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Polish superstar Wlazly announces retirement to focus on sports psychology

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Article Tue, Apr 4 2023

Polish Volleyball superstar Mariusz Wlazly announced this past Sunday, shortly after completion of a match scheduled for the playoff stage of the Polish national league, his retirement from competitive sport at the age of 39. Wlazly’s list of honours is almost endless – but the major highlight obviously came in 2014 when he helped Poland claim gold at the World Championship on home soil, taking also the Most Valuable Player award in the process.

Mariusz Wlazly revealing his post-retirement plans at a press conference on Sunday (Photo PAP)

“I would like to thank all those who have accompanied my sports career and undoubtedly the time will come for a wider thank you,” Wlazly said at a post-match press conference. Shortly afterwards, he shared details on his future not too far away from the court. “For over twenty years, I have been an active participant in national and international sporting events. During this time, I experienced many different situations. A few years ago, I became interested in the complexity of sports competition and I understood that sport needs to be looked at from many aspects. Emotions, stress, and pressure in sports competition are worth analysing through the prism of various interrelated factors. It is well known that the quality of a player’s performance during a sporting event is the result of the level of their performance skills. I was thinking about situations in which the aforementioned factors, such as stress, emotions and pressure, and motivation, commitment and many other components are reflected in specific situations on the court,” Wlazly said. “How is it that despite a high-level performance, some players lose matches they have already ‘won’? Why can’t they use their skills and training in difficult moments that require making quick and accurate decisions? What is the phenomenon of the so-called ‘training players’ who play like textbook during training sessions, but cannot cope with the pressure during matches? And finally - why does a high level of technical skills not necessarily translate into sporting success?”

“Of course, there are many more such questions and they directed my considerations to the mental zone of athletes. I believe that psychological preparation is as important as other elements of training and preparing players for sports competition. Of course, I do not claim that psychological preparation alone, without other training units, would be enough to achieve the highest goals and sports success. I emphasise the interdependence of all areas when preparing an athlete for competitions."

Mariusz Wlazly
Mariusz Wlazly was the superstar of the event when Poland won the 2014 FIVB Men's World Championship on home soil

"That’s why I started to slowly implement the idea of creating a Psychological Support Centre for athletes. We have talked to Mr Gadomski [President of Trefl Gdansk club, where Wlazly has played these last couple of years] on this topic many times and this year we launched an innovative pilot project focussing on the psychological care for Trefl Gdansk players. It is a combination of my many years of sports experience, understanding the specificity of sport and being an integral part of the team, with professional psychological impact,” Wlazly continued.

“During this first pilot year, we faced various challenges. The cooperation with Doctor Marta Witkowska, who directly works on the mental condition of the team, combined with my experience and the work of the entire staff responsible for sports preparation, allowed us to achieve the team’s goal, which was to advance to the play-offs. In the next season, I will perform a new function - Coordinator of psychological preparation. It is worth noting that I have completed postgraduate studies in pedagogy and sports psychology - and I am completing a master’s degree in psychology at the University of Gdansk.”

Wlazly will be responsible for organising the workspace of players, staff, or board with a psychologist, helping in improving communication within the club, team, staff and assisting in defining and setting short/medium/long-term goals for individual players, the team, and the club. Moreover, Mariusz will support the development of soft skills of both players and members of the coaching staff, with particular emphasis on communication, cooperation, good relations in the team and a creative approach to solving potential problems or conflicts.

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