National Champions!

The National Collegiate Waterski Associations hosts the national championships every year for the best 12 university teams. Today marks a week ago that the ULM Warhawks won the title! 

It has been an incredible experience to participate in the national championship alongside such a strong and supportive team. This is the competition that all team members had been working towards since day 1 of the semester. I have worked hard on improving in all my events in order to be as valuable as possible for the team. I was for sure going to ski in tricks, but jump was added to that when one of my team mates got injured in the first competition of the season. This also left 1 spot on the slalom team to be filled, but in order to earn that spot, I would have to prove myself. I didn't count on having to slalom at nationals for a long time, so I focussed my training on tricks and jump. In trick I was working on a new run to be able to place as high as possible by the time nationals came. It was going very well and I practiced this run at regionals. This worked out great and after the extra practice sets in between regionals and nationals I was confident in my new run. Jump was also going great. Even though I wasn't able to measure my practice jumps, I could feel that I was going farther than before. 

Just a couple of days before nationals I was sure to fill the last spot on the slalom team. This meant that I would be the first of our team to ski at nationals. On Thursday morning at 7, the event started and I was up around 8. The sun was on the course, which made it hart to see the buoys going one way. However, I had practiced in these conditions, so I wasn't going to let that affect me. I ran 14, which I was struggling to do throughout this entire season. I'm stoked to have done it under this much pressure and finishing with 1.5 at 13. 
Jump was my next event and I was feeling good about it, because I had jumped at the tournament site a couple of times before. My first jump didn't feel far, but it felt stable. I couldn't see the number the boat judge was signing to me, so I just looked at the directions that were being given to me from the shore. I tried to have a better cut and be better on the ramp and this time, I knew I had a good score. Again I couldn't make out the score, but I did know it wasn't the 100 feet (30 meters) I wanted, because I only got 2 signs. On my last jump I tried to go later and harder, because I just wanted to break that 100 foot barrier. I had a great cut, but lost it all when I hit the ramp. On the landing I hurt my shoulder a bit, so I got back to the shore disappointed  The team was not having that, because apparently I jumped a PB, so I wasn't allowed to be disappointed. My farthest jump was 96 feet (29.10 meters), so I'm definitely happy with that.

On the last day, again early in the morning, I was up for tricks. I had done my run countless times, so I just had to do the same thing as always. I had even been skiing early in the morning back at school, so there shouldn't be a problem. When I was up on the water though, the nerves still got the best of me and I went down on my first trick. Lucky enough, I turned so slowly that the first 180 degrees of my planned 540 degree turn still counted as a trick. This got me 100 point total, and some team points! Not a great end, but I did great in jump and slalom and I'm happy to be skiing collegiate tournaments in order to handle the competition stress better and better.

At the end of the day, collegiate waterskiing is not an individual sport anymore. I skied my 3 times, but I got to go through the nerves and adrenaline another 27 times, when my team mates skied. It is amazing to experience waterskiing as such a team event. To have a whole group of people be there to cheer you on and unite every time one of us skis. The atmosphere and support that I experienced this tournament was amazing, and to come away with a national title, even better.

Settling in

It has been quite a while since I have written here. This is because everything is changing so rapidly and I feel like I am on a rollercoaster ride. I'm trying to let everything that happens sink in, but it is challenging at times. That is why I didn't put much priority on my blog, and more on settling in at school, in the ski team, in my house, etc. I want to prioritize building a life here, so that is why I might not be writing every week. I do want to update you though, because many exciting things are happening!

Most importantly, I have had my first collegiate competition! It was the farthest one we will have this season, a 9 hour drive... We went in a van, with the 4 freshmen on the back row for the first part. Luckily after a while, we got to spread out to more comfortable seats. We got to the hotel late Friday night, so we just had dinner and went to the hotel. The next morning we were going to leave to the lake at 7am, so after a welcome shower, we went to bed on time. We had been warned about the site, last year it was extremely windy and people were having trouble running through their first pass. Also someone crashed and the competition ended in the hospital, so we were warned to go easy on the jumping. Luckily the wind didn't look too bad, so we had a good competition day ahead. First up for me was tricks. In a normal competition, this consists of two 20 second trick runs. Here, it is only one. My toehold run is worth the most points and also the most consistent, normally, so I will do that run in the collegiate tournaments. I was first from our team to trick, however I fell too early and lost many points. Next for me was slalom, the wind was picking up, but still, I have skied in worse. However, because of the nerves, I didn't run my first pass with the ease I would have liked. It was all a bit stiff and I only barely made it. Again, at 16, my next pass, I made a mistake and had to fight to make it through the pass. Luckily I did make it, because I would have been very unhappy to fall on that pass. Then came 14, where I normally have issues. I had a nice head wind and figured that the way I ran the previous passes has nothing to do with this pass. I can still make it better. I was going quite well, but then I didn't fight until the end and didn't turn 4 ball well enough, so I didn't run the pass. Still, it's a score that I do on most competitions, so it is not too bad, even though I always want to run it. Finally, it was time for jump, they were alternating guys and girls, so I got to ski immediately after Tycho, which was fun. He was still skiing back when my boat pulled me towards the ramp, so we were literally on the water at the same time. I started with 2 single cuts, because of all the warnings about the ramp. These were fine, but not far. Then I had to do a 3/4 cut, to get a bigger score. Sadly I didn't ski away, so the score didn't count. I knew what I had to work on after this competition. Do my toehold run until I'm sick of it and will stand up through it all if someone dragged me onto the lake at 3am. Also, do 3/4 cuts from the first jump so that I will have 3 chances and also much more practice. And that's what I've been doing the last week. I did toeholds twice a day some days and start with my run twice every time. I also did a set where I started with a 3/4 cut from the first jump and managed to ski away on all of them. Next weekend, there is a competition in Arkansas, luckily a little closer than this competition, so I will show what I have been working on there.

Watch this university video where I am featured twice: Facebook: Liekewaterski

Warhawks!!

Since last time I wrote a blog, quite a lot has changed. I have moved half way across the world to ski and study at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. I have already skied a lot on the site and had my first week of school. 

Being here is the perfect opportunity to get a bachelor degree whilst being able to ski any time I want. I have skied before, in between and after classes and since the first week is not that challenging at school, I have been spending a lot of time at the ski site. I thought I lived close to my ski lake back home, but now it is even closer. If I go from campus it is just a minute on the bike to get to the river. My apartment is also only 4 minutes away, so I really can go down there whenever I want. 

This has been something I have been planning and working towards for around 2 years now. I met Kate, who had skied here as well and she told me about the opportunities. Then I started doing research on how to get in and how everything works. I even took my gap year to improve my scores so that I could have a chance of skiing for the team. They offer really good scholarships as well, which get bigger per event that you can ski at tournaments. I get a partial scholarship, because only the top 5 scores count at tournaments and I can't put up a top 5 score in all events. I knew that I could also get a scholarship based on academic results. My high school scores were pretty good, but those wouldn't get me a scholarship. The school wanted to see an SAT score, which is a standardized test in reading, writing and basic mathematics. I had to do well on this test in order to get a scholarship, and even if I did well, the scholarship was not a given, because the deadline had well passed by the time I did my test. I took the test in May and results came in June, which was quite late, so getting a visa and organizing myself was pretty last minute. Especially since I couldn't spend a lot of time on thinking about it in between Worlds and Europeans. The news if I got my scholarship came even later, because some favors had to be asked so far after the deadline. I had a plan B, so I was going to go no matter what, but a scholarship would really help. Luckily everything came together shortly before I left: my scholarship, my visa and all the other documents I needed. 

