- In our first major interview after the Paris Olympics, Nikola Grbic sums up Poland’s performance in Paris and talks about their reaction in moments of crisis.
- Even before the games, the selector of the vice-champions of the Olympic champions extended his cooperation with the Polish Football Association until the games in Los Angeles, but he says a lot could have changed.
- Not only did some players suffer from health problems, they also never fully recovered their fitness. Gerbic explains the whole situation.
- More information can be found at Przegląd Sportowy Onet
Edita Kowalczyk: What will you do first when you get home?
Nikola Grbic (coach of Olympic runner-up): I dream of good homemade pasta. I finally want to eat something other than village canteen meals.
Complete article below the video
The second thing is a break from volleyball?
I would love to, but you journalists probably won’t let me forget it (laughter).
What new things did you learn about yourself as a coach during these matches?
I’ll have to wait for such a thought until my emotions calm down and I can look back on the past few days from a distance. Right now I’m too tired and too empty inside, and at the same time there’s still too much adrenaline for me to process anything. Once I regain my balance in my daily life, I’ll be able to process everything.
Has your attitude towards silver changed?
It’s a little bit better than it was after the final. At the same time, you know how close this most valuable disc was. The more I think about it, the more I realize how important this achievement is, given how many injuries we had in crucial moments. I’m not saying that without them the result would have been different, but first you prepare for a certain goal for years, and then you can’t show your best, not because you don’t want to, but because health problems have also affected your team’s emotional page.
How important is it to have your loved ones with you in Paris – your wife, children and mother too?
It’s amazing to see my kids happy. After the semi-final against the USA, they were so moved that later in the evening they watched clips of my old matches on YouTube, including the ones when I was Serbia’s coach, and watched how I acted during breaks. Later, they just said they wanted to have this or that player’s jersey. They already had Olek Śliwka’s jersey, but now they also wanted Tomek Fornal’s. It’s amazing to be able to share this moment with my loved ones, and I hope these memories will stay with them for years to come.
A year ago they watched the European Championship final in Rome when we won the gold medal. They also attended the World Cup final in Katowice two years ago. Let’s see if they can make it to Los Angeles!
You may realize that this medal is not just a medal won by thirteen athletes from Paris, but rather a crowning achievement for all previous generations of athletes who participated in the Olympic Games but were unable to stand on the podium.
Of course it is! Likewise, this medal also belongs to the boys who trained and played with us in the last three seasons, but did not go to Paris. This silver belongs to them too. Moreover, we were supported in Paris by, among others: former team captain Michal Kubiak. I received his congratulations. Fabian Drziga also sent me a message. Now the Olympic champions from Montreal will not be the only Olympic medalists who come to the Wagner Memorial.
Did you actually receive a message from Fabian Drzega? This is symbolic, considering how many times the subject of call-ups has come up that he was not among the players you had identified.
Yes, Fabian sent congratulations. It was similar after the gold medal at the European Championships. Of course, it’s not like he writes to me every time we do something good, but he appreciates our successes.
So there’s no bad blood between you two?
No. If Fabian is missing from the squad, it doesn’t mean he’s not a good player. After all, we’re talking about a two-time world champion. The same goes for Bartosz Bednorz or other players who didn’t make it to the end of the selection process. Simply put, as a coach, you have your own strategy, your own ideas and your own vision of the work. I’m happy that I have so much freedom in this regard and the trust of the Polish Football Association. Extending my contract before the games also shows faith and satisfaction in my work. I’m very satisfied too.
Before the games, the Polish Football Association announced that you and volleyball coach Stefano Lavarini would extend your contracts to manage the national team. How important is it for you to stay with the Polish national team, regardless of the results of the Olympic Games?
I have signed a contract three times in my career and still been fired. That’s why I know that even with a contract extension, not everything is certain. I wouldn’t be surprised if, in the event of a defeat in the quarter-finals, the federation decided that it wanted to change direction. I’m not someone for whom a contract extension means a change in my approach to work, and since I have a certain position, I don’t have to keep trying. For me, it’s like raising the bar to a higher level, an extra motivation. Next season, I want to do my duties better and be more precise. As a coach, I don’t need that pressure from the outside – from the club, the federation or anyone else – to want to improve. I put the most burden on myself. I’m very happy to continue working with these guys.
By observing your behavior during the games, one could sense that you remained calm throughout. This poker face was visible even with the subsequent injuries. Was that so?
