Bartosz Kurek

Bartosz Kurek
Personal information
Full name Bartosz Kamil Kurek
Nickname Kuraś
Nationality Polish
Born (1988-08-29) August 29, 1988
Wałbrzych, Poland
Hometown Nysa, Poland
Height 2.07 m (6 ft 9 in)
Weight 104 kg (229 lb)
Spike 375 cm (148 in)
Block 340 cm (130 in)
Volleyball information
Position Outside hitter/Opposite
Current club PGE Skra Bełchatów
Number 5 (club), 6 (national team)
Career
YearsTeams
2004–2005
2005–2008
2008–2012
2012–2013
2013–2015
2015–2016
2016
2016–		AZS PWSZ Nysa
ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle
PGE Skra Bełchatów
VC Dynamo Moscow
Lube Banca Macerata
Asseco Resovia Rzeszów
JT Thunders Hiroshima
PGE Skra Bełchatów
National team
2007– Poland
Honours
Representing  Poland
Men's volleyball
World Cup
2011 Japan
2015 Japan
European Championship
2009 Turkey
2011 Austria/Czech Republic
World League
2012 Sofia
2011 Gdańsk
Last updated: 9 October 2016

Bartosz Kamil Kurek (born 29 August 1988) is a Polish volleyball player, a member of Poland men's national volleyball team and Polish club PGE Skra Bełchatów, a participant of the Olympic Games (London 2012, Rio 2016), 2009 European Champion, a gold medalist of the 2012 World League, a silver medalist of the 2011 World Cup, a bronze medalist of the 2011 World League, 2011 European Championship and 2015 World Cup, three-time Polish Champion (2009, 2010, 2011) and Italian Champion (2014).

Bartosz Kurek in 2009.
On September 30, 2011 during the PGE Skra Bełchatów 3:1 Lotos Trefl Gdańsk match at Ergo Arena, Gdańsk in season 2011/2012.
After the winning match at Spodek in Katowice. In the foreground from left: Zbigniew Bartman, Bartosz Kurek, Michał Winiarski and Krzysztof Ignaczak.

Career

Clubs

Kurek began his career in a team from Nysa (2004–2005), where he played alongside his father. He then spent 3 years playing for a PlusLiga club, ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle (2005–2008).

In 2008, he moved to PGE Skra Bełchatów, one of the most successful teams in Polish PlusLiga, where he quickly became a key player. With PGE Skra he won the Polish Championship three times in 2008/2009, 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 and claimed a silver medal in 2011/2012. He won Polish Cup three times - in 2009, 2011 and 2012. He also has two silver medals of Club World Championships from 2009 and 2010. In 2010 PGE Skra Belchatów, with Bartosz Kurek, won the bronze medal of CEV Champions League. On March 18, 2012 PGE Skra won the silver medal of CEV Champions League after losing to Zenit Kazan in the final in Łódź, Poland. The final result was judged controversial by some, as the referee didn't see an error by a Russian player and ended the match despite the fact that the audience and the players saw the error on screen.[1] Kurek received the award for Best Spiker of CEV Champions League 2011/2012.

After the season 2011/2012 he left PGE Skra Bełchatów and signed a contract with Russian club VC Dynamo Moscow,[2] but due to injury was unable to play for his new club for the large part of the season.

After one season in Russia, Kurek moved to Italian club Lube Banca Macerata. His official presentation as a player of Lube Banca Macerata took place on July 9, 2013.[3] In 2013/2014, the team won Scudetto (Italian Champion) after matches against Sir Safety Perugia.[4][5][6] On October 15, 2014 Lube Banca Macerata, including Kurek, won their first trophy of the 2014/2015 season. Club from Macerata beat Copra Elior Piacenza (3-2) and won Italian SuperCup2014.[7] On May 4, 2015 signed 1+1 contract with Asseco Resovia Rzeszów.[8] After achieving silver medal in Polish Championship he left Resovia and signed a contract with Japanese club JT Thunders Hiroshima.

On October 2, 2016 he announced interrupting of his sporting career because of physical and mental fatigue. At the same time he terminated the contract with the Japanese club JT Thunders Hiroshima.[9] Despite of break in his career, Kurek decided to join his former club PGE Skra Bełchatów, where he has been training since September.[10]

National team

Kurek was in the Polish squad when the Polish national team won the gold medal of European Championship 2009.[11] On September 14, 2009 he was awarded Knight's Cross of Polonia Restituta.[12] The Order was conferred on the following day by the Prime Minister of Poland, Donald Tusk. On July 10, 2011 Kurek with his national team won the first medal of the World League for Poland in history. They won bronze medal after defeating Argentina. Kurek received the award for Best Scorer of the final tournament.[13] Next for Poland was European Championship 2011, where they were the defending champion of the title. Kurek was his team's key player throughout the tournament and Polish national team won a second medal in 2011 - a bronze after winning match against Russia. At this tournament Kurek won his second individual award this year, for Best Server.[14] In November 2011, despite a back injury Kurek went to Japan to participate in the World Cup and helped his team win silver medal and therefore qualify for the Olympic Games.[15] On July 8, 2012 the Polish team won gold medal of the World League 2012. Kurek received the award for Most Valuable Player.[16][17] Kurek was one of the key players of the Polish team at the Olympic Games London 2012, but Poland lost in the quarterfinal against Russia and was eliminated from the tournament.

