ZAKSA placed 50th because there was no time for Christmas. Is the pilot flying with us?

This is our national nature, we have no problem with complaints. Well, there’s nothing better than complaining a little, because you could always do better. However, in fact, in the case of PlusLiga, it looks like there will be at least a few arguments to complain about. I would also understand if fans, well, even journalists, spoke or wrote about an overloaded calendar or too many teams in the league. However, if, after excellent matches in the Projekt Warszawa rivalry with the national champions, players utter phrases about, to put it mildly, the struggle for the survival of health, then something is wrong here.

PlusLiga: more quantity than quality

For several seasons, domestic volleyball has been relying on quantity, not quality. The fact that Jastrzębski Węgiel or Grupa Azoty ZAKSA will play in the Champions League final is not PlusLiga’s merit. Thanks to the clubs themselves and the people who work in them. I also have no illusions that the level of competition in a pair of Project-ZAKSA or Aluron SMS-Indykpol AZS is also a consequence of the organization of the tournament.

The virtues of the league calendar are certainly at play during the holiday season. This is an absurd idea in every way. Volleyball players or coaches did not spend this time with their families, the fans combined it with an escape from the New Year’s tables (not to mention trips), and not everyone had to turn on the TV and the match “to the egg”.

“I don’t like it at all. You may or may not celebrate holidays, believe or not believe in God, but you must respect those who have certain beliefs and time, athletes and people who organize and work at matches. Because we are not the only ones who work on holidays. Someone had to organize it, protect it, clean it up, describe it in the media or show it on television. All these people, instead of spending time with their families, for example, with relatives who specially came from abroad, also had to come to work. I know that there are competitions and people who work in shifts and on holidays, but I would not like volleyball players to be included in them from now on, - Andrzej Vrona, the captain of the project, admitted in an interview with Przegląd Sportowy. and Onet.

But it was interesting in terms of sports, I’ll probably hear a contra (or not). Well, it was, but again thanks to the more and more tired, if not … nervous volleyball players. To illustrate the scale of the absurdity, ZAKSA volleyball players played the 50th anniversary match of the season in Warsaw. Including all competitions, from domestic to European cups. As part of the round-robin celebration, they reached the PlusLiga semi-finals and will be rewarded with an extraordinary chance at a week of regular training. A luxury that is not at all so obvious.

A few days ago, I contacted one of the ZAKSA volleyball players, offering to talk about what is bothering me in this volleyball frenzy. I didn’t get a response, but I don’t regret it. Sometimes I get the impression that our employees will go on longer vacations with their families after… after their careers are over. That’s why it’s no surprise that when you talk, it’s with the most important people at home.

The Paris Olympics will tell the truth

Finally, let me add that next PlusLiga season will once again have sixteen teams. And this is another organizational merit. It’s amazing that club presidents voted for this, but apparently many more rivers in the Vistula or Oder must pass for the current to change. In 2024, the plans include the Olympic Games in Paris, which, I hope, we will reach, and not boycott. Because it is clear that we, as a country, are against the war in Ukraine, but Polish athletes should not be deprived of their Olympic dreams.

Living in these parallel realities of the best league in the world (it is also the most overloaded), I wish that a team with healthy, not overworked people would go to the Olympics. I know that this is a distant prospect and what matters here and now. However, let’s remember that the volleyball world will keep turning as long as the national team achieves solid results. May we not wake up with a hand in a pot, and the Pole was wise this time to the point of corruption.