Tactical move (laughter). Honestly, I was raised to deal with things when problems arise. That’s why I try not to panic or get emotional, although that doesn’t mean ignoring the problems. The main idea that accompanies me in a situation like this is to try to win what we have. You accept the situation and move on. If I start making nervous movements and saying that something is going to fail because we have so many injuries, we won’t have the energy that allowed us to win the semifinal against the United States. Of course, I’m not saying that I haven’t suffered from it, or that I’m not an emotional person, or that I don’t understand the magnitude of the problems that have befallen us.
So, what did you think after the first injury, when Tomas Fornal sprained his ankle at the start of the group stage?
There is nothing you can do in such a situation. The opponent went under the net, crossed the halfway line and Tomic stepped on his foot, suffering an injury. A similar situation occurred in the match against the Americans with Matthew Anderson and Bartosz Kurek, who also suffered minor ankle injuries. In such a situation, a ligament break or tear may be possible, but it may not be serious. Tomic was very lucky to return to training after three days, which was not possible in the case of Mateusz Pjanic (a foot injury in the quarterfinals kept him out for the rest of the matches – editor’s note).
When we talked about the whole selection process before the Olympics, you said that you wanted to predict all possible scenarios in order to select the team and choose a medical joker in the form of an extra player. At some point you realized that this was impossible. I guess even in the worst case scenario, don’t you think there would be up to four injuries during the games?
Obviously it is impossible to predict everything. At the beginning of the season I asked the players to focus on the things we can influence. There are so many situations beyond our control, such as injuries, the form of the opponents, the behaviour of the referees, that we have to focus only on what is in our hands. We influence our behaviour and reach our limits and our focus.
During the tournament, you talked about how Bartosz Coric’s perfectionism and the fact that he is so strict with himself prevents him from showing his full potential on the court. Did you change afterwards?
Yes. I think it was a very big step for him. However, some issues with your personality cannot be changed.
These were not easy matches for Aleksandr Slyuka either? The player who was a starter last year, this time he returned to his level throughout the season, although you said he managed to recover it in the end, and the proof of that was his entry into the final against France. You could see earlier how quickly he reacted on the touchline, trying to give suggestions to the players and support them with words.
He always acts like this, whether he is on the pitch or not. I have told him a thousand times that he cannot just look at the statistics of the matches because they will not give him the full picture of his performance. He does not have to be on the pitch to help or start.
And Lukasz Kaczmarek? How did the recovery look like from your point of view?
Lukasz is our best striker in the break phase, that is, in his serve. Of the three strikers who were in Paris, he is the best in defense and blocking. It is known that in attack he is not close to what he showed in the previous season in terms of effectiveness. That is why my idea was that since Coric is healthy, he is the main player, and Lukasz plays mainly two shifts. If we take into account the attack itself, Bołądź is definitely better here, because he gives more power and regularity, although Łukasz is better in other elements. Moreover, it is one thing if the striker has problems with effectiveness on the left wing in general, and another thing if it happens with our serve, but at the same time the receivers do a good job.
“Your philosophy over these three seasons was that you wouldn’t miss a tournament, and your path to Olympic medals would be the ones you won in individual events,” Coric said. “Was it about building a winning mentality regardless of tournament seeding?”
Always! If we were preparing for the Nations League, we did everything we could to win a medal. If I had been in a different situation, and like the Slovenians, I had, for example, seven top-level players at my disposal, I would probably have saved their strength and given them more time to rest in the Nations League to prepare well for the goal. It happened. However, in most cases, the most important tournament of the season comes very quickly, so there is not much time for such rotations. I do not look at what other coaches have done and do not wonder if I should do the same, because even if we look at the path of preparing each Olympian for the Games, we will see that each one of them took a completely different path. I have always tried to adapt it as best I could to the style of our team. If we have reached the podium every time in the six tournaments we have participated in, it proves the quality of this team.
In your coaching career, only the victory with ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle in the Champions League in 2021 or the gold medal at last year’s European Championship brought tears. Were there more moments like that during matches?
A year ago, I was very emotional when I won the gold medal at the European Championships, because that day was the anniversary of my father’s death. It’s not like I planned to shed tears after the last ball. It comes naturally when all the emotions that have built up in it come out. I hope that in four years in Los Angeles I will have more reasons to be emotional.
source:Onet Sports Review
Date of creation: August 13, 2024 at 11:21 AM
Journalist at Przeglad Sportówny Unie
“Bacon scholar. Incurable social media ninja. Professional travel aficionado. Beer buff.”
