RYT Camp 2023 guides talents to next steps on career path

Coming from 21 European countries, a total of 30 young talents have spent four days (Thursday to Sunday, 7-10 December) in Vienna that could turn out to be crucial to their handball careers. 

The 30 players – all women in their teenage years – all showed their handball skills on the courts last summer, when they were named in one of the All-star Teams and/or were awarded as Player of the Match at the W17 EHF EURO and EHF Championship tournaments  

The RYT Camp, however, was mainly about developing their skills off the courts. 

The annual camp aims to help participants deal with the challenges that come with being a promising athlete with a potentially glorious career ahead of them. Input comes from a range of experts as well as former star players, who all share their valuable experiences with the youngsters. 

This year, the camp focused on the female player journey and the most relevant challenges accompanying the transition from junior to senior level. It equipped the players with the tools to enable them to have a sustainable handball career, deal with current and upcoming challenges, and prepare their bodies and minds for a long-term journey. 

The ambassadors sharing their own experiences and revealing their tips and tricks at the camp were Andrea Lekić, Anja Althaus, Jelena Grubišić, and – for the first time – Carmen Martín.

Lekić has been involved in the RYT programme since its inception and is able to reflect positively on how it has grown from strength to strength, "I'm really happy, satisfied and honoured, because in these last years we have been making such a wonderful project bigger and bigger.

"I think we are now having more and more talented players, and handball players across the European world knowing what it means to 'Respect Your Talent'." 

One of the participants, Ana Maria Gavrila from Romania, was very grateful for chance to learn from the ambassadors, "The ambassadors from RYT camp are so cool! They all have a different journey and I have to learn from them. I thank them for all the information I have at this moment and I hope they bring some more information for us to learn, to not make their mistakes and to go to the top!"

New to the RYT programme in 2023 has been the addition of the topics: nutrition, regeneration, and fitness. Each of the new and existing topics were led by experts including Wolfgang Stockinger (dual career), Bojana Jelicic (mental fitness), Hans Holdhaus (anti-doping), Tanja Sarenac and Maja Ivanovic (fitness, nutrition and regeneration), Ioana Patachi (social media), and Simona Margetic (media). 

Mental fitness is a hot topic for young people today, as evident from the responses friends and teammates from Switzerland, Seraina Kuratli and Era Baumann, gave to the question of their favourite topic; "It's nice to see that even top athletes struggle with self-confidence," said Seraina. Era added, "My favourite topic also was mental fitness because it's such a huge part of our sport."

Also new, and released right in time for the camp, is the RYT App, adding another digital component to the RYT programme. Throughout the digital training sessions in the app and by collecting so-called ‘talents’ (a specific points system), the young athletes can take part in online ambassador sessions. Different off-court topics are discussed based on each ambassador’s specific experience. 

The RYT App is available in the Apple and Google app stores and contains training sessions from the following off-court topics: 

• dual career 
• media 
• sports law 
• anti-doping 
• mental fitness 

Training kits, ambassadors’ tips and tricks, and quizzes are available in the app for the young talents to brush up their knowledge. 

EHF President Michael Wiederer underlines the importance of the RYT Camp and the newly released app for the future of handball, "It is of huge importance to the EHF to support young handball players in building their future. Systematically investing in their talent is key here."

“The RYT App is a brand new source of inspiration and knowledge. We connected a large team of topical experts and world-class players to create easy, short, gamified, and hands-on training sessions, having the talents and their concrete career challenges in mind. Via the app, we want to give every young player the opportunity to access the most relevant resources that help them take more control of their personal journey”, adds Wiederer. 

The intense four days at the RYT Camp in Vienna, however, where not all about workshops and apps, as the participants also enjoyed leisure activities together like pizza baking, handball quizzing, and embarking on a city tour through Austria’s capital. 

What have the talents learnt the most from the RYT Camp? Let us hear from Era and Seraina once more; "I think the thing I've learnt the most is to always believe in myself," said Era, and Seraina added, "I've learnt that every athlete has a value that they need to respect!"