When I was finally here, furnishing my apartment, it all started to feel a bit more real. But no matter how many things I bought and how many sets I skied on the Bayou, it still didn't sink in yet. It wasn't until classes started and I was all alone in my apartment that I realized that I actually did what I was dreaming of 2 years ago, but seemed unattainable. And that I will be living this life for the coming 4 years. Even though the thought kind of scares me as well, because I didn't mentally prepare for actually living on the other side of the world by myself as it all kept feeling like a dream I may not reach, I am also really excited and I can't wait for all the adventures I will have!

Europeans 2017

Finally I begin to reflect on the European and African championship that took place August 3-6. I didn’t write about it last week, because there was so much happening! I moved to Monroe in Louisiana to start studying at the University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM). They have a really good ski team and I will be able to ski a lot more than before. This was a huge step in my life and I had to say goodbye to a lot of people and not to forget my dog. This was quite the rollercoaster, so I wanted some time to myself to be present for all of it and let it sink in, because even now that I have an apartment, which I already filled with a bunch of stuff, it still doesn’t feel real. I set my mind on achieving this maybe 2-3 years ago, and it seemed a little unreachable at the time. A lot of people around me didn’t think I could pull it off, and honestly at some points I didn’t either. Maybe that is why, now that it’s actually happening, I still have a hard time believing it. I am sure that will change once I start skiing here and when the introductions and classes start.

But more about that next week, first it’s time to share my experiences at the u21 Europeans. Having had the training results I did before, I was sure that I could set a PB in each event. I did a jump PB in training and was running constantly through the 14 meter line, no matter the weather and setting 4 or more bouys at 13. Also my trick run was easy and stable to be sure I could break the 3000 point barrier. We were with a big and especially young team at this Europeans, so that was really fun. I also think it’s very good that the youngest kids are getting to experience these competitions now, because that’s the hardest part for me: I lack experience at competitions and thus don’t perform what I should do too often. That’s also what happened this time... In tricks, I did both my runs as planned, I was really happy for a bit, but soon realized I shouldn’t celebrate too early, because maybe not everything was credit. Turns out a lot was not credit and I scored really low... Then in jump my timing was different from in training and I jumped 25 meters. I knew I had to go later to go further, and my next jump that’s what I did. However at the landing I just couldn’t hold on, so the score didn’t count. This was 27 meters, so I would’ve been really happy with that. However, after a jump like that, I go earlier again to be safe and did another 25 meter jump. I was really disappointed, because I jumped 25 meters when I still did a single cut, and now I’m doing it with a ¾. However, now I know that my jump PB is just a matter of time and practise. Once I’m really comfortable with the ¾ cut and dare to go later and understand the timing better, I think my scores will improve. Soon after jump was slalom, which made jump a little scarier, because slalom was the most important event for me, so I really didn’t want to hurt myself in jump and jeopardize my slaloming. My slalom passes were feeling pretty good, but at 14 I made my old mistake of screwing up the gate. I was too early pulling out and thus got pulled back in a bit and couldn’t take the angle I needed. Being left foot forward, this didn’t affect my 1 ball too much, but it has consequences for 2 ball, where in this case I was so narrow that I hit the bouy. After that, it’s really hard to get back, so eventually I fell at 4. 

Overall, my results were really disappointing, but luckily some teammates skied really well and I can take away a lot of motivation from that. And most importantly I really enjoyed spending time with everyone, and made great memories that can last me for the time I will be studying on the other side of the world. For example, I went to the casino for the first time! I’m really thankful for everyone that supported me both on and off the site, because you all really make me feel loved!
I post more pictures of this and other events on Facebook!

Euros training

First of all, apologies for not having uploaded last week, and too late this week. Last week I was training at Vincent Soubiron ski school in order to prepare for the upcoming European and African championships, but the wifi broke, so I was unable to upload.

The training with Vinney was going really well. I ran my 13 meter pass for the first time since I did it in Nemours, so I was really happy! I had another slalom set that day, so Vinney told me I had to run the 13 meter passs again, but this time 'off the dock', like in a competition. I ran 18 and 16 no problem, then came 14, and Vinney said oke no pressure, but.... you have to run it. So then I did, and after came the real pressure. I really wanted to run that 13, but then again, I'd only done it twice before. I just thought how easy both of the 13s that I ran felt and that I should be able to do it. And I did. I only got to half or maybe 1 bouy at 12, but it felt great to be slalomming  like this just before Europeans. Once I got to the site of the Europeans, I ran 18, 16, 14 easily, even though the water did feel quite different than before. I haven't done 6 bouys at 13 in the training here, but if I am able to at least ski into 13, I should be happy with the results.

In tricks, we decided to change my run back to what I was doing last year, because the 540s I was trying wouldn't be credit in the competition and thus a waste of time. I want to go over 3000 points, so I couldn't do the exact same run as last year. I added a WO, which is a wake 360 at the beginning, to start with some extra points. I normally never train this trick, so I had to get used to starting with it, but luckily the trick that follows is so easy for me that it doesn't matter if I get out of the WO a little bit sketchy. My toe run stays the same, but hopefully I do wrap in wrap out at the end for an extra 200 points. When training in Spain, there was a different boat and my WO wasn't credit anymore. This caused quite a bit of stress. Talisa thought that making my rope a bit longer would help, but I didn't have more practise time to test it. I ended up giving my jump training to Tycho in return for his trick training, because his tricks are so good that he doesn't need more practise than the official 5 minutes. I also wanted my jump training to gain more confidence and figure out the timing, but it is more important to PB in trick than in jump, and also more realistic.

Finally the jumping: at Vinney's, it was going quite well. Sadly on the second to last day before training, I landed with my skis facing inward. I got kicked out of my skis into a front flip and twisted my left leg. Everything from my pelvis, knee and ankle was hurtng and it took the ostheopath quite some time to try and fix it. Still it hurts a bit, but I jumped the day after just to see. I lost a lot of confidence in that fall and when I got to Spain and had jump training, I passed my first 2 jumps. I was in good body position and the timing was oke, but I was just still too scared to go over. After, I really forced myself to go over with a single and a 3/4 straight after. I would have liked to jump more before, but if I jump over my score at worlds, I will be content. I still have the official training for jump, so 2, maybe 3 jumps to figure out the timing of my 3/4, because I was really early the one I did in practise.

Aside from the skiing, the team spirit is absolutely great and we're having a lot of fun together. I can't wait for the competition to start and I really hope everyone skis their best!

Worlds!

