Yordi - A Lifelong Journey of Growth
Yordi - A Lifelong Journey of Growth
Yordi
My name is Yordi Verkroost, a computer science teacher and athletics coach.
Latest Posts
On a recent training camp trip to Mallorca, one of the other traveling athletes was a photographer. She took her gear with her and I was allowed to use it some days, just to try it out. After a day of taking shots, I was hooked. Hooked...
Recently I fell into the Instagram Reels trap where unknown artists play a snippet of their music and then offer one of their CDs for free. You only pay for shipping. Until now I had ignored these videos, but after seeing the same...
I wake up slightly later than planned in a strange but incredibly comfortable bed, in a house I slipped into the night before. Well, "slipped into" might be too dramatic. I walked in through the front door, looked the owners straight in...
This morning started ordinarily enough. Coffee, then a look at the balcony, overdue for its yearly spring cleanup. I've had years where I cursed myself on the first warm day for not sorting out my only outdoor space sooner. Nothing more...
Today I read Choosing my own standards by paco. The first sentences of his argument hit home: Music is a passion I've always had, but I slowly let go of it because I kept on comparing myself to others and I couldn't find the point of...
Right in the middle of a set of squats, it happened. A small twinge in my lower back. Not severe, but sensitive enough to quickly put the weights back in the rack. A few minutes' rest and then try again, I thought. But it was too tender....
Years ago, a few friends, fellow students and I had a subscription that let you go to the cinema as often as you liked for a fixed monthly fee. And we made good use of it: on weekday evenings, preceded by a regular visit to the local...
Books are strange things. Whenever I'm reading them, I feel wonderful. It's one of the greatest feelings in the world to immerse yourself in a story. It's a chance to escape the day-to-day life, to get lost in a fantastical world of...
It's early in the morning when the first rays of sunlight find their way into the poorly darkened bedroom of a young blacksmith. After one final stretch, he gets up, walks across the creaking wooden floor to the forge, and shovels coal...
Where is everybody? We are here on earth, where life started approximately four billion years ago. Single-celled beings. Living things. We evolved further, into two cells. Four. Eight. And eventually, into an unimaginable number of...
After an internship visit at a fascinating company, I cycled home through the city centre. A quick detour to the bookshop to pick up a newly released book by a somewhat peculiar but absolutely wonderful artist. You have to do something...
I grew up with Harry Potter. I was roughly the same age as Harry at the time of the book releases, which meant there was a lot I could identify with. I visualized Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, and all the other magical places in my head while...
At the end of an athletics training session, I passed by the door of the gym where a youth group was wrapping up for the evening. One of the parents was already waiting just outside for their 11-year-old kid. When she came over, the...
There have been races I've been more prepared for. More consistent training sessions in the weeks leading up, more mileage as well. Nothing much to do about that anymore, though. I had to take today's race as it is, with the form that...
Oftentimes, there exists more than one truth. I learned that today at an athletics event, where one of the workshops was dedicated to weightlifting for track athletes. Exercises like cleans, snatches, and more of the sort. Types of...