Stars of EuroVolleyM: Łukasz Kaczmarek
Poland, the leaders of the FIVB world ranking and the 2023 VNL winners are naturally one of the top contenders to the EuroVolley 2023 title. Łukasz Kaczmarek, a pillar of the three-time Champions League winners - Grupa Azoty ZAKSA Kędzierzyn Koźle – might be very likely an ace in Nikola Grbić's sleeve.
When Poland earned their - so far - only (!) EuroVolley title back in 2009, Łukasz Kaczmarek was more focused on beach volleyball than volleyball. The 2.04m-tall Poland's opposite started his career in beach volleyball, earning the U19 world champion title (2011) and the U18 and U20 European championships (2011, 2013), before switching to indoor volleyball in 2013, when he was appointed by Victoria Wałbrzych. He won with them 2014/15 I Liga [second highest league in Poland] and it was his golden ticket to the more prominent team - Cuprum Lubin, where he played under the guidance of Gheorghe Cretu. Due to injuries of nominal opposites, Kaczmarek, who used to play as an outside hitter, accepted the challenge and switched his position to opposite that turned out to be a very rewarding decision. In 2018 he signed a contract with Kędzierzyn Koźle, starting his successful story.
In the 2018/2019 season, he won the Polish Cup and the Polish SuperCup and earned a bronze medal of the 2019 Volleyball Nations League and silver at the 2019 World Cup in Japan, but it was not only a path paved with roses. In autumn 2019 his further career was put in question as he was diagnosed with myocarditis [an inflammation of the heart muscle] that eventually and luckily caused only two months of break from the sport. Shortly after his return to the court, he suffered a serious foot injury – a fracture in the metatarsal bone that completely ended his season, long before the COVID-19 pandemic. However, he returned even stronger to the court, helping ZAKSA to claim three titles in the Champions League and many domestic trophies. He gained a permanent spot in the national team, representing Poland at Tokyo 2020 and winning bronze at the EuroVolley 2021 and silver at the 2022 World Championship in Poland.
Probably there is no other team like Poland nowadays, who can benefit from such a deep roster with solutions in almost every position. However, this also means that the best scorer of the Champions League 2023 (234 points to his name!) is not always a first option, especially when by his side is the captain - Bartosz Kurek. Fortunately, they share the opposite duty very well, creating a powerful and complementary duo in this position. During the 2023 VNL Finals in Gdańsk, Bartosz Kurek was unable to play in the semifinal and final due to injury, Kaczmarek stepped in to take the stage and stunned the world with his performance again. In the gold medal match against the USA, won by Poland 3-1, Kaczmarek played a crucial role, topping the scorers’ chart with 25 points and 66% of success in attack and putting opponents in trouble with his aggressive serve. His merits were recognized with the Best Opposite award.
The gold won this summer in Gdańsk is the first gold medal won by Kaczmarek with the national team at major event and, definitely, together with his teammates, they will try their best to top the podium one more time - at EuroVolley 2023.