"We're at the worlds"

First of all, apologies for uploading a little late, as I was enjoying the last competition day too much, I didn't write it Sunday and on Monday I was really sick, so I fell asleep any time I could.

After the training results at the competition site, I had high hopes for the actual competition. I was performing really well in training and doing exactly what I would be really happy with in tournament. After having a massage and spa day on our last day off before the tournament, I felt that the preparation couldn't be any better. On Thursday, there was quite a lot of wind to consider, but nothing that I didn't train for, so it didn't worry me too much. I had two nice and easy passes to start off with and ran the 18 and 16 meter pass without problems or doubts. I was also able to control my nerves quite well and wasn't skiing really cramped up or safe like I had done in previous competitions. Then time for the 14 meter pass, which is the one I really wanted to run. I had a good gate, which was better than some passes in training. Even with a bad gate in training I was able to run it, so this shouldn't be a problem now. However, at 4 ball I still made a mistake, because I was thinking I had the pass in the pocket already. You should never ever think that before actually having gone through the end gate, so this was a really stupid and unfortunate mistake. I could, and should have done much more and immediately started hoping that I could make a come back at Europeans.

There was not a lot of time to be disappointed with the slalom result, because I had to pin my team mate Tycho Hof in tricks and soon after that trick myself. I was nervous to pin for him in such a big competition, because if you make a mistake, it can ruin their score. I had to pin Tycho on his second trick, so that was quite stressful, but I was sure of my case. Luckily for us, the camera wasn't working and he had to do a rerun for both his hands and toes. This time, he did all his toe tricks, like I'm used to him doing, and also all his hand tricks, so that was a much better feeling for me to start tricks with than my slalom result! In training I stood up my runs every time, so I was confident I would do the same in the competition. I really tried to take my time, because I really just had to make my first sequence, since I fell on it in some previous competitions. Sadly, after doing my first sequence well, I still fell on my 540, losing lots of points in my hands run. Since normally I am able to do all my toe tricks very steadily, I wasn't too nervous for that. I came out of my first tricks a little shaky, but tried to take my time to regain balance. However, I couldn't regain enough stability and still fell early in my course. I ended up with the lowest trick score that I set in a while... I know that with an easier run I can score more points than I am scoring now, but I won't be able to set a PB, so I'm still committed to making this new run work.

My first and only jump... (picture by Lena Klein Hofmeijer!)

Then on Friday it was time for jump. I had high hopes after my PB last competition. The main goal however, was to set a higher second score, because the ranking list is based on your best 2 performances and right now I had 27.6m from the Benelux, but 23.6m as second best score. My timing was pretty good on the first jump, which I was happy with, since that was an issue in training. However, during the landing, I hurt my arm and when I got up, I couldn't even put my arm up to grab the handle... I had to stop jumping and see the doctors. Still, even after watching back the live stream, I don't know exactly what happened, all I know is that it hurts quite a bit. I really hope I will be able to get back on the water soon enough so that I can indeed get my comeback at Europeans. I surprisingly got a score for that jump, because I didn't actually fall, and it was 25.2m, so a better second result for my ranking. Sadly, I don't think it is worth it, because I'm really scared for how fast the recovery will go. I want nothing more than to ski the long awaited PBs at Europeans, but I will have to get back to training soon if I want to do that!

Hopefully I will have some good news next time!

World(s) here I come

After a somewhat dissapointing competition of last week, I wanted to do some more training at home before leaving for worlds. I tried to find time for as many sets as possible, which were mostly trick sets. I couldn't jump at my home lake, but that was the only event that I felt positive about after the Benelux, so that was oke. I did a lot of tricking and was able to repeatedly, so I gained some confidence there. I also tried 1 slalom set, but the course didn't feel the way it should, and I didn't want to get used to a wrong rythm, so I didn't ski more. Still, I felt more secure about it than before, so I was happy to have done it. I also paid 2 visits to the physio to loosen up my back, since it's been under constant tension. All in all I felt more ready than the start of the week to leave for worlds on Saturday!

Since we had a 7am flight, I had to leave for the airport at 2.30, as we had quite a long drive as well. I was hoping to catch some sleep in the car, but I was a little too excited to go to my first worlds! In total I slept 30 minutes before going to the airport, but I was in a surprisingly good mood at the airport. Checking in my bags and going through security went smooth and we had quite a lot of time before boarding. Then at the airport saw the text World, here I come, which I thought was made for us, if you change it to worlds, here I come.

Finally on the plane I was able to sleep a bit after breakfast was served. Our transfer was quick as well, we got off one plane and on the next without having to wait too long, and then I slept again on the second plane. When we landed all our bags were there too, which we really shoudln't take for granted, as some people are still waiting for ski bags after 3-4 days. Afterwards we went to the hotel, which is really great, except for a disco with really loud bass that was playing till 4.30 in the morning. But the facilities are fantastic.

On Sunday we had our first training slot, but it was at 17.00, so we wanted to fill the time before actively so that we wouldn't nap all day. We went to check out down town and  some shopping malls on the hunt for a local sim card. Talisa now has enough internet to live stream the competition, so I will share where you can find that on Facebook soon. Then finally time to ski on the location!! We had 30 minutes with the team, so 2 skiers haha. Since we jump at different ramp heights, we opted for 1 person to jump, then both slalom, then the other person to jump, so that the height could be changed in between. Tycho was going to jump first, so my first set was slalom. There was quite a lot of wind and I didn't adapt enough when I pulled out, so my timing at the gate was a bit off. However, that is the exact reason I start with a really easy pass, so I ran my 18 meter pass. I wanted to do another one, because I want the rythm to feel good as well. After running the next one, I also ran my 16 twice and I started at 14. A bit of a mental issue, after not running it at the last competition or during the week. I fought for it and ran it both passes. It felt good to run it with both head and tail wind, first try, on a new lake. Definitely gained some confidence for the competition. With jumping, it took me a bit longer than Tycho's slalom set to get ready, so I wasn't really relaxt or ready when I had to start. I really didn't feel good, so I didn't jump on my first cut. The second jump I did take, but my timing felt weird. These two cuts were single, so after I did a 3/4, since that is what I want to do on the competition, but I want to feel the ramp with an easy cut first. When doing the 3/4 I cut out at the same point as normally and was wide enough. Still I was at the ramp way too early, so it is clear that the water is easier than what I'm used to and next training I should really go much later than I am used to in order to get to the ramp at the point that I want. I'm curious to see if I can figure out the timing in tomorrow's set.

All in all, really good on site training and great hotel to spend the week in. I'm super excited and will be posting updates on Facebook, so be sure to check that out!

Benelux

We won a trophy full of beer!

Today the Netherlands became champion of the Benelux since a long time. Despite the fact that you can use your teams' 4 best scores, and there were only 3 Belgians and no people from Luxembourg, we still did extremely well representing our country. With many juniors and seniors banking huge points and also open skiers performing really well. For me personally, the competition included many ups and downs.

