RandyHereman.com

Biografy

Biografy / About me

Last updated: December 15th, 2007.

Full Name: Randy Hereman
Date of Birth: April 30th, 1987.
Started kiteboarding in: September 2003
Sponsors: F-one Kites, Go Fast Sports, SkullCandy, Mystic, Reef, Unwind.nl
Best competition results: 4th in the World Cup Brazil ’07, 4th and 2nd in the World Cup Beglium ’06

My story:
I was born on April 30th, 1987. I was born and raised in Sneek, Friesland, the Netherlands. Since I was a little boy I’ve always been outside and I was sporting non-stop. I almost did every sport you can imagine, at least tried it.

My parents where always into water sports and owned a sailing boat. In the weekends we stayed on the sailing boat and like that I got in touch with wind and water.

Since my 10th birthday I’ve been into extreme sports. I got some aggressive in-line skates from my parents and started skating on small local parks. Because the level of in-line skating isn’t that high where I live, I didn’t had a lot of fun skating and moved onto skateboarding when I was 13 years old. I started skateboarding with a big group and we all progressed really well. I loved it but again the same problem. To get better you need to ride with the best and they where not in the area. We always needed to move to bigger cities by train. At one moment I was done skateboarding and I was looking for new adventures and thrills.

While I was spending my weekends on the water in our sailing boat, close to a camping side with a beach. I discovered kitesurfing. I saw the Dutch champion, Stef de Jong making huge jumps, taking out his board and landing soft. I was hooked. I knew this was the sport I wanted to learn and get good at. It combined all the aspects I was looking for. here huge for a boy of 14 years old. My dad arranged an old windsurf set from an old friend of him and I tried that but never got hooked to it.

In September 2003, when I was 16, we went with our sailing boat on summer holiday in the south of Holland. I got to try out a kitesurf lesson. The first touch with the kite was amazing. I was hooked straight. The power of a kite, the feeling that it had so much power that if you don’t watch out the kite will control you. The feeling of how strong wind can be. I got the feeling straight and after 1 hour I got to ride the board. I was standing immediately and did my first meters. In the same week I arranged a lease plan so I could borrow money of my parents and I bought some second hand quiver.



After the summer holiday I started with my study. I went to a school named CIOS. This is a college where you learn to become a gymnastic teacher for schools. I loved going to school but my mind was just into kiteboarding.

My first contest was the Funsport Tour in 2004. In the first round I ended up 3rd. Second round 4th and the last round I got 1st. I also got the overall titel for 2004. After that I got sponsored by Cabrinha Kites.

In the winter of 2004/2005 I went with my new kites to Brazil to train and get good enough to compete high on national level and maybe even compete in some international contests.

In June 2005 I got to compete my first world cup contest in Cabarete, Dominican Republic. This was also my first time to travel all alone. This contest is famous for being the biggest of the year. With a total of 75 competitors I was really happy to make it into the last 32, the main event. After the World Cup in Cabarete I went to the World Cup in Italy. I did a lot better there and got 13th.

After the World Cup in Italy my sponsor developed a new concept, the BOW kite. I tried it for a while and managed to do everything with it but the feeling of kiting for me wasn’t the same anymore. I just didn’t had fun riding. I decided to stop with my sponsoring with Cabrinha and started to look for a new sponsor.

In September 2005 I got several offers. I took my time and tried some different kites. Because I like to stick with my sponsors for a long period, this was an important choice for me to make. After going to France and testing the new kites of the French kite brand F-one Kiteboarding, I choose to start riding for them.

To finish the year I went together with Bas Koole to Brazil for three months to train and to compete in the last World Cup event in Brazil. The last WC event I finished 9th.

During the training period in Brazil I got together with professional kiteboarder Pauline Boussard from France. In March 2006 we went to train in Venezuela for another two and a half month.
The first World Cup of the year (2006) started in Venezuela and I got 9th place.

Back in Holland I met up with my school to talk. Until now they could help me and support me with my sport but now I got into such a high level that I needed to choose between school or kitesurfing. I choose kitesurfing.

The second was in Belgium and I got 4th place in the Freestyle and 2nd place in Best Trick.

In the summer of 2006 I got to make my first TV commercial for Nescafe Frappe Greece. This commercial was broadcasted in Greece, Hungary, Bulgaria and Cyprus.

In the winter of 2006 I returned again to Brazil for the last world cup contests. I finished 10th overall in the world ranking. After that I kept on training in Brazil but not for long because I injured myself bad on my knee and broke my ACL and got a tear in my medial meniscus.

When I came back home in December I started with physiotherapy. I did that for three months and then I got released. I choose not to do an operation because I wanted to try to do it without and to see how for I could get with hard work and training.

During my revalidation I got another job in a TV commercial. This time it was on local grounds, in Holland. It was for a job agency called Vedior.
I also started to work on a career as a professional photographer under the name One Touch Reality. And I started to work on my own company, www.stock07.com.

In March 2007 I started kiteboarding again in Veneuzela. My knee felt really good again I just had a lack of confidence. There was a big block in my mind and you could see that in my competition results. I started the World Cup season with a 17th place in Venezuela, 23rd in Italy and after training in Turkey I gained confidence and trust and it started to go better. I got 9th in Fuerteventura, 6th in Germany and 4th in Brazil. I was happy with the season only I didn’t kited on a full 100% yet.

During my winter training in 2007 in Brazil I got some problems with my knee again and decided to do an operation. It’s taking more less 6 months to be back on level but then I would be back without any knee problems and being able to kite a 100% again.

The 4th of December I got operated and at the moment I’m still rehabilitating.