In 2014 he was a member of the Polish national team during the 2015 Men's European Volleyball Championship qualification, but then did not get a chance to play in the World League. He was not included in the Polish national team's 14-player roster for the World Championship, held in Poland.[18]

After year of break, he came back to national team on May 28, 2015 during first match of intercontinental round of World League against Russia (3–0).[19] He was top scorer of match (15 points). Kurek in 2016 played in Olympic Games Rio.[20]

Style of play

Kurek is known as the best exhibitive player. He with itself hand give presentation interesting game. Kurek has rotation spike in all player.

Personal life

Bartosz Kurek was born in Wałbrzych, but raised in Nysa, Poland. His father, Adam Kurek, was also a volleyball player, capping several times for Poland. Kurek played basketball in his early youth, but later moved to the class with volleyball. He has a younger brother - Jakub. Kurek and his brother appeared together in a Polish TV advertisement for Zott yogurt Monte.

Sporting achievements

Clubs

CEV Champions League

FIVB Club World Championship

National championships

National team

Individually

State awards

See also

References

  1. ↑ Zenit KAZAN shatters PGE Skra dreams of home glory - cev.lu - 18-03-2012
  2. ↑ Kurek odszedł do Dynama - skra.pl - 06-05-2012
  3. ↑ Prezentacja Bartosza Kurka jako gracza Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata - sportowefakty.pl - 09-07-2013
  4. ↑ SCUDETTO ALLA LUBE! APPLAUSI ALLA GRANDE SIR! - sirsafetyperugia.it - 04-05-2014
  5. ↑ APOTEOSI LUBE IN GARA 4 A PERUGIA: SIAMO CAMPIONI D'ITALIA - lubevolley.it - 04-05-2014
  6. ↑ Bartosz Kurek mistrzem Włoch - plusliga.pl - 04-05-2014
  7. ↑ Bartosz Kurek z Superpucharem Włoch - plusliga.pl - 15-10-2014
  8. ↑ Bartosz Kurek w Asseco Resoviii - plusliga.pl - 04-05-2015
  9. ↑ Bartosz Kurek nie zagra w Japonii. Zawodnik wydał oświadczenie - wp.pl - 02-10-2016
  10. ↑ BARTOSZ KUREK WRACA DO PGE SKRY - skra.pl - 08-10-2016
  11. ↑ 2009 CEV European Championships Results - cev.lu - 03-09-2009
  12. ↑ Reprezentacja siatkarzy odznaczona przez prezydenta - prezydent.pl - 15-09-2009
  13. ↑ 2011 FIVB Volleyball World League Final Report - fivb.org - 10-07-2011
  14. ↑ Bartosz Kurek is the man of the day as Poland strikes bronze at EuroVolley - cev.lu - 18-09-2011
  15. ↑ Poland shoot up World Rankings on back of World Cup silver - fivb.org - 06-12-2011
  16. ↑ Poland beat USA to claim first World League title - fivb.org - 08-07-2012
  17. ↑ Poland wins historical gold at the 2012 World League - fivb.org - 08-07-2012
  18. ↑ MŚ siatkarzy 2014: Stephane Antiga powołał kadrę, Bartosz Kurek nie jedzie na mundial - eurosport.onet.pl - 17-08-2014
  19. ↑ Opening victory for reigning world champions Poland - fivb.org - 28-05-2015
  20. ↑ Yahoo Sports - Bartosz Kurek Poland

External links

Awards
Preceded by
-		 Best Scorer of
FIVB Club World Championship
2009 		Succeeded by
Argentina Federico Pereyra
Preceded by
Russia Maxim Mikhaylov		 Best Scorer of
FIVB World League
2011 		Succeeded by
Bulgaria Todor Aleksiev
Preceded by
Russia Yury Berezhko		 Best Server of
CEV European Championship
2011 		Succeeded by
Italy Ivan Zaytsev
Preceded by
Bulgaria Matey Kaziyski		 Best Spiker of
CEV Champions League
2011/2012 		Succeeded by
France Antonin Rouzier
Preceded by
Russia Maxim Mikhaylov		 Most Valuable Player of
FIVB World League
2012 		Succeeded by
Russia Nikolay Pavlov
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