I spent the whole week at the competition site to train, since the competition site is conveniently also one of the best training locations in our country and I train here a lot any way. It was all going really well. In slalom, I was running 18, 16 and 14 every set and then I did between 2 and 4 on 13. This gave me a lot of confidence and I was sure I would perform a score on 13 in the competition as well. This was also my goal, because I wanted to show myself that I really got over last years issue of not running 14 in competition, despite running it in training almost consistently. Sadly, in the preliminary round of the competition, I was only able to do 3 at 14. I struggled with the timing of the gate, because it is an 8 buoy course, so when you cut out for the gate, there is a buoy where you want to turn in (the 5th buoy going the other way). At 14 I had a lot of trouble with whether I should go around it or in front of it, because ideally I would go exactly over it, but this will put me off balance. In prelims, I went around, but got stressed in the gate and didn't take enough angle onto buoy 1. In finals, I had less nerves going into my passes, so I had a good rhythm on 18 and 16 and ran them really smoothly. It would've been good for my overall if I ran 14 and put a score on 13, especially since I knew what the others had skied. Going into 14, I decided to try and turn inside of the buoy before the gate, because this had worked well in training. However, this lead to even less angle into 1, and I tried to compensate by turning strong. I turned too much in stead and fell on buoy 1, which cost me the overall women's Benelux champion title.

In tricks, I wanted to do my run the way I intended it, and not switched around like last week. I practised it a lot in training and in my last trick training on Thursday, it went perfectly. I did the beginning sequence of my run extremely steady 4 times in a row. My toes run was really steady as well in training, but it has been in competition as well, since I put the less risky 360 in stead of 540 degree turn in the beginning. I still want to change this for this season, but for now, with a risky hands run, it is better to have a really stable toes run that I can really bank points with. In the prelims, I fell on my first hands trick, so no points. I did my toe run and got all those points, giving me just enough for finals. This meant I was last in for the finals, so I was really happy to get another chance. he next day in finals, I did all my hands tricks, but I felt like maybe not all of them were off the wake. Turns out, the boat was in slalom mode, giving a smaller wake than in tricks mode. Logical therefore, that not all of my tricks were loose from the wake. However, if I asked for a rerun with the boat in trick mode, I would have to do all my tricks again, or lose all my points, and I felt like my run is too risky to try it again. I did all my toe tricks and some of my hands tricks were not credit, so barely 900 points there, still I got enough points to place 3rd on the podium, together with 2 of my team mates from my home club, which was great!

In jump, it was the opposite of tricks and slalom. In the training I was learning some things and had some good jumps, but none of them felt really far, all of them were a bit under my personal best. Then in the prelims, I was still performing under my PB with the furthest score being 23.6m, and my PB is 25.1m. It was the first time I did the 3/4 cut in competition, so I was happy I did that and had 3 safe jumps, but I was confused and mostly frustrated as to why I wasn't instantly breaking my PB, which I did with a single cut, with my faster 3/4 cut. In the finals, after not having done too good in all other events in either round, I was set on a PB. Even before I left I heard the speaker (Talisa), say that my PB was 25.1m, but I was set on breaking it today. I had some extra family members for support here, my aunt, uncle and grandparents came, which was really great and I just went for it. I cut out much harder than any time before and turned into my cut to the ramp later. I kept position and boom, 26.5m, a new PB! I thought to myself, it's oke, a new PB and it's enough, don't expect more and don't take unnecessary risk. I got the tip to lift my right ski a bit whilst waiting to turn into my cut, which meant I had more speed and was later. Another new PB, 27.1, a nice 2 meters more than my last PB! I didn't want to take any more risk, but I tried to do the same as last time and carry my speed waiting for my turn-in. I was even later than before, barely sure that my right ski would make the ramp, but I was fully committed, took the jump, held my position and again, a new PB of 27.6m! 2.5m more than my previous PB and a score that is starting to get seriously close to the magic 30m mark!

Since my jump PB was the final event and the price ceremony and after party was extremely fun, I still end the weekend with positive feelings and motivation to get the scores I want in the next competition, which is the world championship in the Ukraine!

malibu trick tour

During the past week I have only focussed on tricks. I trained my runs a lot on Tuesday and Wednesday and tried to figure out the safest order to do my tricks. Originally I wanted to start with steps, because that way the time spent travelling towards the wake does not count for the 20 seconds you have to do the run. However, I was falling quite a bit on my step sequence, thus I tried to start with my wake 540 sequence and do the steps after. This was going really well and I had a lot of confidence in this run. In toes it wasn’t going too well, but I knew I could do the run I had in mind, as I had been doing it well the past weekend. 

On Thursday I didn’t ski, because I was travelling the country with my trick skis. I would go to a rookie competition, because this was at my friends’ club, and also it would be a good moment to time my runs and get used to a little competition pressure. There was a lot of wind at the competition site, but it went straight down the lake. This means that going one way there was head wind and the other way, tail wind. It is easier to do toeholds with tail wind, because in head wind you get blown away from the boat, and it’s hard to keep the line close to you with just 1 leg. However, there was tail wind on the first pass, which meant I had to start with toes, even though I have always done my hands run first in tournament. Even in training I prefer to do my hands before toes. I didn’t have much of a choice though, because there was a really strong wind, so there would be no point in doing toes with that head wind. It wasn’t such a big deal in the end to do toes first, so it was good to have experienced that. Still, my toe run didn’t go too well, I fell really early on, because I tried to start with my 540, which is relatively new. I didn’t fall on the 540, but I came out of it badly and so fell soon after, because I continued whilst I was unstable. It was because of this that I made the decision together with  Talisa to start with a 360 instead of the 540 so that I am sure I’ll finish the run, even though it will be 120 less points. My hands run went really well after, I liked the new order and did everything within the time. Though my 540s weren’t fully credit, they weren’t far off, and I got good tips from the judges on how to have them credit for the actual competition on Sunday. A good feeling before the competition!

Sadly I couldn’t end the competition with the same good feeling. There were only 2 rounds, instead of the 3 + final that we thought. In the first round I fell on my first 540, so no 540s, no step sequence, that’s a big hit in my score. Still, I wanted to perform on my toehold run, even if there was no way I would end with a good score. I hadn’t practised starting with a 360, but I knew that would be a safe option, since it was my run all of last year. I did do the 360 and came out more stable than I usually did out of my 540. I did my whole run except the last trick, which I was happy with. I wasn’t too happy with my score though, because I was missing a lot of points from my hands sequence. I decided not to change my run for the next round, because I had so much confidence in this run, I was determined to do both runs like I had in mind. I did my first 540 in hands, but fell on the second. Really frustrating, since in training they were going so well! I finished my toes run after, including the last trick that I fell on in the previous round. However, I decided not to go for my back to back reverse, because I didn’t feel stable coming out of the first back to back. This means I gained the amount of points that I lost compared to my toe run in the first round. Furthermore, my 540 in hands was not credit, so I didn’t get points there, leaving me with the same amount of points. For next week, I might try to change the order again and start with a step sequence, so this week I have to focus on getting that really safe.

Hopefully the score I had in mind will become reality in the next competition, because I had such confidence that I could ski a trick PB. Luckily every other  team member skied a PB, so many people qualified for the Europeans, which is amazing! I’m super happy for everyone else, and that I got to be in the boat for most of those wicked PBs!!! 

