Welcome to my blog!

Thank you for visiting my blog!

Let me introduce myself.

I'm Lieke Rolvers, a Dutch waterskier with big dreams! I'm 17 years old and ski for the Dutch team. Coming season I will compete in the under 21 category. I practice all three events of waterskiing: slalom, trick and jump.I currently live in Groningen, the Netherlands, where I ski on a lake where I can cycle to in 2 minutes. I have also lived in Aberdeen, Scotland, and The Hague, the Netherlands.

I started waterskiing when I was 12, since many skiers start at a very young age, I have a gap to close. This only gives me more motivation though! I've already experienced quite some things that I am proud of, and I'm not stopping here! My journey started feeling real on October 10 2014. It was the day that I was invited to be part of the Dutch waterskiing team. Not only did it sound cool, this also meant that I gained more connections to people that can teach me the ropes. After this, it went fast! Which is actually the reason I want to blog. I want to keep track of my experiences before they get lost in the blur. My next amazing experience in waterskiing was my first European and African Championship, the start of something big! This was in 2015, I had been skiing for 4 years and it felt amazing to see top notch skiers all around me. Then to end this great year, in which I learned so much from so many people, I was able to ski in Florida in the winter. Normally I would not be able to ski much in the winter, but in Florida it was 30°C! I trained with Vincent Soubiron 4 times each day. I learned a lot and I hope it all comes together to rock in 2016.

For 2016, my short term goal is to qualify for under 21 Europeans in every event. For slalom I am sure of a spot, but for tricks and jump I need just a little more training to reach the criteria set by the IWWF (International Waterski and Wakeboard Federation). After that I of course want to do the best I can at the Europeans. More in the long term, I want to train enough to get into a university waterskiing team. I have my highschool exams in May 2016 and after I want to take a gap year in order to improve my waterskiing and academic abilities. After this I hope to secure a place in an American university.

With my blog I would like to take you on my journey towards achieving these goals. I want to post an update every Sunday to tell you something about my waterskiing ups and downs and what it has taught me so far. Coming up will be a story about my first Europeans, how I started waterskiing, stories about my training camps etc. I hope you're just as excited as I am and that you look forward to my next post.

All the best in 2016!