The Normal World

In this episode of The Normal World, host Annaleid Bakker interviews Kalian Sams about his professional baseball career.  We spoke about how he started with the sport. His dream to be on the Dutch National team and playing in the Major League Baseball in Amerika. We spoke about his journey to accomplishing this dream, the struggles he faced during his career, and how he ended up playing in Am...

In this episode of The Normal World , host Annaleid Bakker interviews Vera Tsyganova about her professional ballet career. We spoke about how she started with ballet and how she got into the Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg at age 14. How her career progressed from Russia to Israel, to the Dutch National Ballet. Her hip injury, which forced her to quit, and life after her professional bal...

In this Dutch episode of The Normal World , host Annaleid Bakker interviews Delaila Amega about her elite handball career. We started the episode speaking about how Delaila started playing handball. She worked her way towards the Dutch National team and playing for the German Bundesliga. After tearing her ACL multiple times, it was time to move on from the sport into normal life.  If you're i...

In this episode of  The Normal World , host Annaleid Bakker interviews Hannah Martin about her elite rhythmic gymnastics and professional ballet career. Hannah started rhythmic gymnastics at the age of 8, when she discovered that the sport embraced her flexibility. She worked her way towards going to the Commonwealth Games and World Championships to represent her country. She talks about leav...

In this episode of  The Normal World , host Annaleid Bakker interviews Kathryn Morgan about her professional ballet career. Kathryn shares how she fell in love with ballet through her passion for classical music. When she was 9 years old, she saw the Nutcracker danced by New York City Ballet, and she knew, this is what I want to do. She talks about how she joined New York City Ballet at the a...

In this episode of  The Normal World , host Annaleid Bakker interviews Anicka van Emden about her elite judo career.   Anicka shares how she discovered the sport through her brother, who was taking judo classes. She shares it felt like having extra PE classes, but then in the dojo.   She spoke about how her athletic journey evolved from training just once a week to ultimately winnin...

In this Dutch episode of  The Normal World , host Annaleid Bakker interviews Dias Gnanapragasam about his elite judo career. Dias shares how he discovered his passion for the sport and found out very quickly that he had a talent for judo. He talks about the challenges he faced during his judo career, eventually leading to a loss of joy in the sport. He spoke about choosing for himself when qu...

In this episode of  The Normal World , host Annaleid Bakker interviews Annebel van der Knijff about her elite canoeing career. Annebel shares how she discovered the sport through a summer sports camp, sparking her passion for the sport. She discusses the challenges she faced during her career, which ultimately led to her losing her passion for the sport. Annebel mentioned how she dealt with q...

In this episode of  The Normal World , host Annaleid Bakker interviews Babette van Wetering about her elite trampolining career. Babette shares how she discovered her passion for the sport through a poster offering free lessons — a moment that sparked a rapid rise, eventually leading her to compete in a world championship. She talks about the challenges she faced, including dealing with 'the...

In this episode, I spoke with Danila Koster about her elite gymnastics career. We spoke about how she started her gymnastics career, her road towards the European championships, the twisties and her experience entering the normal world. I hope by sharing this podcast I can help other former elite athletes or athletes who are going to retire. I also hope that this podcast will help me heal in the s...

In this episode I spoke with Querijn Hensen about his elite para swimming career. We spoke about how he started with swimming, his journey towards the Tokyo paralympics and his life after he quit his elite swimming career.  Check out the Dutch Paraclimbing Foundation for more information about paraclimbing. If you're interested in transformational coaching or a self-study about habits, realis...

In this episode I spoke with Renske Nugter about her elite paraclimbing career. it was a very sunny day so you might hear some garden background noices. we had the windows open. We spoke about how she started climing, her way towards the world championships, how the dutch paraclinbing team got more and more professional over the years, and eventually lead to Renske having to quit the sport. ...

In this episode I spoke with Salome Höneß about her elite track and field career. We spoke about how she started with the sport, how injuries made persuing a professional career difficult and her ongoing break from the sport.  If you're interested in transformational coaching or a self-study about habits, realistic goal setting, and routines, don't forget to check out my website: Actually Ann...