Bowling #teamNL

This weekend we were fortunate enough to have another team training with coach Coyotte. Sadly, on Saturday, after starting at 7 in the morning, the boat broke. There was a problem with the prop so skiing was out of the question, even though it was only 10 am, so everyone had skied just once. Luckily I did have a good set that first one, because I did 4 at 13, which is the best I’ve skied on this site. I was especially happy with how my technique felt, this has really improved lately. As for the boat, there were a couple of options, but none of them were really ideal.. By the time an agreeable solution was found for the prop, it was 13:00 and at that point we weren't allowed to ski. The national team was allowed to ski until 13:00 and after 18:00, so just as the boat was up and running, we had to stop skiing, after waiting for 3 hours! Since we wanted to get away from all the waiting and frustration for a bit, we went bowling with the team. It was a lot of fun, but let's just say that it's good we are the national team for waterski and not bowling… The youngest kids got side rails, but sadly for the others, including me, these were able to go up just for specific players, so a lot of gutter balls were thrown! In the end, Coyotte won, so he can teach us something here as well. However the most important thing is that we had a lot of fun, laughed a lot and were able to get our mind somewhere else. We then decided to get an early dinner, so we could ski without stopping after 18:00. We were able to get some more sets in, but not as many as we wanted, because there was a wedding at the ski club! This wasn't the ideal situation for a training weekend, but it was quite fun to see how they organised their beach wedding, including picking up the bride with our speed boat! The fun we had with the team that day is what I want to focus on, because the last 2 ski sets went far from great.

Luckily Sunday is a different day and I started full of fresh motivation. My slalom set didn't go as well as Saturday, but still better than a couple of weeks ago, so I won't let that bother me too much. As we had to stop at 13:00 and wouldn't continue after 18:00 because most people, including me have quite some time to travel after, we had to fit in everyone's 3 sets in the first 6 hours. We worked really efficiently and I felt as if every time I blinked it was time to warm up again! I much prefer that over the waiting from the day before, so I was more focussed each set. Since I have a trick competition coming up, I was working on runs that would be stable enough for next weekend. Also I discussed strategies, like setting a PB in the first round (sure would be great) so that I will be able to add more and more risky tricks the following rounds. I wanted to focus my sets on the least stable tricks that I want to do in my run. I feel like it went really well and this gives me some more confidence for the competition. I'm also happy that the tricks that I have to put in this season’s final run are already becoming stable. Especially a 540 turn in toe holds went really well. During the set we really moulded each part of the trick, I kept building the trick with the tips I was getting. Every time I used a tip, the turn went a bit better until finally I did a perfect fully credit 540 toe hold. This is great, because this has to be the first trick I do, so if I fall on it, I will lose all the points in that run! With the runs and strategies for next weekend and some more training at home, I hope to set a PB above the 3000 point mark at the competition. I'm excited, but nervous to work towards that, but I've seen what happened when I focused on just slalom, so I should be able to do the same focusing on just tricks!

National waterski day

Arms straight, knees towards your chest!

This weekend it wasn't only about the training I had with the national team, but also about all the new people we introduced to our great sport! On Saturday, we had a full day of training, but on Sunday only until 1 pm., because there was a nation wide open day for water-skiing. Everyone could ski at clubs around the Netherlands for only 10 euros and at the club we were skiing at with the Dutch team, kids skied for free on this day! This meant that there were loads of kids that we were able to get onto the water, hopefully they will continue to enjoy it and help grow the sport!

People of all ages were able to ski

First of all on Saturday I had my own training. It was a great day, we were able to ski efficiently and I was able to do 5 sets!! I started off with slalom, which was already much better than last time we skied on this lake with the team. In between, I had been skiing with Anthony, who helped me improve my style and technique a lot within that week. Still I was skeptical, because his water skies amazing, it's called magic lakes for a reason! Furthermore one of the issues I was having here was with the 8 buoy course, due to which I had some trouble with my gate. Still with my new technique, and also confidence after my PB's last weekend, I was able to ski really well. I haven't run a 13 meter pass again here, but my style is so much better and at least I was able to consistently get trough the 14 meter passes again! After not jumping or tricking for the past week, this took a little adjusting again, but I was able to get back quick. I made some great improvements in jump where I try to be more forward and on top of my ski's so that I don't take out all of my speed by putting my ski's in the air vertically. It was very weird at first to not be slowed down instantly, but this is of course much better for the distance, so that's the feeling I have to get used to. In trick I tried to work on a flip, because I want to stick to a deal I made recently, that I will land one this season. I didn't land a flip yet, but I didn't get hurt either, so I'll write that down as a win! Then the last set of the day, I skied purely to take some videos. Everyone had been playing around with cameras and go pros, so I couldn't resist to ski one more time. I had a team mate, Hugo, join me in tricking behind the boat, so he filmed me from the side. I love to see my tricks from this angle, because you can't get much closer!

On Sunday we continued taking some photos and I filmed Hugo's set from behind the boat. I also had the go pro on my back during jump, so I hope that this video turns out awesome! This also forced me to really try to be on my front foot more, so that I wouldn't fall back and land on the go pro, haha! Then after I was done with all my sets, another team mate, Pemm asked if I could also film her tricks, so I did one more set. Again 5 sets, so after 10 sets this weekend, I was pretty tired. However, it wasn't time to stop yet, because it was time to introduce the wonderful world of water-skiing to some new talent. It was worthwhile to turn all those excited, but slightly nervous faces into uncontrollably smiling and whooping! I absolutely love to get new people on the water and to see them succeed. Luckily there was an awesome boat crew, the team coach, Talisa was driving and I got everyone ready and coached them in the boat. Together we got everyone up beside the boat. Most people were able to ski on the short line, and some even got up on the full rope when we thought they were able to handle it. It was great to do together and so rewarding to hear that everyone truely enjoyed it and wanted to come back! Defintely a great 'pass the handle' moment!

PBs on PBs on PBs

As you can probably guess from the title, this week was filled with PBs. After last week, where I didn't ski too good, both in results as in style, it wasn't hard to redeem myself after a change of scenery. I drove down to Magic Lakes in Nemours to train with Anthony. Last year at the end of the season I also trained in here hoping that he could give me just the tips to run 14 in the competition I would ski after. However, there wasn't just 1 tip, I needed to change some things in my style, and that takes time. I've had time to work on having a better style and stance and Vincent already noticed a difference when I was skiing with him. Technically I had improved a lot and the bouys would come. With a better style, it was also easier to work with the tips Anthony was giving me troughout the week. When he told me to change the angle at which I tilt my head in my turns, I actually had the time in the turn to think about this and adjust accordingly. This helped me a lot and I was skiing really well. Looking at the videos of my sets, I was really happy with how it looked. Throughout the week, the main goal was to get 14 steady and be confident that I could run it. We did ski on 13 a couple of times, but I needed to get to trusting myself at 14 first. Then on Friday, we skied competition style, this means shortening the rope after each pass I run. I ran 18, 16, 14 and skied 3 at 13. Then we went back to 14 to get it in for the competition, and since I ran it we did 1 more 13. I was told to just turn 1 to go to 2 and then turn 2 to go to 3, etc. Because if I turn 1 to run it, I would most likely go too hard. To my surprise, I kept turning bouys to go to the next one, until I was turning 6 to get back through the gate. I couldn't believe it, but I had ran my first pass at 13! I had to tripple check the colour of the rope to see if it was really green, but I had really ran 13 and it felt good!! 

