Rastislav Trtík was born on 6 March 1961 in Košice.[1]
As a handball player, Trtík developed in the team VSŽ Košice, for which he played in all junior categories as well as the senior team, with which he won the Czechoslovak championship.[2] At the age of 19, he moved to Ostrava, where he studied at the university and played for Baník Ostrava and Baník Karviná. He also represented Czechoslovakia at international competitions.[1] After the Dissolution of Czechoslovakia, he opted for the Czech citizenship.[3]
Trtík's first coaching job was at Baník Karviná, which he coached from 1994 to 1997. Under his leadership, the team placed second twice in the Czech league.[4] Between 1997 and 2003 he coached SKP Frýdek-Místek team. In his final year, he led the club to the first victory in the Czech league in its history.[5] From 2004 to 2006, he coached the German team MT Melsungen, which he led to promotion to the first German league. In addition, he parallelly coached the Czech national team.[1] In 2008, he again coached Karviná, leading it to the league title.[6] From 2008 to 2011, he coached HT Tatran Prešov, leading it to three league championships in a row.[1] Following stints with Karviná (2011-2012) and HC Empor Rostock (2012-2014), he returned to Prešov, which he led to two more league victories in 2016 and 2017. From 2017 to 2019 he led the Polish team Górnik Zabrze.[1]
His final professional coaching job was with the Czech national team from 2021 to 2022.[7] In the final years, Trtík suffered from health problems, which limited him to coaching junior teams.[1]