Alex: OK, so talk to me, what’s on the menu.
Kerstin: All right, so you’ll see a massive pan of oil, which I know doesn’t look too nice, but I’ve been able to prep some butter and this is for a snack called oliebollen.
Alex: So this is a bit of home?
Kerstin: It is very Dutch and we only have them around New Year’s. You can only get the packaging around New Year’s as well. Don’t look at the calories actually, because that’s why we don’t have them all year round!
Alex: Some recipes had currants and raisins for this…
Kerstin: I don’t like the raisins!
Alex: We’re on the same wavelength there! I’ll warn you, I’m not very good at hiding things if I don’t like them.
Kerstin: Alex, I’m Dutch. Do I look like the type that hides it?
Alex: Talk to me a bit more about life at home because you grew up in what, a remote part of the Netherlands?
Kerstin: So I’m a northern girl. I’m from a province called the Friesland and I’m very lucky that I grew up in a small town where a lot of sports are available. Playing was like a two-minute walk from where I used to live, which was perfect.
Alex: I feel like it was always definite you were going to go on and be an athlete then?
Kerstin: Well, my parents met both playing for the Dutch national team and they both did judo, so there was no choice other for us than to do sports.
Alex: How did the people back home describe you back then?
Kerstin: People mostly described me as loud, very chatty – I’m raging ADHD. I’ve calmed down a little bit now but as a child I was all over the shop. It was such a good thing, growing up and wanting to become an athlete, because I was so hyper-focused on football.
Alex: Sometimes that’s hard to navigate, so how did you do that?
Kerstin: At that time I was really struggling to keep up in school, to get ready for tests and also do all my football. Once I had the diagnosis, I was speaking to psychologists and my parents were very supportive. It takes time and I still have a lot of things to learn about myself.
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