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As a kid growing up, I watched probably every kite video, followed every competition, and knew all the magazine covers and their articles. This interested me a lot, and the competitive side of kiting grabbed me sooner than I had ever thought. I started kiting in spring 2013, in April to be precise. I learned how to ride up and down very quickly, and the progression of tricks followed shortly after. I was landing 2, 3, or sometimes even more new tricks in one session. This, as you can guess, gave me a lot of motivation, and my energy levels were through the roof. I could stay on the water for a whole day, forgetting to drink, eat, or take a little break, only realizing after 8 hours of kiting how tired I was.

That same summer, I made a friend named "Rover." He had been around the kite scene for a bit longer and convinced me to come to the Dutch nationals in October. I didn't think I was any good, but why not? I had nothing to lose. I ended up making it to the finals and got 4th place out of a group of about 40 kids. From that day forward, I knew I wanted to do even better and make it to more finals.

Eight years later, I got selected for the Redbull King of the Air, the biggest and most well-established kiteboarding event in the history of the sport. It was a dream come true and a great honor to be among the greatest in our sport. I had a similar attitude to my first-ever competition back in 2013: enjoy everything, no one expects anything from you, and just have fun! And so I did, never thinking I would ever make it to the finals and become 3rd in the biggest event we have in kiteboarding.