My story begins on the football field. As a young girl, I played football for ten years: first at an amateur club in Apeldoorn, and later for two years in the youth academy of FC Twente. Playing among boys for many years shaped me. It taught me a lot and pushed me to stand up for myself in a sport dominated by boys.

I have always loved doing tricks. In 2010, I even won the Dutch Skills Championships, and in the years that followed I finished second and third. Still, I discovered that professional football did not fully suit me. There was a strong focus on what needed improvement, and less attention to what was already going well. In elite sport, that makes sense, but I noticed that I grow most with a positive approach and the freedom to experiment. I was scouted as a defender, while secretly I dreamed of being a striker, tricks, and scoring goals, but I was never given that chance.

During an evaluation meeting, I was 15 at the time, a coach said: “We think you’ve reached the peak of your abilities.” That sentence stuck with me. How can you already be “done” at that age? It set something in motion: I quit playing football. I briefly tried again at another local club, but the passion for football was gone.