… What I love about my sport

I discovered table tennis when I was at school in France. I then started playing in a club at the age of 13. Table tennis is a very technical sport and you need to keep practising and repeating these techniques. What I always love is the speed and the constant development of the sport. Today, table tennis is much faster, even more professional and much more material-driven than it used to be.

… What my sport gives me to help me in my everyday work

Table tennis has shown me above all else that development takes time. You learn a lot through routine and continuous training. Another important aspect is mental toughness. Table tennis is very mentally demanding. As I tend to be rather impulsive, when I’m playing sport I notice how important it is to control these impulses. I find that I’m often better at doing this at the table tennis table than at my own desk. (Laughs) But the same rule applies in sport as it does in your job: You need to remain calm and focus at crucial moments. If you get nervous, you’ll quickly lose focus and ultimately the match as well. This focus on a single task also helps me in my job, especially in stressful situations.

… Why team spirit and motivation are crucial for me

The priority for me now is team table tennis. When you play in a team, every single performance counts towards the overall result because in the end everyone is playing for the same team. This is similar with our jobs: We’re only ever as good as every single individual. Everyone contributes their own strengths so we can achieve a good result together.

… What makes this sport special for me

Table tennis combines a physical workout with strategic thinking and tactics. This is what makes it so exciting. When you win, you often have an intense feeling of satisfaction, whereas defeats force you to reflect. It’s these very extremes that drive development and define the sport for me. At the same time, table tennis is a sport for life: it’s not so much about speed and power, but about experience, technique and understanding how to play the game. It keeps you on your toes, both physically and mentally, and allows you to experience success at every stage of life.

… What I love about my sport

I actually got involved in dragon boating through Progroup because we participated in a company cup as a team. I quickly realised how much fun I had doing this. I really like the concept of working as a team. You’re sitting in a boat with up to 20 other people and you only really make progress if everyone paddles at the same rhythm. It’s the combination of strength, technique and endurance that makes it even more special for me.

… What my sport gives me to help me in my everyday work

Above all else, I’ve learned how important it is to be disciplined and to think about your next actions. In a dragon boat, you need to know what’s coming next. You need to prepare to deal with what lies ahead and things you can’t predict. This also helps me in my job. I’ve also learned to assess my own performance and keep going even when the going gets tough. If you want to achieve a goal and keep developing, you just have to invest a lot of time and effort.

… Why team spirit and motivation are crucial for me

Team spirit is the most important thing for me. In the boat, you won’t achieve anything by working on your own. Everyone has to do their bit. It’s exactly the same at work. If everyone pulls together, nobody will be out of their depth and the team will move forward together. You need to be able to rely on one another. This sense of camaraderie is always a big motivator for me, both in training and in my job.

… What makes this sport special for me

Dragon boating gives me a real sense of freedom and ­solidarity. Gliding across the water, celebrating successes ­together and achieving something together as a team is simply unique. It’s an intense experience that is difficult to describe, and it’s something that everyone should try once. The sport constantly shows me that you can achieve more than you think.

Around five years ago, I discovered CrossFit through a friend. I was sceptical at first because I didn’t really know that much about it. But after the first few sessions, I was won over. What I still love today is the versatility of the sport. It’s a combination of endurance, strength and technique and you always give the whole body a workout. The emphasis is on functional fitness, which means no two training sessions are the same.

… What my sport gives me to help me in my everyday work

The main thing I’ve learned is to listen to my body and get better at assessing my limits. Particularly with intensive training, it’s important to know when you need to take a break. At the same time, I’ve realised that progress takes time and does not always follow a straight line. This ­patience also helps me in my job because you can’t do everything perfectly straight away, especially when you take on a new role.

… Why team spirit and motivation are crucial for me

Especially when you’re doing workouts as a team, the ­different strengths of each individual person can be used in a targeted way. I encounter this very principle in my job as well. Every person has different skills and you achieve more by working together. What’s more, the sense of camaraderie really motivates me. You arrange to meet, push each other and just have lots of fun together. The sense of togetherness ensures that you keep going even on stressful days.

… What makes this sport special for me

CrossFit really keeps me grounded. It shows me what my body can deliver. It gives me a real sense of pride when I see progress. For me, it’s less about achieving balance in a traditional way, and more of an extra pastime that challenges me both physically and mentally. CrossFit constantly shows me that I can do more than I think.