The post PB smile

Though I was super happy to have this new training PB, the ultimate goal for this week was to get a new competition PB. I had to run that 14, because it is becoming such an issue mentally as well. Luckily in my first tournament pass I was already able to do this. I got through 18 without any problems and this warmed me up for the 16 meter pass. I made a small mistake here, but told myself to stay calm and ski bouy after bouy and I would run it. After this pass I took a couple of deep breaths an remembered everything Anthony told me. The technical tips, but also to just go and ski like I would in training and not ski more reserved than usual. I wouldn't regret it if I missed it, but went for it 100%, but I would regret it if I skied reserved and missed it (true, because this is what happened in some competitions before...) I went out for the gate and committed fully, barely made any mistakes and ran 14 like I never did any different. I was super stoked but tried to stay calm for the 13 meter pass, because now it was PB time. I did 2 at 13, which I was really happy with, but also eager to ski more. The following 2 rounds I did 4 and 3.5 at 14, which was hard on my mindset. I had to talk myself out of it and go for it in the last set. Both other Dutch team skiers, Hugo and Klaske Julsing, skied a PB just before me in the last round, so I couldn't be the only one who didn't. Again 18 and 16 went smooth and warmed me up for the coming pass. However, I made a mistake on 14 and was really late. I told myself, it was the last set at this lake, last round of the competition, I had to run 14, no matter what. I just kept turning and skiing to the next bouy, no matter how late I arrived. I barely got through the end gate and neither me, the boat driver or the boat judge could believe I ran that pass. The boat driver said it doesn't matter how I did it, it was 6 bouys and the time was OK, we all laughed and I got ready to ski another PB. I had nothing to lose so skied with 110% commitment. I had a great gate, 1 and 2. Sadly I made a small mistake at 3, so I couldn't get to 5. My score was 4@13, which is almost an entire pass above my previous PB, so I can't be anything but happy with the results this week!

OTF!

After the succes stories of last week, I was brutally hit by a reality check. I crashed in my jump set on Monday. It was my first out of the front crash. As I was practising the ¾ cut I had just learned the week before, I approached the ramp feeling quite late. I felt like I would barely get both ski's over the ramp, but just before I was at the ramp I decided that I was still on time enough to go for it. However, because of that moment of doubt, my position on the ramp wasn’t good anymore. I had my ski's flat on the ramp, where normally you should continue cutting on the ramp towards the top left. With my ski’s flat, I still tried to kick off the top, but in doing so, I pushed back my right ski too far, which caused me to fall more and more forward. At that point it was a question of waiting until I hit the water. I was lucky that my ski's went off immediately when I hit the water, because that saved my joints. It did mean that I landed on them with my legs, arms and face, but that takes considerably less time to heal… After a short moment of being a little disorientated and taking in all the pain I felt to identify if it was actually bad, I was able to finally say I was oké. After a moment of processing what happened, I had to get back on the water and take some more jumps. This is necessary to keep confidence in yourself and not develop a fear of jumping. Of course, I didn’t do more ¾ cuts right away. I started with some single cuts, but was so scared that I tried to stand on my heels a lot all so that I wouldn’t go out of the front again. This is unsafe though, and I ended up falling backwards causing my back to hurt quite a bit. It took a couple of jumps to have some confidence again and it wasn’t till the training with the Dutch team back in the Netherlands that I felt comfortable with trying a ¾ cut again, but it went really well and I jumped Friday, Saturday and Sunday without any hard falls, so I am fully confident again. 

After I came back from France on Tuesday night, I had one free day at home. I thought the most important thing to do was go to the fysio and check out everything that I hurt by overusing it and the crash. Since the federation planned 4 days of training for the team with Coyotte, I wanted to be sure that I could ski without causing lasting damage to my body. He said ideally I would take a weeks rest, but since we both know that was out of the question, he taped my shoulder to help the blood flow to help it heal quicker. Also he told me to take some painkillers so that I would keep moving normally. Now I can say that it did help and I skied the past 4 days mostly pain free. In the end both my shoulders and my back hurt a bit, but that is no surprise really. Luckily it didn't stand in the way of having 4 great days of training and I was still able to learn a lot. Only slalom wasn't going exactly as I was hoping it would, but I have a whole week and a 4 round competition coming weekend to get rid of the issues I was having. Hopefully I will be able to prove to myself that I can still slalom well, because after the 4th set of not skiing the way I wanted to at all, I was seriously starting to doubt myself and wonder where everything I had learned in the past week went.

Flying to the mountains

Since Tuesday I have been training at

Vinneys ski school in Toulouse. Since the first day the skiing had been going really well. I hadn’t been slaloming a lot at home because of the conditions, so I was a little anxious going back on the slalom ski. Still the first set was already good, and every set after was getting better and better. I have been working to fix my gates for quite a while now and every coach that I go to identifies it as a problem. Now finally all the tips that I have received to make it better are falling into place and I am improving. This gives me more time in the course, during which I can work on all the other tips as well. Because of this, I am able to ski with a much better technique than before; I feel more powerful behind the boat, more in control of my ski and all my passes feel much easier. This is my third summer skiing with Vinney, so he knows my skiing quite well, and he says that it is as if there is another skier behind the boat, since I improved on my turns so much. Now, I am sure a new PB is not far away. 

In tricks, we worked on putting all my new tricks in a run. Especially in toes, I have a lot of new tricks that should be ready for my run before the next competition.

This results in a toe run that is almost worth more than my previous hands and toe run together. In hands I am also working on some new tricks, these require a bit more work, but I am sure I will be able to put them in for my next competition. In total, my new run will be 4500, if I am able to do every trick credit and in time. This will most likely not be the case in the beginning of the season, but I hope to work towards that score before Europeans. 

In jump I have spent a lot of time on the water without a ramp, practising a ¾ cut. This time, I made the cut towards the ramp, but let go just before. This way, I was still not actually jumping, but I could get used to the feeling of cutting towards the ramp and also work on the timing. Today was the first time also going over the ramp whist doing a ¾ cut. After 2 single cuts, I went for my first ¾, and fell. The second time, I went too early, so I had to pass the ramp. However, the next 4 jumps, I was able to make and land safely. Each jump I dared to go later and cut harder into the ramp, and it was an awesome feeling. I felt like I had more time in the air and I’m really excited to work more on the cut, so I can work towards a new jump PB.

When I came, the temperature was more like I had become used to in Florida rather than the cold of the Netherlands. This was great to ski in again but I could see on the weather forecast that it wouldn’t last. There were a couple of days where I had to ski in the rain and everything was quite cold. However, I must be made for those conditions, because I actually tricked really well!

