Respect Your Talent
Respect Your Talent goes digital and continues expanding
The RYT programme continued to thrive in 2024, with an important new step: Digitalisation.
The digitalisation of RYT took the form of a RYT app and “Ambassador Sessions.” The app helps players deal with the demands of competitive youth handball and start preparing for the future demands of professional handball through the provision of compact, tailored training sessions in the areas of dual career, mental fitness, media, anti-doping, sports law and nutrition.
The sessions were created by a team of some of the world’s best handball players and internationally recognised experts, and include tips and tricks from professional players, expert guidelines and techniques, videos, articles and self-applicable templates, practice drills and quizzes. The sessions are designed to be completed in 10 to 15 minutes, making them easily embeddable in a young athlete’s lifestyle. The players featured in the nutrition sessions, which were the latest added to the app, are Andrea Lekic, Carmin Martin, Kentin Mahé and Kay Smits.
Ambassador Sessions are virtual, live Q&As between world handball stars, topical experts and RYT players. Sessions in 2024 featured ambassadors Lekic, Vid Kavticnik, Kari Aalvik Grimsbø, Luka Stepancic, Carlos Prieto and Nerea Pena.
The RYT app is intended to be a steadily growing source of talent resources, with new training sessions and training areas to be added regularly. The app is freely accessible on the App Store (iOS) and Play Store (Android), and was first released during the RYT camp for girls in Vienna in December 2023.
Alongside the launch of the app, the established on-site programme continued at the men’s Youth Age Category events held in July and August, with Vlado Sola and Domen Makuc joining as ambassadors for the first time. Kavticnik, Stepancic, Carlos Prieto, Olafur Stefansson and Luka Zvizej all continued their participation as ambassadors at the summer events.
