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 Two
days after the final match of the successful European
Championship in Turkey, where Poland surprised all and
claimed gold, Malgorzata Glinka turned 25.
It was 13 years earlier when she had started her
Volleyball adventure and at the ago of 14 she had made
her debut for the senior team of the Warsaw club Skra.
Her huge talent was visible right from the beginning
and it was no surprise when the opposite spiker gained
her first cap for the national side in 1996; the same
year she helped the national junior team win a bronze
medal at the European Championship.
At 21 Glinka moved to Italy “not only to make some
money but also to learn something new about Volleyball”
– as she was claiming. She spent the past four years
in Vicenza, reaching a star status at the Italian
club. In 2001 she team won the CEV Cup and “Maggie” –
as she is called in Italy – received the MVP award for
this event. This summer she moved to Asystel Novara,
rejecting an even more profitable offer from Japan.
After the 2002 World Championship in Germany Glinka
was blamed a lot for Poland’s unsuccessful campaign,
therefore at the beginning of the current season she
hesitated for a long time whether to join the national
team again. It was the new coach, Andrzej Niemczyk,
who persuaded her to come to the preparation camp.
Now she has definitely no reason to regret that
decision. Malgorzata performed marvelously during the
2003 European Championship in Turkey, being one of the
major contributors to Poland's run to the gold medal.
After the semifinal match against Germany, one of the
journalists commented that ”Germany lost to Glinka
2:3”. Not too much of an exaggeration since the she
scored 40 points by herself.
She was honored with the Best Scorer award for the
tournament – and unofficially – the MVP of the event.
Furthermore, the European Volleyball Confederation
(CEV) recently recognized her as the best player of
the year.
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