Asian Olympic Qualifying participants the Polish Women's National Volleyball Team
The Polish Women’s National Team was one of the world’s best in the 1950s and 1960s, winning two Olympic bronze medals in Tokyo 1964 and Mexico 1968.
They also claimed silver in the FIVB World Championships in 1952 and bronze in 1956 and 1962
It was a rapid rise as they had only been in existence from 1947, when they lost to Czechoslovakia 3-1 in their first international match.
Silver medals in the European Championships were gathered in 1950, 1951, 1963, 1967, bronze in 1949, 1955, 1958.
Following on from the heady days of the '50s and '60s, though, there had not been much success over the years, save for a bronze medal in the 1971 European Championships.
This all changed for the better in 2003.
New Head Coach Ryszard Andrzej Niemczyk, back in the hot seat 26 years after his first stint, brought a new spirit and gave inspiration to the previously faithless players of the National Team, somehow inducing them to show their best on court.
Poland’s rising power was there for all to see during the World Grand Prix continental tournament in August 2003, when they finished runners-up and claimed a spot for the 2004 Grand Prix.
The Polish then pulled off a huge surprise during 2003 European Championships in Turkey, downing the hosts in straight sets in the Final to claim gold.
Malgorzata Glinka was honoured as Best Scorer – and unofficially the MVP – of the tournament, while team captain Magdalena Sliwa received the Best Setter award.
The debut of Poland in the FIVB World Cup saw them finish eighth, with Glinka again receiving the MVP honour and USD 100 000 Prize Money from the FIVB.
During the European Olympic Qualification Tournament, the team played well and beat Russia and Germany but lost to Turkey in the semi-finals and missed out on its chance to qualify for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.
In 2005, the National Team proved its superiority by defending the European Championship and was working hard to continue its run of success on the road to the 2006 FIVB World Championships in Japan where it had hopes for a medal position.
After success, though, came stagnation in 2006. Despite huge preparations, the National Team was not able to reach the level of former years. After big losses in Montreux and at the World Grand Prix, Poland ended up only 15th at the World Championships.
Head Coach Niemczyk had resigned from his role before the Championships because of health problems.
He was succeeded by world-famous coach Marco Bonitta, who was engaged to lead the Polish National Team to the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
The new Head Coach took the reins with great impetus and strived throughout 2007 to rebuild Poland’s position among the world’s elite.
They claimed fourth place at the European Championships and just missed a ticket to Beijing at the European Olympic Qualification Tournament in Germany earlier in the year.
Katarzyna Skowronska-Dolata, Mariola Zenik, Eleonora Dziekiewicz, Katarzyna Gajgal, Karolina Ciaszkiewicz, Anna Podolec, Malgorzata Glinka-Mogentale, Magdalena Godos, Agnieszka Bednarek, Anna Wozniakowska, Anna Baranska, Milena Sadurek-Mikolajczyk, Milena Rosner, Maria Liktoras, libero Agata Sawicka, Klaudia Kaczorowska, Joanna Kaczor, Katarzyna Skorupa, Berenika Tomsia
Remember the ball is in your court. Are you
">too small to play volleyball?
April Chapple is a freelance copywriter for volleyball products and promotions, columnist for USA Volleyball and the American Volleyball Coaches Association Coaching Volleyballmagazine and author of numerous online articles on playing and coaching volleyball. Author of the upcoming ebook "How to Stop Serving Like a Wimp" April's volleyball sites are volleyballvoices.com, volleyballvoyeur.com, beijingolympicvolleyball.com, and aprilsbeachvolleyballog.com. She can be reached at april@volleyballvoices.com
I know you want to learn the secrets of how the pros play like they do. The fastest way for you to do that is to sign up for the FREE Volleyball Voices Newsletter so you can be the first person on your team to get the inside track on how to stay off the bench and gain more playing time by improving all your volleyball skills, fast! Just fill out that box in the upper right hand corner to receive today's volleyball news you can use.
They also claimed silver in the FIVB World Championships in 1952 and bronze in 1956 and 1962
It was a rapid rise as they had only been in existence from 1947, when they lost to Czechoslovakia 3-1 in their first international match.
Silver medals in the European Championships were gathered in 1950, 1951, 1963, 1967, bronze in 1949, 1955, 1958.
Following on from the heady days of the '50s and '60s, though, there had not been much success over the years, save for a bronze medal in the 1971 European Championships.
This all changed for the better in 2003.
New Head Coach Ryszard Andrzej Niemczyk, back in the hot seat 26 years after his first stint, brought a new spirit and gave inspiration to the previously faithless players of the National Team, somehow inducing them to show their best on court.
Poland’s rising power was there for all to see during the World Grand Prix continental tournament in August 2003, when they finished runners-up and claimed a spot for the 2004 Grand Prix.
The Polish then pulled off a huge surprise during 2003 European Championships in Turkey, downing the hosts in straight sets in the Final to claim gold.
Malgorzata Glinka was honoured as Best Scorer – and unofficially the MVP – of the tournament, while team captain Magdalena Sliwa received the Best Setter award.
The debut of Poland in the FIVB World Cup saw them finish eighth, with Glinka again receiving the MVP honour and USD 100 000 Prize Money from the FIVB.
During the European Olympic Qualification Tournament, the team played well and beat Russia and Germany but lost to Turkey in the semi-finals and missed out on its chance to qualify for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.
In 2005, the National Team proved its superiority by defending the European Championship and was working hard to continue its run of success on the road to the 2006 FIVB World Championships in Japan where it had hopes for a medal position.
After success, though, came stagnation in 2006. Despite huge preparations, the National Team was not able to reach the level of former years. After big losses in Montreux and at the World Grand Prix, Poland ended up only 15th at the World Championships.
Head Coach Niemczyk had resigned from his role before the Championships because of health problems.
He was succeeded by world-famous coach Marco Bonitta, who was engaged to lead the Polish National Team to the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
The new Head Coach took the reins with great impetus and strived throughout 2007 to rebuild Poland’s position among the world’s elite.
They claimed fourth place at the European Championships and just missed a ticket to Beijing at the European Olympic Qualification Tournament in Germany earlier in the year.
Katarzyna Skowronska-Dolata, Mariola Zenik, Eleonora Dziekiewicz, Katarzyna Gajgal, Karolina Ciaszkiewicz, Anna Podolec, Malgorzata Glinka-Mogentale, Magdalena Godos, Agnieszka Bednarek, Anna Wozniakowska, Anna Baranska, Milena Sadurek-Mikolajczyk, Milena Rosner, Maria Liktoras, libero Agata Sawicka, Klaudia Kaczorowska, Joanna Kaczor, Katarzyna Skorupa, Berenika Tomsia
Remember the ball is in your court. Are you
">too small to play volleyball?
April Chapple is a freelance copywriter for volleyball products and promotions, columnist for USA Volleyball and the American Volleyball Coaches Association Coaching Volleyballmagazine and author of numerous online articles on playing and coaching volleyball. Author of the upcoming ebook "How to Stop Serving Like a Wimp" April's volleyball sites are volleyballvoices.com, volleyballvoyeur.com, beijingolympicvolleyball.com, and aprilsbeachvolleyballog.com. She can be reached at april@volleyballvoices.com
I know you want to learn the secrets of how the pros play like they do. The fastest way for you to do that is to sign up for the FREE Volleyball Voices Newsletter so you can be the first person on your team to get the inside track on how to stay off the bench and gain more playing time by improving all your volleyball skills, fast! Just fill out that box in the upper right hand corner to receive today's volleyball news you can use.
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