Ultimate Ski&Wake

Ready to jump around behind the super air Nautique GS20!

On Monday this week I went back to my fysio for the first time since skiing in Florida. It was time to
check up on everything and put some vertebrae back into place. He told me that it would be good to give my body some rest for about two weeks. I immediately thought that's not possible, because I will be leaving to train in France next Tuesday and I was way too excited to ski after last weeks clinic. As luck would have it though, the boat at my club was broken for a couple of days, which forced me to take at least 4 days completely off skiing. I still believe that maybe the fysio just broke our boat; I'm kidding of course, and I'm thankful for all the volunteers who helped fix it. On Friday I got to ski again, so that was at least some rest for my back, but I did keep working out and running in between.
Friday I had to work the entire day, but it was also my last day there. I decided it was too much to keep working there when the season really kicks off. Therefore at the end of the day I had a lot on my mind and I was quite sad to leave all my colleagues behind. I called up the ski club to find out if there was still a spot for me to ski, which there was, just before it got darker. I was really happy to get on the water and get everything out of my head for a while. It went to show that water-skiing also helps me to deal with everything else that's going on. Just jumping the wakes as a warm up instantly put a smile on my face. Afterwards, I also had a good set in which I worked on my new tricks from last Sunday, so I ended the day perfectly at the lake with the sunset.

Find the photographer on instagram: @albertomta

On Saturday, the Dutch team skiers were invited to give demos at the Ultimate Ski & Wake event.
This was an event in Brielle, where we could test some awesome boats, browse through some watersport brands and raise money for the charity of forgotten children. It was well put together and I was immediately approached by multiple people to test some of their products. First of all the wetsuit brand Glidesoul, which I also skied in at Whitney McClintock's clinic, asked me if I would want to ski in their suits so they could shoot some pictures. The suits look great and are really eye-catching so I was very willing to do that. Also this allowed me to ski in a new and, more importantly, dry suit every set that I went on the water. Because it was still pretty cold and it also rained for a while, it was perfect to be able to put on something dry before each demo. Afterwards, I was asked to ski behind a boat with a 60HP engine. He had made a system with which you are able to ski behind a boat with an outside engine. I was skeptical at first, but ended up having lots of fun behind it, and it is capable of keeping a straightline and pulling me on a slalom ski, which is impressive! The main event of the day was testing the super air Nautique GS20! This boat was awesome on the inside, but just as good to ski behind. The wakes were really awesome for tricks, whilst also being low enough to slalom behind when you want to. All in all, I had a great day at this event and hope it can continue to grow each year so that the watersports get more and more support!

Back in Maurik

This week I was really back home, because I got welcomed back by my personal trainer. She had a couple of really heavy workouts planned this week, just in case I forgot about her! The focus was more on intensity than strength in order to raise my heart rate and get back into action mode. We did do some strength exercises to test my level compared to when I left for Florida, because last time I came back having taken quite some steps back (also due to my birthday cake and Christmas meals...). This time I came back stronger and more ready than ever to kick some butt. Even though I was still strong in my muscles, which I'd also been using a lot on the water, I hadn't done much cardio, therefore the high intensity was quite hard. After each session this week, I couldn't bike home directly after, I had to regain some strength in the changing room! I did however really enjoy the workouts and I'm excited to get back to working hard in the gym as well as on the water.

Still, nothing quite measures up to the days on which I can hang out at a lake all day and get 4 sets of training in. Especially not when those sets are with an awesome trainer who has some unusual tricks, that really helped me improve my tricks. Today was one of those days! I went to Maurik, the ski club where I started dreaming of participating in competitions, after revisiting for the 2013 youth Europeans, that dream turned into participating at a E&A championship. Those goals I have now met, so I decided to set a new one. This season, I will learn a flip, I've said it before, but now I have a deal that I have to respect!

In Maurik, Coyotte - who trained our national team a couple of times last year, and will again this year- was coaching for the day. I was super stoked when I was asked to come by and ski there, because this meant great coaching from Coyotte, but also skiing with one of the people that trained me in my first youth camp. She was one of the people who inspired me to want to be good in water-skiing and helped me along the way. Now we were really excited to ski together once again, and hopefully we can meet more often. Even though it was pretty cold today, I wanted to ski until I felt I had taken everything out of today that I could. Since I have 2 suits, the third set I was wearing a wet one, so throughout the set I got colder and colder. still I was having too much fun and learning too much to want to stop, so I kept skiing until I was told we really had to go back. After this, I had some difficulties getting warm, but there were still some tips I really wanted to work on, so I wanted to get back on the water one more time. Luckily Coyotte had brought a suit for himself, but didn't want to ski in the end, so he let me borrow it. It was a bit too big, so despite our efforts to keep water out by folding up the sleeves, after each start I had collected a pool in my leg, where the water couldn't escape. Still this was much better than starting a set already cold. I did a new trick almost first try, which was awesome and I didn't expect to do so in the 4th set of such a cold day. Furthermore I improved many tricks and am on my way to learning some new tricks. I'm also content with my slalom set, since it was the first one on the colder water, which always feels a little different than warm water. I can't wait to keep working on those tips in the three weekends the federation has booked with him for the national team!!

All in all a great day today, especially after having done my SAT yesterday. This test is a necessary step towards going to university in America, but it took from 8 till 14.00, so I was exhausted by the time I was done. It was also quite stressful, because it can earn me a good academic scholarship, which I will need in order to finally achieve the biggest goal I've held over the past couple of years, which is to combine studying at a university with water-skiing at a collegiate level. Now all I can do is wait for the results, which won't be for another month or so....

More about my experiences in Maurik in:
New PB!!
The Rookies

Back in the cold

Even though the temperature just

dropped from 33 degrees celcius to around 10 degrees here, with a water temperature that I don't even want to know, I want to continue skiing like I was. Staying true to our tradition, the season was opened on Kingsday, which is the 27th of April. This was quite soon after I got back, so I wasn't necessarily prepared for the freezing cold water and especially not the icey wind on my face. Normally to open the season everyone gets to ski a quick round for free. This is really just one up and down, and since I started skiing here, I do always value my sets here. Thus, I took my tour up and down the lake. I had decided to go on my trick ski, because along with the lovely temperatures there was also a really strong wind, so the waves on the lake were pretty high. Going away from the starting dock I had the wind in my back, therefore this wasn't nearly as cold as going back with the wind blowing in your face. Even better was that the wind blew extra water in my face, so despite my best efforts to not get wet by starting from the dock and not falling, I still got my face wet and cold.

