete a comprehensive gym session. An admirer of many of the ideas of Jordan Peterson, Sjoerd finds no need to compete with other people however. He holds to Peterson’s philosophy that you must “compare yourself to who you were yesterday”. Leading by example, what is important to Sjoerd and his client-base is making progress towards the life-goals you have determined, resetting habits and beliefs that might be holding you back. 

At school, Sjoerd declares he was “a frustrated bigmouth”, somewhat disengaged from his studies, easily distracted and “a doer, not a theorist”, at least at that point in his life.  The saving grace for Sjoerd was that from the age of 12, he had opportunities for leadership in teaching those younger than himself. From 12 to 14 years of age, Sjoerd taught and coached a team of six-year-olds in field hockey, the second most popular team sport in the Netherlands, and Sjoerd’s personal greatest sporting love. For six years from the age of 14, Sjoerd taught sailing, and was also working as a swimming teacher. Sjoerd found he had an affinity with young people, enjoying working with especially difficult-to-manage children, perhaps seeing his younger, less self-controlled version mirrored in their eyes. Working on himself, Sjoerd has now been complimented with the title “Mr Discipline”.

An important part of Sjoerd’s self-discipline lies in knowing himself thoroughly and acknowledging both his personal strengths and weaknesses. He sees his greatest life achievement in overcoming his traumatic and troubled youth, all the while building resilience and maintaining his natural optimism. Super caring of his family, Sjoerd is adept at building community and relationships, referring to himself as “the sticker” because of his skills in initiating and organising required action.  Not one to seek credit or personal aggrandisement, Sjoerd used his vision, passion, conviction and loyalty to help his family through a very difficult time. Sjoerd does recognise that he can be overly analytical and allow his perfectionism to turn into procrastination if he isn’t vigilant. No longer a “crowd-pleaser”, Sjoerd is an individual of great personal fortitude, though he still has to control a naturally negative inner voice. Nevertheless, Sjoerd is relentless in his drive to always find a viable solution to a problem. When asked to compare the current world with that of his childhood, Sjoerd noted significant improvements in communications and connectivity between people but expressed concern with the “zombification” of youth who are increasingly unable to detach themselves from their devices.

Prior to the conceptualising and establishment of The Hub, Hua Hin, with his business partner, Sjoerd’s most recent position was in a management role with JAGA, the Junior Asian Golf Academy, with branches locally, nationally and internationally. JAGA aims to educate, as well as provide golf-tuition and mentoring to young golfing talent. Along with field hockey, golf has been a long-term hobby and passion for Sjoerd, who describes it now as his meditation.  While Sjoerd finds other sports such as hiking and rollerblading engage his passion, golfing is a calming activity as it allows him singularity of focus. There is only the small white ball and the hole, nothing else! A round of golf has similar benefits to immersing himself in nature, Sjoerd finds.

While Sjoerd doesn’t have a bucket-list, yet, he certainly has a dream for his future. He focuses on what he calls “the future average week”, which will see him living a happy family life, with a loving wife and adored children, in Verbier in Switzerland, immersed in the pleasure of outdoor activities such as skiing, snowboarding, hiking and rafting. A very specific and detailed dream for a man living in tropical Thailand, but one firmly embedded in Sjoerd’s heart, and already accompanied by an action plan. 

Sjoerd wishes he could give his teenage-self one piece of salient advice, and it would be to follow his intuition. That young man had most of the knowledge necessary to succeed, yet was lacking in self-belief, now something Sjoerd seems to exude through every pore. He is a successful businessman who can cheer people experiencing personal difficulty simply by showing them there is always another perspective. Sjoerd is thankful for “all the s##t that happened in my life” as well as his long-term friendships, because these have motivated and empowered him to shape himself into the confident, big-hearted man and friend he is today. Usually with a very balanced and calm demeanour, Sjoerd can still be riled if he sees obvious disrespect and injustice, and cannot abide liars.

Sjoerd is filled with optimism and passion in his new role as Assistant Director – Co-study, at The Hub, Hua Hin, opening in September 2025. With a qualified teacher and an assistant, Sjoerd will be overseeing the children registered in the program as they undertake their various learning tasks, and leading them in approximately 10 hours of sports and other exciting co-curricular activities in an environment conducive to them flourishing academically, physically, socially and emotionally. Sjoerd is exactly the right man to manage this complex yet highly rewarding task, ready to show the children and parents of The Hub the life you can lead just by having the right mindset.

Published 15th June, 2025