Youth (Women) WCH, Andrzej Peć: Moral hangover, but success

- We have lost the last two matches and took the worst place possible. After the last match a hangover remains. However, I still consider our performance a success – says coach Andrzej Peć after the World Championships matches.

- We have lost the last two matches and took the worst place possible. After the last match a hangover remains. However, I still consider our performance a success – says coach Andrzej Peć after the World Championships matches.

- Could you explain what happener with your players during the match for the bronze medal of the WCH?

- If such a match happened at the beginning of the tournament, we would be able to understand it somehow. But we were fighting for the medal of the Youth WCH’s – the one you can win only once in a lifetime. Unfortunately the girls lost it. I do not know whether the reason for this was their being tired, just like after the match with Brazil, or lack of concentration after the previous match? I have to stress that the day before, in the semifinal match against China they did very well. It did not end with a happy-end because the Asian team were better with 2-3 balls in the third set.

- We even had a chance to reach the final! We lead 11:4 in the third set!.

- If we used the advantage and won this set, it would already be 2:1 and the way to the final would be wide open for us. Nevertheless girls deserve the words of praise for this match. There they have showed all the elements missing in the bronze medal match. At the match with Serbia it was hard for us to get points, but easy to lose them. One could see that despite high ambitions, the girls were not concentrated, tired and overwhelmed with the responsibility. The team did not manage to overcome it. We will talk about it. I hope together we will understand what was the reason and why we did not present out best during the last match.

- Did the girls rest on their laurels when promoted to the first four?

- When we talked before the match, everyone unanimously repeated that this is the last match of the polish youth (women) national team – this age category. The players were also involved in the warm-up before the match – excited, dynamic. I think they have been well prepared physically for the championships. Maybe one could only see the motivation on their faces, but deep inside there was something completely different. Maybe they felt awe towards the team from Serbia, or maybe they felt confident knowing to be ranked in the first four. Such a result was success. Many coaches gave positive opinions about the girls. Therefore we have a success, but also a feeling of insufficiency. When one plays for medals, they should do their best, forget about everything that surround us and fight till the end. This is what we were missing.

- To był drugi mecz o medal, tak gładko przegrany przez Pana zespół. Podobnie było w Trabzonie w Olimpijskim Festiwalu Młodzieży Europy. Jest jakieś podobieństwo do tych spotkań?

- Any conclusions after the tournament? – These championships gave us a lot of issues to think about. We have to spent more time on individual trainings and improve the technical skills of particular players.