Today, 3 days after opening the season, we also had our first kids training. I am not home in any of the weekends before I leave for university, except this one, so I wanted to go and see everyone. I was on the lake for most of my day, and even though it wasn't a sunny day at a clear blue lake without wind, I still think lake days are the best days. Being in the boat, behind the boat, in the water, on the water, skiing and helping others ski, are still some of the best things I can think of to be doing. The lake was extremely windy and at the starting dock the waves reached almost to my knees. Luckily, on the far side of the lake there was a couple of meters sheltered by the trees, so that's enough space to go skiing. I decided to go out on my jumpers first for some drills, because I wouldn't have to go in the water for this. It was cold, because my jump suit only covers half of my legs, but I didn't plan on going into the water, so it was oke. I did a dock start, did my drills and landed on the dock again. Luckily this didn't get me very cold, so I could prepare for my trick set. This time, I couldn't do a dock start, though I was going to fall in the water at some point any way. I started my set from the boat at the far side of the lake, because the water before that was insane. I tried to keep my hair as dry as possible at the start, and I could benefit from this a couple of minutes. That was until I started practising my 540 wake turns and I dove head first into a wake eventually. After this I realized that it wasn't in fact that cold if you just don't focus on it, so I had a really good set. I'm very happy I skied, because when I saw the water around the dock, I was really discouraged. I was told that I would be happy I skied after my set, and happy I was. Hopefully the wind will die down the following week so that I can also get some slalom sets in.

To finish off my day at the lake, I was

able to go into the water with my puppy and get him to swim. Afterwards it was time for him to get used to the boat, because he'll be around it a lot ;). He did great in the boat, so I guess the next step is to take him on my ski's!

Bye for now

I have been thoroughly enjoying and appreciating my last week in Florida, which is why I post this one day late. I spent most of the week further in the South of Florida, in West Palm Beach. I was very happy I could be staying with a friend I made during my first week here while training with Whitney. I've heard about the site she skies at, Okeeheelee park, but I'd never been there. On Wednesday I arrived and we immediately skied. There was a slalom tournament in the weekend, which I would be skiing as well, so I mainly slalomed. However, I did want to take my trick skies as well, since there was plenty of time in between Wednesday and the competition to also get some tricking in. I'm really glad I decided this, because I did a TWO, which I first did when I was training with Whitney, for only the second time since I learned it. After this, I was so stoked that I landed it first try, that I couldn't think of what else to do, I just couldn't focus any more. Since I'd already been tricking for a while, I figured I'd just stop there, whilst I was feeling great. On Thursday, I did 2 slalom sets, because the first set didn't go very well and I did want to practise for the tournament. Then on Friday we didn't ski, but went up to a different town to check out the ocean and go for a run.


On Saturday, there were 2 rounds of slalom for the competition, on Sunday there would be 2 more. The 2 days were listed as separate tournaments though, so a score on both days could count in the ranking. This means that in stead of one good score out of the 4 rounds, it would help my ranking if I skied well on both days. On Saturday I was so set on finally running 14. This meant that I could not fall on my first pass, which is 16, no matter what. Due to this mind-set, I skied really bad, I barely turned my ski to get angle, so I didn't go too fast. I barely moved my body in the turns and therefore I only just went around the bouys and got later and later throughout the course. Eventually that of course resulted in a fall at 16... I was very upset, but I did know exactly why I fell, which meant I could do something about it in the next round. In the following round, the wind was a little better than before and I knew exactly what not to do. I cleared my first pass without a problem and was ready to finally run that 14. I pulled out for my gate, and knew that I just had to go for it at 1 with lots of angle and speed, because I wasn't going to get through the pass playing it safe. When I was going through the gate, I thought I had missed it. I had a really good first bouy, but I thought that was because I went in front of the right gate bouy. I was a little distracted, but figured I should keep skiing just in case I didn't miss the gate. Still, with the lack of focus after that, I went around 5 and thought I finally had a shot at going around 6 as well, since I was past the point where I usually fall. However, after cutting to 6, I saw that it was still too far away, I just couldn't reach it. It was a new pb of 5@14, but I can't say I'm genuinely happy with that score, I really just want all 6. The 2 rounds on Sunday were cancled due to a heavy rainstorm that just wouldn't stop...

This afternoon I will be flying back home. I'm really sad to go and I know everything will feel like a roller coaster when I get back. My weeks are completely packed and before I know it, I'll have to get back to school...

4 states this week

Since Wednesday this week, we've been in 4 different states, but before I explain why and where, I want to start with the beginning of the week, which was with Breanne and Ryan Dodd.

On Monday Tycho and I arrived at Stillwater lakes eager to be coached by Breanne and Ryan, since we had such positive experiences last times. The day we arrived the water didn't look very promising, luckily on the side of the lake that we couldn't see, the conditions were actually surprisingly good. I was happy with my slalom set, especially because Breanne helped me ski some of my easiest passes ever, although this still has to translate to some of my best passes ever, I'm happy with the improvements in my technique. Sadly, we could only stay for 2 days, but I will take the tips I got and work on them back home in order to really improve my technique.

Due to the limited time, I decided it would be best to dedicate 2 sets per day to jumping, because there is probably a reason that Ryan is world jump champion. Due to the wind, all 4 sets were spent on drills and not actually jumping. Of course I would've liked to actually go over the ramp, but at this point, getting comfortable on my new skis and improving my technique is most important. The fun thing about the drills is that I can actually feel a difference in my balance and stability from the beginning to the end of a set. I'm glad I spent some time on the basics and hope if I continue these drills back home too, that I will be adding some meters to my jumps soon. The focus of these training days was not really on tricks, but I did get some very useful pointers regarding my 540 wake turns.

Now for the explanation as to why we've been to 4 states since Wednesday! After encouragement of multiple people, we were convinced that a visit to potential universities in Louisiana could be very beneficial. I've been thinking about going to either the university of Louisiana at Lafayette or Monroe for quite a while now. I applied to both some months ago, since these universities could allow my dream of combining my study with intensive water-ski training to come true. Initially the plan was to drive up there and visit one university per day. However, since it was good Friday this week, our plans got completely thrown around, leaving no room to drive. On Tuesday, there were probably 5 people looking at which plane tickets were cheapest and early enough to allow for our plans to continue. A little last minute, definitely, however, we were able to pull it off, thanks to Joke, Pierre, Talisa and Tycho Hof and my parents. The flight left Wednesday morning, at 6am.... from Miami. Since we only knew we were doing this Tuesday afternoon, we still had to drive down to Miami at some point. This point turned out to be 10pm on Tuesday, and since we had to be at the airport close after 4am, there was no point in getting a hotel. In stead, we parked the car on a parking lot and tried to get 1 or 2 hours of sleep. Then on to our first flight to Atlanta, Georgia, state number 2 after Florida. From there we had 20 minutes to make our connecting flight to Louisiana, state number 3. We landed in New Orleans, from where we would drive to Lafayette, where our tour started at 1pm, after barely any sleep. On Thursday morning, we made our way up to Monroe to visit that university. It was great to hang out with the skiers all afternoon and for dinner, though I was a little jealous, since we didn't take our skis on the plane. On Friday, we drove back down to New Orleans, through Mississippi, state number 4! Since our flight back to Miami is Sunday morning, we had some time to enjoy the culture in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. I was really impressed at how beautiful New Orleans is, and I would love to come back and see more of the city, possibly when I go to a university in the same state :D. I'm extremely happy I got the opportunity to visit the universities, because it definitely got me one step closer to reaching my dreams. I can't wait to have everything finalized and on black and white, so I can start enjoying the fact that my dream will come true!