Tuesday, 18 June 2013

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World League 2009
20th Edition

POL / Poland - Team Composition

Team manager	ROMAN Witold
Head coach	CASTELLANI Daniel
Assistant coach	STELMACH Krzysztof
Doctor	ZAJAC Krzysztof
Therapist / trainer	GROCHOWIAK Marcin
Journalist	SWEDROWSKI Tomasz

	No.	Name	Lastname	Shirt Name	Birthdate	Height	Weight	Spike	Block	Club
	1	Piotr	NOWAKOWSKI	NOWAKOWSKI	18/12/1987	205	90	355	340	Asseco Resovia
	2	Grzegorz	LOMACZ	LOMACZ	1/10/1987	187	80	335	315	Lotos Trefl
	3	Jakub	JAROSZ	JAROSZ	10/02/1987	195	84	353	328	TOP VOLLEY
	4	Rafal	BUSZEK	BUSZEK	28/04/1987	194	81	345	327	Neckermann AZS
	5	Pawel	ZAGUMNY	ZAGUMNY	18/10/1977	200	88	336	317	ZAKSA
	6	Bartosz	KUREK	KUREK	29/08/1988	205	87	352	326	Dinamo
	7	Wojciech	GRZYB	GRZYB	4/01/1981	205	104	360	340	AZS UWM
	8	Marcin	WIKA	WIKA	9/11/1983	194	86	335	310	Asseco Resovia
	9	Zbigniew	BARTMAN	BARTMAN	4/05/1987	198	83	352	320	Asseco Resovia
	10	Marcel	GROMADOWSKI	GROMADOWSKI	19/12/1985	200	94	348	318	Paris Volley
	11	Lukasz	KADZIEWICZ	KADZIEWICZ	20/09/1980	206	84	360	335	Al-Arabi
	12	Pawel	WOICKI	WOICKI	29/06/1983	183	80	330	305	PGE Skra
	13	Karol	KLOS	KLOS	8/08/1989	201	87	357	326	PGE Skra
	14	Fabian	DRZYZGA	DRZYZGA	3/01/1990	196	90	325	304	AZS Politechnika
	15	Michal	RUCIAK	RUCIAK	22/08/1983	189	75	336	305	ZAKSA
L	16	Krzysztof	IGNACZAK	IGNACZAK	15/05/1978	188	86	330	315	Asseco Resovia
C	17	Michal	BAKIEWICZ	BAKIEWICZ	22/03/1981	197	92	339	318	PGE Skra
	18	Marcin	MOZDZONEK	MOZDZONEK	9/02/1985	211	93	358	338	ZAKSA
L	19	Pawel	ZATORSKI	ZATORSKI	21/06/1990	184	73	328	304	PGE Skra

C=Captain L=Libero

Team profile

Poland boasts a strong Volleyball tradition. The Men's National Team has played an important role among the elite teams since its first appearance in the inaugural World Championships in 1949 held in Czechoslovakia. Fourth place at the tournament was repeated in France (1956) and again in Brazil (1960).

In 1970, the Polish squad claimed the top position in international Volleyball and continued its domination for several years.

Poland triumphed at the FIVB World Championships in Mexico in 1974 and succeeded again two years later at the Olympic Games in Montreal, where the team won the Olympic title.

Poland also claimed second place at five consecutive European Championships between 1975 and 1983.

The Polish squad joined the FIVB World League in 1998 and finished 10th in its first tournament. They were eighth in 1999 and again in 2000. In 2001, Poland hosted the World League Finals for the first time, finishing seventh.

One year later and led by coach Waldemar Wspanialy, Poland took another step forward and advanced to the World League Finals, where they claimed fifth place, returning the team to international prominence.

One of the strongest and most innovative sides around, Poland has gone from strength to strength in recent years and their quarterfinal performance at the 2004 Olympic Games, which included a straight-sets win over Serbia and Montenegro, summed up the quality of this side.

Poland finished fourth in the 2005 World League and fifth in the European Championships the same year.

To cap a successful year, Poland qualified for the 2006 World Championships in Japan via a Qualification Tournament on home soil in Rzeszów.

Things were going well for Poland until tragedy struck on September 16, 2005, when Arkadiusz Golas, one of the most talented Polish Volleyball players, died in a car accident on the way to Austria during a road trip with Italian side Macerata. He was 24 years old.

Poland bounced back from the Golas tragedy and back into the world Volleyball elite by winning the silver medal at 2006 World Championships.

In 2007, Poland hosted the World League Finals in Katowice and claimed fourth place in a super-successful finale that attracted bumper crowds.

This, unfortunately, was followed up with a disappointing 11th at the 2007 European Championships in Moscow.

Last year, Poland swept through its Olympic qualifying tournament in Portugal, winning all three matches to book a berth at the Beijing Games, where they lost to Italy in the quarterfinals to finish joint fifth. A fifth-place finish was also the team’s outcome at the 2008 World League.

This year the team is under the guidance of new coach Daniel Castellani, who replaced Raul Lozano in February, and a return to the podium in the FIVB World League is among the Argentine’s main targets, along with qualification to the 2010 FIVB World Championships and European Championships.

Coach profile

Daniel Castellani was just 32 years old when he was offered the job as coach of the Argentine National Team. Sixteen years later, in February 2009, the Board of the Polish Volleyball Federation entrusted him with the task of coaching our National Team. Expectations are high following the National Team’s successes under former coach Raul Lozano.

Born: March 21, 1961 in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Married to Silvinia, with two children, Ariana and Ivan

Career as a player:
Teams: Obras Sanitarias (Argentina), Chieti (Italy), Atlantica Boavista, Minas (Brazil), Falconara, Bologna, Padova, Firenze (Italy)

National leagues achievements:
- Runner-up at Brazil Championship – Atlantica Boavista 1984
- CEV Cup Winner – Falconara (Italy) 1985
- Brazil Championship – Minas 1985

National team achievements:
- Gold, South America’s Junior Championship – 1980 Chile
- Bronze, World Championship – 1982 Argentina
- Winner, Olympic Qualification Tournament – 1987 Brazil
- Bronze, Olympics – 1988 Seoul

Coaching career:
- Won the Pan-American Games with Argentina – 1995 La Plata
- Helped Argentina qualify for the Olympics – 1996 Buenos Aires
- Argentina Championship – 2003 and 2004 Bolivar Signia
- Poland Championship – 2007 and 2008 Skra Belchatów
- Poland Cup winner – 2007, 2009 Skra Belchatów
- Third place in Masters’ League – 2008 Skra Belchatów
- Became head coach of Poland Men’s National Team - 2009

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