Rafał Szymura for "Wprost": I have a dream to go to the World Championships

It turned out that one of the leaders of ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle is the oldest of the volleyball players who found themselves among the first group, registered in the famous Spała forests. It is in the Central Sports Center that the team, under the watchful eye of coach Nikola Grbić, is preparing for the challenges that await them in the 2025 season.

The most important one, or so it seems, will be the World Championships. The event, in which the Polish national team will defend its silver medal from 2022, will take place in the Philippines. It is there, among the national team players, that Rafał Szymura would like to be.

Interview with Rafał Szymura, the host of the Polish national volleyball team

Maciej Piasecki (WPROST): Before I talk about the Polish national team, I have to go back to the previous season in the PlusLiga. The semi-final in Zawiercie and during our conversation you asked about the mistake of adding Rafał, and not Kamil Szymura, to the national team group on WhatsApp.

Rafał Szymura (receiver of ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle and the Polish national team): Yes, I remember it well (laughter).

I was just mentioning this with Róża Wachowska, our manager, two days ago, I think. This time we managed to add the correct Szymura to the group. "Młody" is gone, but now I'm back in the representative ranks.

A year has passed and although the anecdote was delicious, you are back in the national team. It remains to congratulate you.

Thank you.

How do you feel after returning to the squad?

Good. Playing with an eagle on your chest is always a great thing. The last time I was in these ranks was in 2022. It's nice to come back, it's nice to train with these guys. We talk when I'm only in the second day of training camp. I know most of the guys from the pitch, but I need a little more time to really get to know them better. We'll have to organize some kind of dinner, because the guys are a little tense, so they can relax. But everything is ahead of us. We still have some time for that.

So Rafał Szymura, in the role of organizer, is a representative of the so-called elders?

I'm the oldest, no matter how you look at it, considering the first group. Until "Kuraś" and the rest of the gang arrive.

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That is, until the seniors arrive.

Yes (laughter). But do I really feel old? No, the only thing is that I play in the "bagger" in a group of old people, but I'm not that old yet. I'll be thirty soon (August 29, note by eMPe), it's the perfect age for a volleyball player. It's also great that these young ones are in Spała and showing themselves on the league pitches.

I am glad that this team is still developing dynamically.

Since 2018, only in one season, during your stay at GKS Katowice, you did not stand on the PlusLiga podium. Now the situation has repeated itself. Is it a strange feeling, or did you not put on a medal immediately after returning to Kędzierzyn-Koźle?

There is definitely a certain dissatisfaction that we did not manage to get to at least the semi-finals. But on the other hand, I see that Lublin may soon become the Polish champion, so we have some kind of small excuse. Especially since we had our chances in those three matches with Bogdanka LUK.

The deciding factor was a slightly weaker form in the last two quarter-finals, mine, and a bit of Igor Grobelny's. It's hard to play when two wingers don't finish the ball on the left wing. On the other hand, it must be admitted that the team from Lublin played two great matches then. Especially on the serve. We had a lot of problems, which is why the attack looked like this.

Overall, however, we improved the result for ZAKSA from that previous season, and we also have a ticket to the European cups. I think that people in the club are satisfied to some extent. Personally, I have the aforementioned feeling of slight dissatisfaction with the season that ended, but I hope that it will be better in the next one.

A bit in reference to the initial issue of the mistake about the brothers, I'll ask about Kamil. He had a sporting disaster at PSG Stal Nysa. I guess they still don't believe in the Opole region that it actually happened, this relegation from PlusLiga?

I didn't want to press "Young" too much on this topic.

Besides, I was also relegated from the league, it happened to me with AZS Częstochowa. It is certainly not easy. But he has to experience it in his own way. I know that the guys are still training in Nysa, I know that he is still there. He did not have an easy season. He had a slightly weaker season, in my opinion, looking at other liberos who are younger and are developing better and better. However, I think that if he changes clubs, he will have a new environment, a new stimulus from his surroundings. It may also be different, he may return to the national team in a year, but he definitely has to try hard. Everything is ahead of him, he is only 26 years old.

Any more questions about how he survived the relegation with Nysa should be directed to him directly. I gave "Młody" some advice, but as I said, each player goes through it in their own way.

There is a belief that if you are a receiver, then the competition in the context of the Polish national team is the greatest? There are so many names of such class players, it would be like starting a personal list.

There is something like that, it's true. I just got a question a moment ago about what Rafał Szymura is capable of. And I'm still wondering about it. And I don't know myself, to be completely honest. I want to use every situation, every chance, as best as I can. Obviously, everything depends on the day's disposition, on health or sports form.

I have a dream to go to the World Championships, which will be held in the Philippines this year. I will do everything in my power to be there. It certainly won't be easy. My position is difficult, demanding, and in addition, there is really a lot of work at the reception in the national team.

"Forni"? Top. Leon? Top. "Bedni", "Śliwa", "Semen"? The same. The rest of the guys too, I could go on and on. There are a few of these players and we'll see how it goes. As long as we're healthy.

Finally, let me put forward this thesis: If JSW Jastrzębski Węgiel had you in its ranks, it would be playing for gold in the PlusLiga this season. Right?

I don't know, it's hard for me to say. I don't like to speculate what would happen if... There's another team in Jastrzębie, built in a different way. Such questions should be directed to experts.

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