Group of young naturists with their backs to the cameraThat‘s a question that has a double meaning!  I‘ll start with the nicer one:

In 2017 I took over the presidency of the European Naturist Youth (ENY). My most important task is to bring together young people from 18-27 years of age from all over Europe.

The best way to do that (I ask myself this question every year) is to choose a city that is attractive to young people and build a framework around it with activities and places that are suitable for naturism.
Do I always meet the spirit of youth?  I am certainly trying.

Here is a short review of where we have been and what we have done in the last few years.

In 2017 we were in Italy in beautiful Turin at the naturist site, Le Betulle.  What did we do? It was wonderfully warm at the time, so what could be better than having a really cool pool party that went on until late at night?

We also had a lot of fun with body painting, in which many people who were not part of the youth event participated.

Because we are also open to involving the hosts. We were catered for by the naturist site itself, here again a big thank you to Rosita Dal Soglio.

In 2018, we moved to Vienna, Austria, to the Lobau naturist site.  The then chairman Karl Nowotny gave us a warm
welcome and provided us with information about Vienna and the Lobau, so we were able to concentrate fully on our beautiful bike tour through Vienna and let the impressions take effect on us. How did we get from the Lobau to Vienna in the city? Of course by public transport, the poor bus driver was really wide eyed when there was a bunch of young people at a stop where usually only single person get on. Of course, we had to change again to the tram, where there was a small sign
saying that you should not listen to loud music. We had probably misinterpreted the sign and organised a small party in the train with nice music in which, funnily enough, other passengers also took part.

In 2019 we met on the Niddainsel in Frankfurt, the Niddainsel is a small day area with a nice pool and not so many sanitary facilities. So, without further ado we brought along everything from a shower trolley to a mobile sauna barrel for about 10 people, the sauna was heated with wood, I probably underestimated a little that the young people frequented the sauna so much that I soon threatened to run out of wood, many thanks to a member of the Niddainsel, whose company gave us wood to fire the sauna.

Of course, we also visited Frankfurt, where a member from Frankfurt was our tour guide.  We also did a small sports unit and a sports Olympics.  The young people had to prove their coordination in a double rope jump, their endurance in beach tic-tac-toe and their dexterity in a 4-person ski course. Unfortunately, the weekends are always over much too quickly.
In 2020 + 2021 we were not able to organise an event because we were also affected by the Covid pandemic.
In 2022, as the Covid pandemic was gradually coming to an end, we tried to organise an event that could easily
be adapted to the ever-changing Covid rules.

So I decided to invite the group to Rosenfelder Strand on the German Baltic Sea coast. In retrospect, maybe that wasn‘t such a good idea.  Why? It was bitterly cold and wet, we are talking about 3°C night temperatures and 10°C day temperatures. I still admire all the young people who took part in the event and slept in tents in these conditions.
With these conditions, it was not surprising that everyone wanted to spend a day in the Baltic Sea thermal baths to warm up thoroughly.

In the evening we sang our hearts out with DJCabo and his karaoke equipment. We actually managed to catch a sunny spell so we could go archery, which 2 members of the site had organised for us.

2023: Of course I can‘t tell you what we did there yet,  as the 2023 ENY Spring rally is yet to take place.  From 18th -21st May 2023, we will be in France near Nice, in the small town of Puget-Theniers on the OriganVillage site.

What are we planning for this year, a city tour is obvious,  will we do it on foot or by other means? Let us surprise you. We are also planning a canoe trip, sauna, naked hiking and of course the young people should also be able to party.
If you are interested in this year‘s event, just contact me at eu-youth@inf-fni.org.  You can find the announcement on the INF-FNI website, in the calendar section. https://events.inf-fni.org/event/european-naturist-youth-rally/.  The cost for all listed events is 50,00€ for the participants and their travel expenses.

Everything else is included, and is funded by the ENY youth budget.

I could not organise and carry out all these great events on my own, so I would like to thank all those who have actively supported me in the past years, especially my family who supports all my crazy ideas.

I would also like to thank all the young people who come to the events, most of whom have long journeys to make. So, a very big thank you to you!!! Because without you we could not carry out the events.

I would like to tell you briefly from which countries the participants have come in the last few years:
Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Denmark,
Great Britain, Italy, Serbia, France.

From the different countries come different strong groups, it depends on how the naturist youth is structured and rganised in the respective country.

From some countries only single persons come and from others bigger groups come.

I already said in the first sentence that the title has a double meaning.  In the last few years we have all noticed that our
membership numbers are declining and that there is a high average age on the club grounds.  More and more young people are no longer interested in being a member of a naturist club, why is that?

The question can‘t really be answered in a general way, but there are some points that can be heard from many conversations.
• Young people don‘t have as much time as they used to and don‘t want to tie themselves down to clubs in their
free time through membership.
• The high average age and many prohibitions and regulations are very unattractive for young people.
• Memberships cannot really be utilised because life takes place in many different places.

I would like to ask all federations to pay more attention to the promotion and support of your youth, don‘t make
life more difficult for them than it already is.  Because the youth is our future.

Thank you all, have a good and healthy time!

Daniela Schleicher