In this Dutch episode I spoke with Minke Booij about her elite field hockey career. We spoke about her career building up to the olympics in Sydney, Athens and Bejing. The things she’d learned about herself in between those olympics. And of course about finding her place into the normal world after she quit her elite career.  If you're interested in transformational coaching or a self-study a...

In today’s episode I spoke with Ronald Mulder. He quit his elite speed skating career not long ago. We spoke about his career leading up to the olympics in Vancouver, Sochi and Pyeongchang. His decision to quit his career and his search towards a new goal in the Normal World.  If you're interested in transformational coaching or a self-study about habits, realistic goal setting, and routines,...

In today’s episode I spoke with Erik Doesburg who used to be a professional Ultimate Frisbee player. If you don’t know what ultimate frisbee is. Imagine a combination of handball and rugby but then played with a frisbee. Erik and I spoke about how he started playing ultimate frisbee, his dream of playing in America, how he played for the Dutch National team and his decision to pull out of worlds 2...

Today is another Dutch episode, in which I spoke with Imke Glas, who used to be an elite athlete gymnast. We spoke about how she started with gymnastics, her career leading up to a severe accident that almost had her bound to a wheelchair, her comeback in the sport, and how she death with everything she’d experienced when she quit the elite gymnastics.  If you're interested in transformationa...

In this Dutch episode I spoke with Ben van der Burg, who was an elite athlete speed skater in The Netherlands. We talked about his career, the runup to becoming second in the 1990 all round world championships, getting injured and how he experienced life after he quit speed skating. Nowadays Ben works amongst other things for Triple , an IT-company, BNR nieuwsradio , Tech Podcast and as a freelanc...

In this episode of The Normal World, we'll dive into the world of Basketball. In this episode, I spoke with Maaike van de Bovenkamp. She used to be an elite basketball payer in The Netherlands. During this episode, we spoke about her journey to becoming an elite basketball player, why she decided to quit, comback, and eventually was forced to quit due to an injury. If you're interested in transfor...

This is my second solo episode, where I will talk about my own transformation journey over the last couple of months. I've started a mindfulness course, which I'll tell you all about including some of my own examples, realizations, and eye-openers. I would love to make more of these short solo episodes, so If you like them please leave a review and let me know what you’d like to hear. **If you're...

This episode is a special one. It’s actually my very first solo episode, about what becoming 30, my own transformation and a very special ring have in common. I would love to make more of these short solo episodes, so If you like them please leave a review and let me know what you’d like to hear. I’m Annaleid Bakker and welcome to the podcast the normal world.  If you're interested in transfo...

In this episode of The Normal World, we'll dive into the world of Ultimate Frisbee. In this episode, I spoke with Roelien Piron. She used to be an elite ultimate frisbee player for the Dutch National Team. Before she started with ultimate frisbee she used to be an elite freestyle skier. During this episode we spoke about her elite sports career, quitting her skiing career, starting a new elite car...

In this episode of The Normal World, we'll dive into the world of Gymnastics. In this Dutch first episode of season 2, I spoke with Katarina Šarišská. She used to be an elite gymnast in Czechoslovakia and now she's an elite gymnastics coach at BATO Haarlem in The Netherlands. We spoke about the Moskow Olympics in 1980, how she came to The Netherlands, and how she dealt with quitting her gymnastics...

In this episode of The Normal World, we'll dive into the world of Football. Apologies in advance to all my international listeners, this episode is in Dutch. Today’s guest is Marelle and together we’ll dive into the world of Football. We’ll talk about why Marelle started playing football and her journey towards playing in the eredivisie of the Netherlands. The injuries she faced during her career,...

In this episode of The Normal World, we'll dive into the world of Squash. We’ll talk about why Nicole started playing squash and her journey to becoming a squash professional. Why she decided to quit, what impact that had on her life, and how she used the lessons she learned through squash in her life after elite sports. Nicole talked about her new passion for coaching athletes and high achievers...