No other club provided Polish volleyball In the last dozen or so years, so many good libero as Jastrzębski Węgiel. One of those who confirms this thesis by their game is Maksymilian Graniczny. Although he is not yet 20 years old, his debut in the Champions League and PlusLiga has long been behind him, and in the near future he should include the first performance in the Polish senior national team. Nikola Grbić recently praised him for his approach to training. And what about the coach thoughts of Gryanny? Will it be in input Staff for this year's most important tournaments? How does he remember passing the final exams a few hours after winning the Polish championship? Among others Sport.pl talked to a player who will return to the club in which he spent “over 30 percent of his life” in autumn.
Agnieszka Niedziela: this year during the Media Day in Spała journalists could see, among others coach Nikola Grbcia showing you, libero, how to successfully stand up for defense. The former playmaker has valuable advice in this area?
Maksymilian Granieczny: Yes. Each of us tries to listen carefully to his words, because he has extensive experience – whether as a player or as a trainer. So regardless of whether the trainer talks about defense, acceptance or any other item related to volleyball, he is listened to with focus and tries to use all his tips.
You were born five years after Grpić won the Olympic championship and you were nine when he finished his professional career. You probably don't remember him as a volleyball player at all.
Indeed, I mainly associate him as a trainer, because from the moment I started to be interested in volleyball and playing it, he already performed this function. I watched some individual old matches or fragments of archival meetings on YouTube, but I certainly associate him as a coach.
In this year's interviews, he often recalled an emotional response to the news of the appointment of another debutant – Mateusz Czunkiewicz. What was yours?
When I got a message from an unknown number on WhatsApp, I was at the physiotherapist. I did not open it right away, because there is a lot of talk now about various fraudsters contacting, among others Also on WhatsApp. I have also often been added to a group there by the numbers unknown to me. So at first I ignored this message a little, but then I read it, and the signature “Nikola Grbić” was the signature, I also saw the coach's profile photo and I was a bit walled up. Because it was completely unexpected for me.
There would be a nice story if you – fearing this potential fraud – completely ignored this message.
It could happen, although sooner or later I would probably open it. But I have learned now that if someone from an unknown number calls, it is to receive. Because you can't save all numbers, and they can try to contact us various people in important matters.
What is the impression on you so far coach Grbić?
Certainly he is a trainer who knows well what he wants to tell us, what he expects from us and how he wants us to work. And we try to pass it on at every workout. What values we are to follow, what goals we should assume, what thoughts are to appear in our minds. I think that each of us listens with this with admiration and respect and is simply trying to put it into practice.
So what purpose did you set for yourself when coming to a grouping in Spała?
For me, it was the same as always – whether it is about a personnel or club season. So give your best at every workout and do everything in my power to be the best, hoping that my disposition will be so good that it will lead me as far as possible. How far it will be, it turns out. But I know that I will do everything to train, play and present myself best.
Hardly anyone can boast of the debut in PlusLiga and the Champions League as a 15-year-old. What do you remember from those matches?
It was something amazing. I was just at training at the Jastrzębski Węgiel Academy, and here the day before the match or even on the day of the match I learned that I would be in the composition of the LM meeting. However, my nerves did not take my toll. I focused on the game, my teammates helped me a lot, the audience also supported me a lot. From the debut in PlusLiga, in turn, I remember that I was doing well in defense. It can be said that the ball hit me at that time. Sometimes such matches happen.
Due to this early debut and the total of a young age, when you were a player of Jastrzębski Węgiel, you could often hear how others say about you “Maksie”. Now you have the first club season as a basic libero and you probably have already felt more than Maksymilian.
You certainly have different feelings when you only train and different, how to experience all these pitch emotions. I think that this season gave me very in terms of such a field experience. I know that I still have a lot ahead of me and I hope that I will be able to gain a lot of this experience in the coming years, but certainly this past season was a completely new hand for me. I had to deal with various situations – better and worse, react to failures and victory. They were definitely valuable volleyball lessons.
Maybe you will tell you what they feed you at the Jastrzębski Węgiel Academy that it became such a factory of talented libero?
There is something to it. Certainly pleases the fact that where we do not look – whether in PlusLiga or in the first league – this appears from the academy. Kuba Popiwczak, his brother Filip, Kuba Hawryluk or Kuba Jurczyk – a few of these boys are. I am glad that I can be in this group too. This shows that a lot of emphasis is placed at the Academy, because in the case of this position it plays a main role.
The mentioned Jakub Popiwczak this season is to be the basic player of the Polish national team. In the absence of Paweł Zatorski, not only him got a chance, but also the competition for the name of the second libero of the team became open.
Surely everyone came to the grouping to fight for the highest goals. Nobody came to train a week and return home. I think that everyone has in their minds that this is the staff – here you do not train in a half whistle. Everyone gives 120 percent and the best of us will be in “fourteen” for this year's most important tournaments. Each of us will fight for it and it would be strange if someone had a different approach.
Was your heart torn in this year's LM semi -final? On the one hand, the club is close to you – Jastrzębski Węgiel, on the other a former roommate – now appearing in Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie Yuri Gladyr.
However, I was in my heart in Jastrzębski, because I spent a lot of time there – whether at the academy or later in the senior team. In total, it was seven years, so it's hard to erase something like this from memory. Even after leaving the club, I watched the team from the Academy cope and how the local environment is developing and functioning. I spent over 30 percent of my life in this club, so it is definitely a large part of me.
And what did you divide the room on trips with a 21 -year -old Gladier? Because he probably took you a little under his wings.
He certainly showed me the life of a professional volleyball player – how it should look. I could take an example from him in terms of how he works – whether in the gym or training. Because despite his age you can see this spark in his eye all the time, this passion for volleyball and the fact that he just wants to be the best and win every match. I wish that in a dozen or so years he can also be in such a place, have such enthusiasm and health all the time to be able to play at this age.
Once a young man in Jastrzębski was also ash. Did you have a stronger bond with him because of the same position and similar path?
In the first year of senior playing, I was accompanied by a lot of emotions and I needed a lot of support and tips from others. Kuba was certainly one of those people who always helped me, good advice or a good word. And the fact that we play in the same position that only made us more topics for conversations.
Last season, Jakub Jurczyk, you've already mentioned also mentioned, was unexpectedly loud. One evening, in Warsaw, he took the balls hit by PGE volleyballers in the match in the match for the bronze medal of the Polish championships, and the next morning he wrote the high school diploma. Did you work something similar?
Maybe I didn't have such a drastic situation as Kuba, because he played in these key matches, but I remember that I was with the team at the meetings FINAL Polish championships, and the next morning I wrote my final exams. It was easier for me because I didn't go to the field and I had a smaller distance to cover because we played in Kędzierzyn-Koźle. We won the gold medals at home and the team celebrated, and in the morning I had to appear again at the maturity exam. So I know what Kuba had recently experienced and respect for him, because he managed not only at school, but also – despite the difficult situation – on the pitch.