RYBANSKA Natasa

General
FROM SLOVAKIA TO HUNGARY
Born in Piestany, Slovakia, she represented her country of birth at youth level and at the 2015 European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan, before moving to Hungary in 2016 to compete for Szentesi VK who were under the guidance of then Slovakian coach Ladislav Vidumansky. In 2017 she gained Hungarian citizenship and in early 2018, at age 17, she was called up to the Hungarian senior national team after she attended a training camp in Szentes, Hungary. "In 2016 I would have said that what I am experiencing now is unrealistic. When I first came [to Hungary] it was to play a junior competition for the club [Szentesi VK] but in a short time I was preparing for first match with the Hungarian senior team. Everything happened very quickly, it's amazing. I am very happy. I have always loved water polo, but going to Hungary made me even stronger and I can't even imagine doing anything else. I came here at 16 and had to learn to be an adult and rely only on myself. It is very difficult for me to get used to being away from my family." (piestanskydennik.sk, 12 May 2018; delmagyar.hu, 10 Feb 2018; gettyimages.ie, 15 Jun 2015)