Steffie van der Peet (left) at the start of the European Championships track cycling. Photo Dyane Ribbink Steffie van der Peet appeared at the start of the European Championships track cycling in Apeldoorn last week, where she and her two teammates won a bronze medal for the team sprint. The 24-year-old biology student combines her sports career with her studies.
‘Of course, I am pleased with this medal, but I am also happy about our achievements. Both our combined time and my personal contribution to it. I am in peak shape, and I feel I’m improving’, she says, looking back on the event of last weekend. She expected more from the sprint and from the keirin in particular. ‘Keirin is a highly tactical element in track cycling, and it did not pan out as I would have wanted it to this weekend. I learned that I must have more faith in my physical abilities. If you focus solely on tactics, you may end up with the short end of the straw. It was great to perform in front of a home audience’, says Van der Peet enthusiastically.
Papendal
Van der Peet’s top-class sports career began some ten years ago when she shifted to track cycling because people around her advised her she had potential as a sprinting cyclist. ‘I was a road cyclist, which is mostly an endurance sport. In track cycling, about half of the elements are designed for typical sprinters, with short bursts of output at high speeds. I wanted to give it a try. I enjoyed it and was good at this sport, as the cyclists’ association quickly invited me to join their group of talented cyclists and live at Papendal.’ Thus, Van der Peet moved to the top-class sports facility when she was fourteen.
I don’t feel that spending an afternoon studying costs more energy than an afternoon of doing nothing
Steffie van der Peet, biology student and track cyclist
‘Looking back, I am kind of surprised my parents allowed this. But I am very happy they did because I genuinely believe I would never have made it this far otherwise.’ After four years, she joined the top team and moved to Apeldoorn, where she continues to live and train.
Mental stimuli
Van der Peet enjoys studying in addition to her sports career. She embarked on her master’s in Biology last year after having completed her bachelor’s in Biology in a little over five years. ‘I completed the bachelor’s a little faster than in double the normal time, but my master’s is a little slower. I don’t mind my programme progressing more slowly as long as there is progression. Plus, I am really fascinated by biology.’
‘I don’t feel that spending an afternoon studying costs more energy than an afternoon of doing nothing. The physical stimuli of training and mental stimuli of studying don’t clash, but this is the year of the Olympics. So, I choose to do nothing during some periods in order to focus completely on my sports.’
Concessions
Combining the two can be quite challenging, in particular with mandatory practicals. ‘The last year in the talent group coincided with my first year as a biology student at WUR. We would train during the afternoons so that I could attend classes in the mornings. The top-sports group always trains in the mornings. Hence, I have studied in the afternoons since I joined the top sports team,’ Van der Peet clarifies. ‘The following period, I had many optional courses which I approached tactically. There are a few courses I would have liked to follow but which I had to pass up due to my sports career. So I had to make some concessions.’
I am mentally preparing for the Olympics
That does not mean, however, that Van der Peet is taking the easiest route to achieve her degree. ‘If I am really enthusiastic about a course, I try to spend a little more time studying during that period. That is the case for the course Laboratory Animal Science: Design and Ethics in Animal Experimentation in period 4. There are quite some mandatory practicals to be done, and I am absent half of the time for training camps. But teachers know me by now, and they are confident that it will all work out and support me. Moreover, I have learned how to plan and study efficiently in the last few years.’
Olympics
The Dutch women’s track cycling team has not yet been placed for the Olympics in Paris this summer, but they may well be. ‘The eight best countries will be included. Before the European Championships, we ranked fifth, and our third place may even have bumped us one spot up on the list. There are two major competitions in the spring, and after that, we will know whether the Netherlands can compete in the Olympics. We are safe for now, if we don’t do anything foolish. Still, we must deliver.’
‘Moreover, the coaches will have to select which women will join because there are four candidates. But I am mentally preparing for the Olympics.’
