Interview with the manager of the BIKE Junior Team: How to motivate young people to bike
Jan Timmermann
· 13.02.2025
Motivating children and young people to exercise or to get them interested in mountain biking can be a pretty tough nut to crack. Many parents would like to crack it, but don't know how to get their offspring into the saddle. The families of the BIKE Junior Team certainly can't complain about too little time on the bike. For 15 years, the BIKE magazine team one of the most successful youth teams in Germany and has already produced many a professional athlete. These include internationally successful racers such as the German elite champion Leonie Daubermann and Cape Epic winners Georg Egger. The current line-up has won national and European championship titles. Bernd Sigel has been responsible for the fortunes of the mixed-gender youth team as managing director and team manager for eight years. For the family man and master baker of a large organic bakery, working in youth sport is not only a welcome balance to his business, but also a passion. We wanted to know from the professional how young people can be motivated to go biking and why cross-country is a suitable youth discipline.
Biking with young people: Better as a team
BIKE: How do you become the manager of a junior team?
BERND Sigel: I've been involved in various forms of youth work in the past and am of course a biker myself. When my son Pirmin was discovered by the then head of the BIKE Junior Team and subsequently competed in the European Championships in his first year, it took on a certain significance for our family. At the same time, it became apparent that my predecessor wanted to hand over the team management and after some time I took over the management. I was determined to continue the team's existence, because it not only helped my child, but also nine other families to finance the increasingly expensive sport of cycling.
What are the advantages of children and young people riding in a team?
Of course there is an economic aspect. If I, as a normal earner, want to finance the MTB racing of two children, I have to put in some overtime. But being part of a team also makes it easier for young people to get through the valleys. When my son wore the team jersey back then, quitting was not an option for him. The contract with the team meant that he saw himself as a racing cyclist. That gave him support and structure to keep going even in difficult times. You're not alone and common goals help you through many a motivational gap. A youth team is also something else than being part of a club. The connection with the other team members gives quitting a completely different commitment. Voluntariness doesn't mean arbitrariness. This is something that bothers me far too often in today's educational work with children or trainees. Changing teams shouldn't be as easy as changing your pants, it should also hurt a little.
What do you pay particular attention to in your role as team manager?
When we talk on the phone, the first question is about health, the second about the situation at school. Only once this has been discussed do we move on to cycling. If the results are not going well, the riders are often either not healthy or there is a problem at school. It simply has to be clear that in the vast majority of cases, racing is not a job, but remains a hobby. Hardly anyone earns money from it. There is a target agreement with the kids in the team and a kind of recorded annual appraisal, as we know it from employee management. I introduced this so that we can check our resolutions from time to time.
Age-appropriate mountain biking
Why is cross country ideal for young bikers?
The competitive nature can motivate young cyclists and the format allows for age-appropriate progression. From an educational point of view, this is more gentle than the six-hour family tour on a Sunday. Battling over mountain passes can also be fun for young bikers and they can draw validation from their performance, but it's not a sexy offer for children. When my son was ten years old, we put a rucksack on him and took him on the Transalp. He cranked diligently all day and he tolerated it. In hindsight, however, it wasn't really suitable for children. In cross-country youth races, downhill and trial skills also count in some cases. These are elements that can be incorporated into training in an age-appropriate and entertaining way.
How important is it to start at an early age if you want to be successful in the cross-country discipline?
The technical demands of this discipline are constantly increasing. The earlier children start, the sooner they can learn the necessary automatisms and develop tactical skills. It is only over the years that the wheat is separated from the chaff. As is the case everywhere in cycling, at some point the hard-working children with the right physical abilities and the willingness to put in the effort end up further and further ahead.
What does it take to motivate young people to go biking?
It's hard to get couch potatoes on a bike. You need to enjoy outdoor exercise right from the start. Every single member of our team comes from an active family. From there, the step to the mountain bike is actually an obvious one. You can cover long distances on a bike without having to exert too much energy and biking is much more entertaining, spectacular and eventful than hiking, for example. What's more, the exercise can be increased quite easily. At some point you cycle further, higher and overtake others.
Kids who spot the Ortler for the first time in the saddle immediately grow ten centimetres taller. This can motivate the offspring to work towards such things in the future and to overcome their inner bastard. It's important to see this as a family project and not simply rush ahead as a father. Of course, I know the moaning at the end of the holidays about why we didn't go to the beach like our classmates. Next year, however, they want to experience even bigger bike adventures. My kids still enjoy cycling to this day.
Jan Timmermann
Editor
