Vera Vandecaveye: “Kevin was so motivated, I left my fulltime job”

by Mireille Geurts, Magdalena Osborne & Titia Tolsma

Photos © EMJO & Mireille

Mention Kevin van der Perren and most people interested in skating will know right off who it is. The saying goes “Behind every great man there’s a woman.” and it’s certainly true for Kevin. The woman is Vera Vandecaveye, his coach and mentor. Her warm personality shines through when she speaks and her passion for the sport is almost touchable. It’s obvious that she cares about Kevin and is very proud of him as a skater, but also as a man.

But like all coaches she has a story of her own to tell and depending on who asked the question she easily switched between Dutch, English and German. And yes, like most Belgians she’s also very down to earth, and as the conversation progressed she proved to be charming, funny and entertaining as well. The interview was supposed to be about Vera. And it is. But the news about Kevin having to skip the World Championships because of an injury was so important we had to ask for an update on his condition.
“Between the Olympics and Worlds he got the flu and then an injury started to act up. He has experienced pain in his upper leg and it shoots all the way to his side and back. This is something that has been bothering him a big part of the season, Euros and Olympics included. A few days before we were to leave for Worlds, we went to the doctor and got the advice it was best for Kevin not to compete. He was allowed to skate, but shouldn’t do anything that hurt. What hurt was the lutz, the flip and during the last days even the sit-spins. Participating without those elements was definitely not an option for Kevin, so however sad, we concluded it was better for him not to participate.”

What kind of impact did this have and how is Kevin doing now?

“Injuries are very sad and hard to deal with. It is not something you want to look back upon or discuss. But sometimes it’s good to talk about it and in retrospect look at past competitions. It’s a matter of being able to deal with it, put things behind you and move on. And we’re doing that, we’re back on track. After resting, Kevin is back on the ice, trying new things and composing stuff for the new programs. We are very motivated to move on to a new season. We get a lot of questions about that, if Kevin will continue and yes, he will, most certainly! And the programs for next season? They will be different…”

We were very happy with this update, and are sure all the Kevin fans out there are too. Now over to Vera’s story.

Most people know very little about you and your background. How did you get started in skating?
“I started skating at 11 years old. My mom liked to skate and it was natural for her to take her daughter along. I liked it too, but my parents didn’t really allow me to engage in any competitive sport so we went to public skating sessions. I saw a few figure skaters doing some spins and really liked that and wanted to do those too. That’s how I got started.”

How far did you get?
“I am a one time senior Belgian Champion, but I didn’t compete internationally. I could skate beautifully though and I jumped very high, but I was uncontrolled in the air which was very frustrating.

When you have the speed and the height, you’re not scared to jump but it still didn’t work out for me. I wanted something more and one day my grandparents took me to Germany, to Garmisch Partenkirchen and asked Mr. Zeller if I really had the talent for skating. They did this because I didn’t want to do anything else anymore. I just wanted to skate and I pushed so hard I went from being a very good student in school to being a very bad one, just to prove that I was too stupid for university studies. *laughs* Skating was my life! In Germany they told us that the talent was certainly there, but the technique was seriously lacking…”

What age were you then?
“I was 16 when I moved to Germany so it was fairly late. The people there really tried to help me and my grandfather had a heart attack while we were there and that’s why I could stay the entire summer. When I got back home I persuaded my parents, after intense discussions, to let me return to Germany. For four year I trained with Mrs. Bacherer and sometimes with mr Zeller.This was very hard since I didn’t have German citizenship. Mrs. Bacherer was not only my coach, but also like a second mother to me. I even lived with her and she taught me a lot. She was very good at figures and she was excellent at explaining skating from the first step till the last, how things really worked. She was also the coach of Isabelle de Navarre. My parents wanted her to tell them what I should do with my skating. It was an expensive sport and it became clear I would never skate internationally, so my coach promised them to try to make a good coach out of me.”

Did they discuss this with you or was it decided over your head?
“I was present at the conversation. I really wanted to do something with skating so I agreed. Coaching became my goal and I remained in Germany. But to become a coach there you had to pass some tests, and at the time it was done through the University of Munich. Tests had to be passed in figures, in free skating and in ice dancing. “

Was this a well known coach?
“It had to be an internationally known coach and you had to work right by his side. You also had to teach and guide his students during competitions in order to gain experience; what’s good to do and what’s not. I did this with Mrs. Bacherer and Mr. Zeller. But one problem was that I had to be with the DEU (the German federation) to do this, so I had to switch federations. That’s what happened the last years I skated, I skated for Germany and not for Belgium…. in ice dance! My partner and I were ready to start competing nationally, but it fell through. He had a small accident outside the ice rink and was unable to skate anymore.”

What a pity!
“Well yeah, it was, but on the other hand it allowed me to focus more on being a coach and that way I finally acquired my certificate.”

So you were smart enough to study after all?
“Yeah! *laughs* I became a Certificated Figure Skating Teacher (Deutsche Staatliche geprüfte Eislauflehrerin). This is when I started as a coach in Belgium and did it for approximately 10 years. I went to several international competitions with my students. Not to Euros or Worlds, but to smaller international competitions.

But then I quit for a while, I stopped being a coach. I lost my motivation and when a coach isn’t motivated anymore… for me that doesn’t work. But slowly I started to come back to it, people were calling asking for my help. So on a ‘hobby level’ I started coaching again. I had a fulltime job in show business as a royalty manager (music). And then one day Kevin called me, it was in July just a couple of years ago. He asked if I would be interested in coaching him”. Had you ever worked with him before? “Worked no… but we had had a lot of contact. If he had a problem he would call me and we connected really well.”

"Vera and Kevin in Antwerp"

How did that start?
“On the ice? *Laughs* During galas in Belgium we talked, we knew each other. He would visit me when he was down or things weren’t going well. I advised him to listen carefully to his coach and try to follow his heart. I never told him he was doing things wrong, or that he was with the wrong coach, most certainly not. But at one point, things between Kevin and Linda van Troye were over. I’m not sure what happened and I don’t think that’s important either, but he asked me if I could take over. The problem was that I still had my fulltime job, so I told him, let’s try if for a while and see how things go.”

How did it go?
“Well, there are several factors to consider, what you’d like to change, how the collaboration will go… You need to get to know each other better but having a good relationship off the ice doesn’t mean you’ll get along on the ice. Talking is not the same as working! But ok, after a while I believed we could work together and I decided to leave my fulltime job go for someone as motivated as Kevin is. So I did and that’s my story!”

Well, there’s actually more so go to page 2 for the rest!!!



"With other coaches, during warm up in Lyon"