‘I didn’t know anymore what to do with my life’

Rosey Metz (20) is a first year Architecture and the Built Environment student and swims at professional level. Her best distance is the 50 metre breaststroke for which she has often qualified for major international competitions such as the European and the World Championships. Her usual weekly routine is six swimming training sessions of two hours and three power training sessions of 1.5 hours.

What was the start of the pandemic like for you?
“When everything shut down, I could not swim. I didn’t know what I should do with my life. We looked for other activities such as cycling, but that was less fun than swimming. Like everyone else, I was unsure and did not know how long it would last.
After a while the swimming pools opened again and I could train in Eindhoven. I stayed with my boyfriend’s parents. It wasn’t very nice as I didn’t know many people in Eindhoven. The training was different too as you had to maintain distance in the pool. But at least I could continue swimming throughout the rest of the pandemic.”

‘I have learned a lot about myself’

Did you feel at a disadvantage during the pandemic?
“No, not at all. I was lucky that I could continue training. It gave structure to my life. If you need to combine your studies with a high level sport, people expect things of you and you need to stick to your planning. This meant that I had to get up every day. It was hard that competitions kept getting postponed though. The World Championships were to be held in Japan, but that was cancelled because of Covid. There is normally a closing tournament every summer. If that is cancelled, you have nothing to train for.”

You started studying during the pandemic. What was that like?
“It was tough being a student. I felt that little account was taken of young people who could suffer from mental pressure and depression. I learned a lot about myself in this period as you had the time to think about yourself. I also became more aware of the people who are important to me. I had more time to reflect on the kind of friends that I have now and how I want to handle friendships in the future.”

It is said that the end of the pandemic is in sight. How do you look back at this period?
“It was sometimes nice that I was not under pressure to go somewhere. I miss quite a lot of parties because of swimming. As nobody could go to parties, I had less of a feeling that I was missing out. My sport gave me something to hold on to and structure during the pandemic, and I am grateful for that. I will compete in my last competitions this summer and then continue as an ‘ordinary’ student. And I’m pleased that student life will then also be ‘normal’ again.”

• You can find the other parts of this series here.

Doris Aafjes / Student-redacteur