After the Women’s World Championship in Poland, Sebastian Świderski has new plans. This is a qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games. – Next week there will be a congress of the Ministry of Sports and Tourism in Zakopane. […] I would like to talk to the government and the sponsors who will be there about the possibility of hosting at least one of the tournaments – the president of the Polish Volleyball Federation tells TVPSPORT.PL.
The Polish Volleyball Federation managed to organize two world championship tournaments. More headaches, at least in theory, should be with the first, which is the men’s tournament, due to the circumstances and the short time it takes to organize. In this perspective, how do you rate the difficulty of the challenge?
Sebastian Swidersky: – As for the men, it was very difficult, especially with regard to the logistics of the place. In the case of the women, we talked to the actors much earlier. However, this challenge was also not easy, as the volleyball tournament lasted longer – there were two groups, the quarter-final and the semi-final in Poland. It was impossible to find an item in two and a half weeks of play. It took a lot of acrobatics to put it all together. As for the men’s matches, it was not easy with the support of local governments, which was absolutely not due to a lack of goodwill, but only due to time. If the talks on the organization start several weeks before the target event, it is difficult to expect many variations – especially with regard to the rooms, which are not only sports halls but also spaces of concert. We are very lucky to have very good contacts with local governments and people involved in organizing similar events in Poland. Almost everything has been buttoned down to the last button. There will always be minor or major stumbles, but the most important thing is to respond to them as quickly as possible.
With regard to the men’s world championship, there was talk of the breaks in play that were introduced for certain teams and which sometimes lasted up to a week. Did they result from the availability of the rooms or from the system imposed by the FIVB?
– The male system was completely different from the female system and innovative, as such a system has not yet been tried. It was pretty seamless except for changing hosts. Objectively speaking, it was quite strange that the teams had to wait so long for their matches. It must have taken a little too long. However, we have nothing to complain about, because we were not the ones who defined the system and we did not decide on the scheduling problems. The FIVB and Volleyball World were responsible for this. This decision was made and it happened as it happened. It is the science of the future. It’s also a lesson for us to discuss these issues out loud, because probably no one has noticed that some teams’ break will be that long. In addition, the question of tickets was also important in the case of the women’s tournament. It was difficult to predict where the whites and reds will finish each stage of the competition, and therefore – it was not easy for the fan to buy tickets for their matches in the following stages. There were situations when tickets were bought, and later it turned out that it was not for the Polish team, when 99% of the fans wanted to buy them for white and red. Luckily, in most cases we were able to react and people who wanted to redeem tickets got a chance to see our performance.
In the women’s tournament, Polish women played in four destinations – Arnhem, Gdańsk, Łódź and Gliwice. So what was the biggest logistical challenge?
– Among other difficult aspects was the logistics of the premises. We wanted to plan the whole tournament in one city, in two venues. Unfortunately, we “lost” with concerts and cultural events. Recall that the tournament system was completely different from that of the men’s tournament. The first round in Gdańsk was certain in terms of the presence of Polish women, but the following round, in the worst case, could go ahead without them. From this perspective, it is not easy to talk to the city or local government about cooperation without the guarantee of white and red. However, we know that the elections have paid off. After the first quarter-final, Gliwice was very happy to be the host. Playing tournaments of this male and female class in a year is not just for profit. Some federations started discussing that the men slept in one hotel and the volleyball players in another, that some had a specific distance from the hall, and others a little longer. It’s not like we’re doing something out of spite and lowering the ‘behind the scenes’ level of women’s volleyball in favor of men’s volleyball. It does not only depend on us, but on the possibilities we have and the results of the tender that we have to organize. Many factors affect the location or facility to play. However, they were not considered as part of the comments submitted. We need to face this and learn lessons for the future.
Can we already say that women’s volleyball has become fashionable?
– She has become very fashionable. I confess that for me who is still learning volleyball, the Polish women’s quarter-final match gave so much emotion that it is the TOP1 of my career, starting with being a coach, sports director or now president. I came back 100% living each ball, involving myself emotionally in the meeting. Men’s volleyball is often one play, one reception, one attack, one or two defenses. In the case of a clash between Polish women and Serbian women, there were several exchanges – once to the left, once to the right. It was a massive mood swing from heaven to hell and hell to heaven. The commitment that the girls showed in this match and in the whole championship was something incredible. They have convinced many fans that women’s volleyball is as beautiful as men’s volleyball.
Changing the subject a bit, do we already know where the qualifying tournaments for the women’s and men’s games will take place?
– It’s still unknown. Two weeks ago in Arnhem, this was mentioned during the conference for the start of the championship. However, we don’t have any guidelines for the organization yet, and it’s already been mentioned behind the scenes that these games are assigned to someone. It’s a bit strange for me. In a week there will be a congress of the Ministry of Sports and Tourism in Zakopane. Despite the information mentioned, I would like to talk to the government and sponsors who will be there about the possibility of hosting at least one of the tournaments. Without the support of these people, we will not be able to organize a similar event. But first there should be guidelines and a request, and then we’ll see what we can do with it.
Japan is known for hosting World Cups on home soil. Poland, in turn, held two world championships in one year. Is it tempting to apply for the next editions of this event?
– I do not know. That’s December’s topic for now. It is then that the FIVB council must stand on the Nations League formula, calendar, system of play, shifts, because it is said that the world championships are to be expected in odd years. There are a lot of “soft” topics. Decisions will be made by world authorities. I hope they will be preceded by consultations with representatives of the countries that give the most to volleyball.
Full interview with Sara Kalisz on sport.tvp.pl
