July 9th, 2013

FIRST LOOK at Kurek wrapped in Macerata clothing!

From siatkowka24.com

May 8th, 2013

From cev.lu:

After a very disappointing season with Dinamo MOSCOW, Poland’s Volleyball hero Bartosz Kurek is set to move to Italy and will be playing – for the next two years – for the likes of Lube Banca Marche MACERATA. Though he is only 24, Kurek – who stands at 207 cm – is one of the world’s best outside hitters with a very impressive record in all major international competitions. By the time he was barely 21, Kurek won gold at the 2009 CEV Volleyball European Championship in Turkey with a bronze medal following two years later in Vienna, Austria. He is one of the corner stones of the national team currently mentored by Italian-born Andrea Anastasi under whose guidance Kurek celebrated a silver medal at the 2011 FIVB World Cup in Japan before winning last year’s World League finals in Sofia where he was also voted MVP of the competition. His personal showcase includes also the “Best Server” award from the 2011 CEV Volleyball European Championship in Vienna and the distinction for the “Best Scorer” of the 2009 FIVB Club World Championship in Doha, Qatar. While representing PGE Skra BELCHATOW he made it twice to the final four of the CEV Volleyball Champions League claiming bronze in 2010 and silver in 2012.

Kurek is the second Polish player to wear the jersey of Lube Banca Marche MACERATA, one of the most decorated clubs of the past decade, after Sebastian Swiderski played there from 2007 to 2010.

Right after completion of his last game in the Russian Superleague, on Tuesday Kurek did announce his transfer to Italy via his Facebook profile. “This is a dream that comes true” he wrote there. “Any little boy who starts playing basketball wants to join the NBA one day. On the other hand, anyone who takes up volleyball dreams about playing in Italy’s first division. This is the dream of a lifetime and it finally comes true. I feel honoured and very proud to be able to play in Italy’s national league while representing the likes of a prestigious club like Lube Banca Marche MACERATA. Before signing the contract, I have asked some info to my friend Sebastian Swiderski and he has spent enthusiastic words about everything that is connected with Lube, including the city. So I did not hesitate and immediately accepted their offer. I just can’t wait for the start of this adventure”.

In only a few hours thousands of messages were dropped on Kurek’s Facebook account by his fans, especially by his compatriots.

Kurek will be wearing the jersey n° 16 thereby paying tribute to Arkadiusz Golas, the 24-year old middle-blocker who passed away back in 2005 in a car accident in Austria right before the start of the season where he was set to join forces with Lube Banca Marche MACERATA. That is the same number worn by Swiderski as he played for the Italian club as he also did want to pay his respect to a close friend who unfortunately did never have the opportunity to wear that jersey that was designed for him there in Macerata.

May 7th, 2013

OMG!

With Kurek joining the Italian club team, this means one of the 4 (most likely Savani, Parodi, Kovar and Zaytsev) will possibly leave the team.

Yesterday, the 24 year old Polish star wrote this on FB Fan Page:

Dzisiaj przegraliśmy z Jarosławiczem 1:3 i zajęliśmy dziewiąte miejsce w lidze rosyjskiej. Chciałbym wszystkim bardzo podziękować za wsparcie w tym ciężkim dla mnie sezonie. Mogę już oficjalnie potwierdzić – w przyszłym sezonie będę występował w Lube Banca Macerata. Mój kontrakt z Dynamem został rozwiązany za porozumieniem stron. Spełnię swoje marzenie i zagram w lidze włoskiej 🙂

Chciałem Wam jeszcze powiedzieć, że kontrakt z Lube Banca podpisałem na dwa lata i, podobnie jak kiedyś Sebastian Świderski, będę występował z numerem 16, w hołdzie tragicznie zmarłemu Arkowi Gołasiowi

He’s pretty much saying that his team in Russia, Dinamo Moscow finished 9th and that his contract with Macerata is good for 2 years.

He obviously forgot to mention how much his salary is. Hah! We can only guess that it’d be around $700,000-$800,000 per season or maybe even less knowing that Macerata has cut down on their budget for next season.

As for his new team, we have a feeling that Parodi and Kovar will leave and then Macerata’s starting hitters would be Kurek, Savani and Zaytsev.

WOW!

Any Thoughts?

Extra! Extra!

About 2 weeks ago, Macerata’s owner Fabio Giulianelli spoke about the changes in the club resulted by the latest situation in the World’s economy.

He says…

“Beyond the undeniable bitterness generated by the disappointments that we experienced in the that season just ended, I believe that in drawing up our plans for the coming seasons, we can not disregard the momentous changes that are covering the world whole, from an economic point of view first of all. We have always explained very clearly that the management philosophy of the club fully reflects the company, which is of course very strongly the concept of responsibility, linked to the achievement of results. We want, then, that the same concept also applies to the team, and that is why we propose to all our players and staff members under contract the 25% reduction of their salary, which we know to be at the top, is dependent on the achievement of results. This proposal should not be construed as a penalty, but as the wish to put important bases for the future of the team, trust and investing money towards the athletes, technicians and others who follow our business logic, assuming responsibility with society, especially towards the fans, but also to themselves.

Of course, this type of policy will also cover the new arrivals. Again, in recent years the world has changed, affecting many aspects of social life. And the sport is definitely lagging behind these changes. We simply want to ensure that an athlete is compared to any other professional, who is therefore responsible for how he carried out the task that was entrusted to him, and as a consequence of the results achieved.”