Polish Volleyball Federation looking for national teams’ coaches
News
Two weeks ago, the Polish Volleyball Federation announced they are looking to appoint new head coaches to steer their men’s and women’s senior national teams.
The position at the helm of the men’s national team became available after Vital Heynen’s contract expired in October. The Belgian coach spent four seasons with the current world champions, leading them to an impressive total of six medals from top international competitions – including the aforementioned World Championship title defence, which put Poland in an elite club of three-time gold medal winners, alongside Brazil and Italy (as the former Soviet Union’s six titles are still out of reach). The Olympic medal, however, has yet again proved to be elusive and remains a dream of both the Polish players and their fans. Europe’s current No. 1 (tied with Serbia) and world’s No.2 are surely thinking already of their “Road to Paris”. The question is who is going to guide them there.
The former head coach of the women’s national team, Jacek Nawrocki parted ways with the team after more than six years of work. The group underwent a deep generational change soon after he had taken over but under Nawrocki the new set of players consistently climbed the rankings year-by-year and, a rather unsuccessful 2021 season aside, managed to put the team back on the international map. Poland now stand at no. 12 in the world and no. 8 in Europe.
Fans speculate whether it is time for a coach from abroad to work with the women’s team, who last saw foreign guidance under Italian Marco Bonitta between 2007 and 2008. This is quite different from the situation of their male counterparts, where foreign-born coaches have been at the helm of the team for the past 16 years (starting with Raúl Lozano in 2005). Nationality aside, one thing is certain – although aims are different, hopes are high for both teams, but this should not come as a surprise in a country that labels itself as “volleyland”.
