A New Chapter

After spending the last 15 years chasing my dream of spending as much time on the water as possible, trying to improve every day, and chasing that highest spot on the podium I realised it's time to make place for a new dream.

The past year, the post olympic year, I took the time to find out of I still had that fire burning inside of me. The fire which is needed to be able to always go that extra mile, to always put that dream on number one, and which actually makes it "easy" to make the sacrifices needed too chase those big goals.

There have also been some changes in the Olympic kite class which I wanted to experience. Our biggest kite size got taken away which means we are racing on 15 m's instead of 21m kites, which is something that we female riders really wanted since it would have a positive impact on the ideal riders weight. The weight that was needed to race before has really been a struggle for me. Even though I managed to gain 15kg by spending a lot of time lifting heavy weights and obsessing over the right diet, it was an aspect of the sport which I liked the least. So besides wanting to see if I still had that fire inside me which I know I needed if I wanted to compete for an other medal in LA28, I also wanted to experience racing on the new gear and see if that would impact my decision.

After a winter of taking a bit of time off I got back into the regular schedule and of training and competing. Even though I still had a great time working together with my team, I slowly started to realise that competing at the next Olympic games wasn't my dream anymore. The sacrifices at this point in my life are not the same anymore as 5 or 10 years ago, and I felt the urge to expend my world, build my homebase together with my boyfriend and work on future plans. Kiteboarding is sport depending on the elements, and since there are no big competitions in the Netherlands the next 3 years it means traveling more than being at home. Since I started kiteboarding I realised that time is one of the most valuable things we own. I'm so grateful for the choices I made that led me to the way I got to spend my time the past decade, but I also know that the next years I would rather spend my time being closer to the people I love than constantly being on the road.

During my last trip I got to experience the location for the next Olympics, a beautiful spot! But together with the positive gear changes in the kite class it wasn't enough for me to relight that fire. At the same time I'm very happy to see the next generation of Dutch kitefoilers stepping up. Jessie Kampman, Sam Aben, Duuk van Hees and Tijn Rolff are continuing to set course to chasing that top spot at the next games.

My dreams have shifted. I'm continuing to study Psychology at the Open University and will see where the wind will take me. One thing is sure, even though it won't be as much as before, you'll see me on the water in Scheveningen when it's windy!

A massive thanks to all the people who have supported me the past years. Thanks to TeamNL and Watersportverbond and all their sponsors and partners for helping me chase my biggest dream the past 5 years. Of course also a big shout out to Casper Bouman, my coach, who often believed more in me than I did and who built the Dutch olympic kitefoil program from the ground up. And last but not least, thanks to my boyfriend Maurits and my family for always being by my side and supporting me through all the challenges.

Photo's by andre_magarao and video by Watersportverbond