In the beginning“I was four years old when I first started playing football. I remember being on the back of my mom’s bike because she had to take me to my swimming lessons every week, and I saw this group of boys playing football. I said, ‘Mom, can I please join? That looks fun!’ I don’t think she was too sure about it, but my mom used to play football too, so she was like, ‘yeah, of course. If you have your swimming grade, then you can go’. It then wasn’t much longer after that and they put me in the minis, as we call it, and from then I loved it. Since then, I have always played football and never looked back.”
Impressing the boys
“In my experience, growing up playing football in the Netherlands was good. I'd always played with the boys and they were lovely to me. A lot of clubs were very open and nice to me, so I played with the best teams and I even made a step-up in my region to go to VV Una, in Veldhoven, for a year. I really enjoyed it and sometimes a couple of boys, they would laugh because they were young, but they would say things like: ‘Oh, you're actually really good!’. It’s nice that you get the recognition.”
The first coach
“I remember my very first coach very well from when I was as young as five years old. His name is Arnold, and he is very, very old now and every time I see him he still has the biggest smile on his face. He always greets me, he is so proud that I've made it. I remember him teaching me how to kick the ball with the inside of your foot and with your laces, and when I was that young, that's crazy. But even so, it was just so nice. He felt a bit like my grandpa.”
Back-seat debriefs!
“I grew up in a football family, so we were always talking about football. I think I was just very lucky that I was always surrounded by nice teammates that inspired me, especially in the women's game, and they always helped me to be better. Every game was big and was analysed in the car on the way back home. My dad was always very critical and said what I needed to do better. However, my mom always said that I played a great game. But both of them helped me a lot.”
The power of friendship
“Friendships are so important to me, I think in football you can have many friends, however you can also be a bit lonely. Of course, it just depends on everything, but I think I'm very grateful for all the friends and relationships that I have built in the game.”
Talking tactics
“In the Netherlands, they start asking you questions when you’re very young. That makes you have to pay attention when there are meetings or when you're on the pitch, they always make you think about everything. I feel like that's why we think we are very smart technically. Like, I would say me and a few other teammates, we would talk a lot about tactics. I would say that’s a very Dutch thing.”
Feisty Gunner
“My move to the BWSL when I came to Arsenal was pretty smooth, but I came from PSV where I needed to make a big step up to play at a higher level. At PSV, I wanted the ball all the time but at Arsenal I then had very good players around me who also wanted the ball all the time. I had to do a little bit of adjusting to that and sharing the ball a lot more with my team mates, but all in all it was very smooth – I played very good football with my team at Arsenal.
“In my time at Arsenal, people thought I was a bit feisty. I think that's changed, and it does change as you get older. I think you should always give it your 100% effort and you can always work hard. Even if football doesn't go well for you, you can always show that you work hard. You should enjoy every second because you don't know what can happen.”
The thinking game
“I think the English football set-up could learn from the Netherlands. They ask us so many questions and there's no right or wrong answer, they just want you to think about football and the decisions that you’ve made. They would ask you the same thing if you did something good to have you recognise your good skills.
If any young girls were watching my journey, I’d just say to them: don’t be scared. Try something new and enjoy every single day. But also work hard at everything you do and you will succeed.”
