More about

 

So, my journey is in fact my biggest Education and created a larger skill set than any University could ever provide. ​​But that's just me. Any other individual I would not advise to follow my journey, but just use the skills it has given me. 

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So I have lived in and around Amsterdam for a longer time than my 19 years of roots in the East the Netherlands. When I was 19 I started studying Physical Education in Amsterdam and I completed all theory, but got stuck on the practical side and finished in Public Relations and Account Management. This was a perfect stepping stone towards Sports Management. With a good start at a Hewlett Packard doing something entirely different for 6 years many professional opportunities followed in High Performance Sports. I became a high performance sports coordinator, a PR manager and an Olympic level and World medal coach. I was not a job hopper, but I did manage to be with companies and organizations for a longer time. To really create the difference that I was going for. 

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During a lot of these years I pursued my own athlete career and while building a great future I also managed to win World Cups, reach 15 finals at World Championships and 11 finals at European Championships. I had a great career in my sport and additionally helped others to reach similar levels or even better. This journey of course comes with many stories, but for now I think the most important message is that I could only accomplish my goals with great people around me. Training 2 to 3 times a day, traveling all over the world, reaching so many podia. Yes, it was both beautiful and tough, but I could only reach my medals by sharing the podium. My podium is shared with my coaches, specialists, sponsors, parents, my ex and my wife. The big lesson is that results on an individual level are also part of team work. 

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This solid base is really important. I am married to Femke (since 2008) and we have a daughter (Moa, born 2018) and a son (Mauk, born 2018). In 2024 we moved to our current house in the city of Haarlem. We just love this city close to the beach and Amsterdam. We are just a happy family with a world level paddling background that our kids have no knowledge of. I am equally proud of Femke's career as I am of mine and we both are definitely most proud of our children. We love to travel and explore and nowadays we equally love our home base in Haarlem, friends and family. 

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Athlete in canoeing

World ranking first, Bronze World Champs, silver European Champs, bronze World Champs, 100+ National golds, 40+ World Cup with 12 World Cup medals (1,2 and 3). ​

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Coach in canoeing

National Coach (2001-2006 and 2016-2023). Athletes achieved multiple top8 rankings and medals and I managed to move a team into the World elite within 5 years. In between and during this entire time I coached about 12 top8 paddlers. I wrote, presented and managed 3 High Performance plans to get athletes to this level. Fun is the base of all results over the years and this is probably most important. 

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High performance manager

Designer of the first sports crowd funding platform in the Netherlands, co-creating regional High Performance Centers, designing and managing High performance plans in multiple sports, former illustrator, text writer. Olympic Network coordinator, Sports Coordinator Technical University of Delft, High Performance Rowing Coordinator, National Coach Kayak Sprint, Olympic Plan Kayak Sprint the Netherlands. 

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A bit of (old) media

https://www.watersportverbond.nl/nieuws/8-vragen-aan-bondscoach-kanosprint-nicole-bulk/

​​https://www.tudelft.nl/x/over-x/humans-of-x/articles/nicole-bulk

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=333678230594638

https://www.trouw.nl/voorpagina/nicole-bulk-heeft-sinds-kort-niets-meer-te-klagen~b1e1d631/

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