Poland NT 2021

    Polish roster for OG, libero will be decided later:
    Mateusz Bieniek – środkowy

    Fabian Drzyzga – rozgrywający

    Łukasz Kaczmarek – atakujący

    Jakub Kochanowski – środkowy

    Michał Kubiak – przyjmujący

    Bartosz Kurek – atakujący

    Wilfredo Leon – przyjmujący

    Grzegorz Łomacz – rozgrywający

    Piotr Nowakowski – środkowy

    Kamil Semeniuk – przyjmujący

    Aleksander Śliwka – przyjmujący

    Damian Wojtaszek – libero

    Paweł Zatorski – libero


    Extra players for training purposes

    Tomasz Fornal – przyjmujący

    Norbert Huber – środkowy

    Unless there is some health issue with Zatorski this is really ridiculous.


    The logic happended with the OHs and MBs. OPP was the biggest question mark for me and either had its pros and cons.

    Source?

    Just being curious,

    do polish people consider Leon polish?

    If yes, is that because he is culturally polish or because he can bring values to the country by being good in volleyball?

    (I know his wife is polish but still..)

    Quote from jt1267

    Just being curious,

    do polish people consider Leon polish?

    If yes, is that because he is culturally polish or because he can bring values to the country by being good in volleyball?

    (I know his wife is polish but still..)

    What do you mean by ,,Polish''? He has a Polish wife, pays taxes in Poland AFAIK, learnt Polish language to same basic extent and is a great part of Polish national team, it's hard to expect much more from a naturalized citizen considering he's been playing abroad and Polish language is **** up. :D He's a Polish citizen, and that's good description, because, no one considers him as a stranger, but on the other hand, I have no idea how could I judge his sense of national identity not knowing him.

    I would say most of the people are not considering him polish. Especially, the volleyball fans. I guess it's because they rememeber he used to play for other national team.

    Also, he got the citizenship not really knowing much about the culture, the language etc.


    The funniest fact, is that for many people Belgian players like Dominika Sobolska or Kaja Grobelna are more polish than Leon. They don't play for polish national team,. However, they are part of the culture, both of them spent some years in polish league, have the family there. It's hard to explain tbh.

    Quote from Realista

    What do you mean by ,,Polish''? He has a Polish wife, pays taxes in Poland AFAIK, learnt Polish language to same basic extent and is a great part of Polish national team, it's hard to expect much more from a naturalized citizen considering he's been playing abroad and Polish language is **** up. :D He's a Polish citizen, and that's good description, because, no one considers him as a stranger, but on the other hand, I have no idea how could I judge his sense of national identity not knowing him.

    I'm an asian with british passport (dual), pay uk tax, speak fluent english and work for a british company. But still I would hesitate to call myself a Brit.


    It's interesting that I've never felt the same way re. Juantorena, probably because he has already been in italian NT since I started watching intensively and he actually plays in Italy primarily. Leon has never been in the PlusLiga.

    Quote from jt1267

    I'm an asian with british passport (dual), pay uk tax, speak fluent english and work for a british company. But still I would hesitate to call myself a Brit.

    Well, I think there's a difference between some specific national identity and citizen identity, so to speak, and I don't think it's even fair to expect from Leon to develop some national identity towards Poland, he's Cuban after all. But that doesn't mean he cannot perceive himself as a citizen of Poland, and I bet that's a case regarding his relation to Poland in general, and probably that's the case for you as well.

    Quote from Realista

    Well, I think there's a difference between some specific national identity and citizen identity, so to speak, and I don't think it's even fair to expect from Leon to develop some national identity towards Poland, he's Cuban after all. But that doesn't mean he cannot perceive himself as a citizen of Poland, and I bet that's a case regarding his relation to Poland in general, and probably that's the case for you as well.

    Yeah agreed, he is definitely a Polish citizen but would Polish people refer him as Polish?

    Not trying to create any controversies but I guess the answer is no.

    There must have been something wrong with Kubiak this olympics. He is usually the heart of the team but in this tournament barely played and when he did he was insignificant.

    Quote from PackMasterFlash

    There must have been something wrong with Kubiak this olympics. He is usually the heart of the team but in this tournament barely played and when he did he was insignificant.

    He was out of shape in VNL, probably due to the fact that he's been playing in Japan for few years for now, so he's not used to normal volleyball (no offense), and he's 33yo as well. Furthermore, once he arrived in Tokyo, he got back injury, so he wasn't ready to play fully until last game of a group phase.


    Hard to say how much he declined, and how much did injury bother him.

    Is there any news on who's staying and who's leaving? Considering their age, I assume the entire team could still be playing in Paris?

    Nope. In the past:


    Kubiak once said that he'll retire after Tokyo, but then said that he won't.

    Kurek once said that he'll retire after Tokyo if they win a medal. Oops.

    Nowakowski said that he would like to have a break after Tokyo, but if he takes a break when he's 35yo in a year of WCH, it can be one way road with no return.


    These 3 may theoretically resign, but there's no declaration from any of them.