Ratko Štritof was born in Rijeka in 1972. As a nine-year-old boy, he discovered his passion for water polo, which has never faded. His professional biography is truly impressive. As the crown of his career, he won a silver medal on the Olympic Games in Atlanta 1996, and he added to his collection two European silver medals from championships in Florence and Kranj. He was the captain of the Croatian national team and in 2002 he was proclaimed as the best Croatian water polo player. He is the most rewarded player of HAVK Mladost of all time, with 25 won tournaments and winner of 4 Champions League titles. After his playing career, he became a coach and managed several first-league Croatian and foreign clubs. In recent years, he has been responsible for younger categories of HAVK Mladost.

Ivana Šamija was born in Rijeka in 1989. She started her swimming journey as a nine-year-old in PK Primorje and later, she joined the Zagreb swimming club. She was a multiple state champion in junior and senior categories and represented Croatia at the European Junior Championship in Budapest. Since 2012, she has been counted among the top athletes of the first category. Beside achieving excellent coaching experience, she devoted herself to studying at the Faculty of Kinesiology. She was engaged in a sports program with children of preschool age and in cooperative swimming lessons with the Opatija Red Cross. She was a swimming coach in the Zagreb swimming club for junior and senior categories, as well as in the synchronised swimming club ŠASK. Today, she holds the position of Secretary General in the Croatian Federation of Synchronised Swimming and teaches at a swimming school.

Marko Jelavić entered the world of water polo when he was seven years old. He made his first steps in Medveščak, to which he remained loyal throughout his playing career and where he also started his coaching career. In his younger years, he was the Croatian champion in all categories and was a member of the Croatian junior national team. He was a member of the team that led Medveščak to historic success: the quarterfinals of the Len euro league. During his water polo journey he worked with and learned from Croatian water polo legends such as, Dubravko Šimenc, Tino Vergar, Ivan Asić and Emil Nikolić. Marko is currently working with younger ages at the water polo club Medveščak. He also gained knowledge in representative cups of HVS, and he achieved great success with the younger age groups of Medveščak, winning several Croatian championships.