On Friday 25 July 2025 we held the first of four webinars on personal branding for athletes. JANDASPORT ® delivers the webinars as part of the project Capacity Building of Sports Organisations through European Values, funded by the European Union’s Erasmus+ programme.
The project partners are five organisations from Ukraine, Hungary and the Czech Republic: the Hungarian Wrestling Federation (Magyar Birkózók Szövetsége), the Czech Wrestling Federation, the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Wrestling Association. The latter coordinates the project – the first sports organisation in Ukraine to initiate and lead one like it.
The project’s main goals are to strengthen the capacity of Ukrainian sports organisations, develop the professional skills of sports specialists and promote sport and European values among young people.
A webinar from the gym
We usually broadcast webinars from our studio. This time we wanted to surprise viewers with a different setting. Sokol Vyšehrad kindly lent us their gym – and our “new” studio was born. Many thanks again to Sokol Vyšehrad.
The gym had two wrestling mats we wanted in the shot to make the webinar more authentic. So we set up the camera, lights and other gear with the main speaker, JANDASPORT ® founder Vít Janda, in the foreground and the gym – where wrestlers, judokas and others train – behind him.
Two hours packed with information
Most participants were from Ukraine and Hungary, so the webinar was held in English, with simultaneous Ukrainian interpretation. Representatives from the Czech Republic joined too.
The main topic was “What is a personal brand and why does a wrestler need one?”. Over two hours we covered the key areas of personal branding:
- the 4 pillars of a brand: identity, image, voice and story,
- how to create a nickname, visual style and logo and become recognisable,
- why being good on the mat is no longer enough – you need to shine online too,
- inspiration from the Czech Republic and abroad on how other wrestlers build their personal brands.
Key takeaways
People won’t remember every match you won – but they’ll remember how you made them feel, what you stood for and that they followed your journey.
Your personal brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.
You’re not just making a highlight reel. You’re building a story, an identity – a brand people will remember.
Feedback from participants
We express our gratitude to our Czech partners for the webinar, which was very informative and useful. Additionally, we thank everyone present for their participation!
We sincerely thank our speaker Vit Janda and our partners, the Czech Wrestling Association, for their excellent organization and professionalism.
What’s next
Three more webinars follow in August, September and October 2025:
- Personal brand development strategy,
- The basics of self presentation, the athlete’s personality in the media space,
- Digital skills to promote the athlete’s personal brand in the media space.
Dates and Zoom links are published on the UWA Erasmus+ Project Facebook page.
We have also summed up the basics of an athlete’s personal brand in our guide for athletes.
