Ambassadors guide next RYT generation along “the players' journey”

The camp, which ran from 27 to 30 November, saw 24 different countries represented by 31 young female players who received a Player of the Match award or were named in an All-star Team at a Younger Age Category (YAC) event this year. 

The theme of this year’s camp was “The players' journey”, and was designed to help young athletes to professionalise their approach as they transition to high-level handball and enhance their overall career management. Plus, to give aspiring players the necessary awareness, knowledge, and supplementary skills to become truly complete and successful athletes — unlocking their full potential, both on and off the court.

To help them do that, the EHF called upon five of its ambassadors; the returning Ana Gros, Jelena Grubisic and Carmen Martin, plus Barbara Arenhart — introduced this summer as a new ambassador — and Yvette Broch, who was making her first RYT appearance.

"My main motivation I'm here is to share my experiences, of course, but mostly to share my weaknesses," Broch shared. "To be open. I think it's very important to create a safe atmosphere, especially in this world, where it's not easy to be open. It's like, we have to perform, we have to be strong all the time. So sometimes it's difficult, and still for me, to share all the hard things that I've been going through, but it's my motivation to be here, to be as open as possible."

The role of the five ambassadors was to share valuable experience, and with the support of leading experts, teach the next generation about all aspects of holistic personal development and the critical challenges of modern handball.

They guided the talents through training sessions at the camp which were structured to address the most critical challenges encountered during the move from junior handball to the professional level, including:

• Navigating your journey — Dual career: Getting things done
• Fuelling your journey — Nutrition: Optimising game day nutrition and post-game recovery
• Stabilising your journey — Mental fitness: Dealing with pressure & managing conflicts
• Protecting your journey — Sports law: Signing your first professional contract; Anti-doping: Know forbidden substances and methods
• Sharing your journey — Shine in interviews & social media

For Croatia’s Anamarija Baric, discovering that the elite players she was learning from once had the same struggles as her was a reassurance: “I just learned that I'm not alone in some stuff, that they also had some problems that I'm currently facing. And just to share their experience with us, it's amazing because at some point, they were us. So yeah, it's great to learn from them.”

The balance between on- and off-court matters was a main takeaway for Erika Sanchez from Spain: “I think on court to manage my emotions and to be more focused on what I have to do. And outside the court, to respect, not only when you're playing in the court, but also what you are doing when you are not playing.”

The talents also make use of the RYT App, which addresses the topics covered at the camp, and offers plentiful resources accessible to anyone, including those who are not part of the RYT programme.

"The tools they have right now, I wish I had when I was younger," said Barbara Arenhart when discussing the RYT App. "And all the access that they have, and the openness from the federation towards them to make them better athletes is just essential. If they really take part in their self-development using all the tools that they were given, they will for sure be already 10 steps ahead of the others."

At a RYT camp for female players such as this, the specific challenges faced by women handball players can be addressed. “Up-and-coming female players face a specific set of challenges. Driven by our incredible ambassadors, the RYT women’s camp demonstrates exactly how effective tailored support can be in overcoming them,” said EHF Secretary General, Martin Hausleitner.

Main and feature photos © Uros Hocevar / kolektiff