PGE Skra Bełchatów

PGE Skra Bełchatów

Full name	PGE Skra Bełchatów SSA
Founded	1930
Ground	Energia Hall ul. Dąbrowskiego 11 97-400 Bełchatów (Capacity: 2,700)
Chairman	Konrad Piechocki
Manager	Miguel Angel Falasca
Captain	Mariusz Wlazły
League	PlusLiga
Website	Club home page
Uniforms
Home Away

PGE Skra Bełchatów

Medal record
Men’s Volleyball
CEV Champions League
	2011/2012 Łódź
	2007/2008 Łódź
	2009/2010 Łódź
Club World Championship
	2009 Doha
	2010 Doha
	2012 Doha
Polish Championship (PlusLiga)
	2004/2005
	2005/2006
	2006/2007
	2007/2008
	2008/2009
	2009/2010
	2010/2011
	2013/2014
	2011/2012
	2001/2002
	2014/2015
Polish Cup
	2005
	2006
	2007 Kielce
	2009 Kielce
	2011 Warszawa
	2012 Rzeszów
Polish SuperCup
	2012 Częstochowa
	2014 Poznań

PGE Skra Bełchatów SSA – is a Polish professional volleyball team, based in Bełchatów, playing in PlusLiga. PGE Skra won the title of Polish Champion eight times (2004-2011, 2014) and Polish Cup six times. Club won a silver and two bronzes of CEV Champions League.

Bee - mascot of the PGE Skra.

Winiarski, Zatorski and Kurek during the match with Lotos Trefl Gdańsk on September 30, 2011, Ergo Arena, Gdańsk.

Setter Falasca and opposite, captain of PGE Skra Bełchatów Wlazły during the match against Lotos Trefl Gdańsk on September 30, 2011.

PGE Skra after winning silver medal of Polish Championship in season 2011/2012.

Daniel Pliński and Paweł Woicki during the match against Lotos Trefl Gdańsk in PlusLiga on March 17, 2013.

Opposite hitter - Aleksandar Atanasijević during the match against Lotos Trefl Gdańsk in PlusLiga on March 17, 2013.

First six during match of PlusLiga with Asseco Resovia Rzeszów at Atlas Arena, Łódź on November 30, 2014.

Head coach Miguel Angel Falasca and middle blocker Andrzej Wrona during a break on November 30, 2014.

Team history

Robotniczy Klub Sportowy (Workers Sports Club) Skra was founded in 1930 in Bełchatów. First, it was a football club. In 1957, a volleyball section was created. In 1977 the football section was separated from the club and incorporated into KWB Bełchatów. In 1991 Bełchatów Power Station became the sponsor of the club, and the club changed its name to Energetyczny Klub Sportowy (Energetic Sports Club) Skra. In 1994, the club advanced to Polish league II, and in 1997 to league I "B" series. In 1999, it was promoted to series "A", but after a year it fell back down to series "B" again.

In 2001, the club led by Wiesław Czaja was promoted to PlusLiga. In their first season there - 2001/2002 the team achieved the bronze medal in the Polish Men's Volleyball Championship, defeating Jastrzębski Węgiel after three matches. In 2002/2003 Skra took 6th place in league and lost in second round of the CEV Cup in match against Russian club Lokomotiv Yekaterinburg. The team had a new head coach - Ireneusz Mazur. In 2003/2004 club was close to achieve next medal. Skra lost with AZS Częstochowa after five matches. The team was also defeated in the final match of the Polish Cup by KP Polska Energia Sosnowiec. In 2004/2005 players of Skra began their masterful passe. They won first title of Polish Champion after three matches with AZS Olsztyn and achieved their first Polish Cup also after final match with club from Olsztyn (3-1). The team repeated this success in next season, when they won second title of Polish Champion in four final matches with Jastrzębski Węgiel, and Polish Cup for the second year in a row (winning final match with AZS Częstochowa (3-0)). They lost two matches against Greek Iraklis Thessaloniki V.C. in play-off 6 of CEV Champions League 2005/2006.

In 2006, the new coach was Daniel Castellani, who was the first coach of the club outside Polish. He spent in Bełchatów three seasons. During his work PGE Skra won next three title of Polish Champion (2006/2007, 2007/2008, 2008/2009) and two Polish Cups (2007, 2009). In 2008 PGE Skra as host played in Final Four of CEV Champions League 2007/2008 held at Hala MOSiR in Łódź. On March 29, 2008 the team lost semi final with Russian club Dynamo-Tattransgaz Kazan (2-3). Next day, PGE Skra players won bronze medal in match with Italian Sisley Treviso (3-2).

In 2009 new coach was hired. It was Jacek Nawrocki. The first success under the guidance of new coach was silver medal of the FIVB Club World Championship 2009. At this tournament after promoting from Pool B, PGE Skra won semi final with VC Zenit-Kazan (3-1), but on November 8, 2009 Polish club lost final against Trentino Volley (0-3). 2 of 7 individuall awards received PGE Skra players - Bartosz Kurek as the Best Scorer, Marcin Możdżonek as the Best Blocker. In 2010 Polish team was the host of Final Four CEV Champions League 2009/2010 again. They lost semi final with VC Dynamo Moscow and won bronze medal in match against ACH Volley Bled. Mariusz Wlazły was the Best Scorer of Final Four tournament. In 2009/2010 club won 6th title of Polish Champion. On December 21, 2010 PGE Skra achieved silver medal of the FIVB Club World Championship 2010. They lost with Trentino Volley (1-3). In 2010/2011 Polish club won 7th title of the Polish Champion and fifth Polish Cup. First trphy in 2012 was sixth Polish Cup in history of the club. On March 18, 2012 PGE Skra achieve silver medal of the CEV Champions League. They won the match against Arkas Izmir in semi final, but losing final against Russian club - VC Zenit-Kazan in the Final Four held at Atlas Arena in Łódź, Poland. The final match ended controversially, because the referee didn't see the block of Russian player and ended the match despite the fact that audience and all players saw the error on screen. PGE Skra players received 3 of 8 individual awards. Best Receiver was Michał Winiarski, the award for Best Spiker received Bartosz Kurek and title of Most Valuable Player gained team captain - Mariusz Wlazły. In season 2011/2012 club lost in final of PlusLiga with Asseco Resovia Rzeszów and achieved silver medal. On October 18, 2013 PGE Skra lost semi final of the FIVB Club World Championship with Sada Cruzeiro (2-3). Next day, Polish team won bronze in match with VC Zenit Kazan (3-2). Opposite Aleksandar Atanasijević was awarded the Best Scorer. In season 2012/2013 club took 5th place in PlusLiga and was eliminated from CEV Champions League by Arkas Izmir.

In 2013 to club from Bełchatów came back a former setter of this club - Miguel Angel Falasca, who after ending his sports career debuted as the head coach. In 2013/2014 PGE Skra competed in CEV Cup, continuing as far as the semi final, which they lost to Gubierniya Nizhny Novgorod. On October 24, 2013 one of the players - Stephane Antiga signed contract with Polish Association of Volleyball and became the new head coach of Poland men's national volleyball team. For the first time in the history of Polish national team, current coach was an active player. In season 2013/2014 PGE Skra won a title of Polish Champion 2014, which is 8th title of Polish Champion in history. On October 8, 2014 PGE Skra as the Polish Champion 2014 played with ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle (winner of Polish Cup2014) for the ENEA Polish SuperCup2014. PGE Skra won 3-1 at Arena Poznań in Poznań. Facundo Conte was awarded a title of the Most Valuable Player. In season 2014/2015 PGE Skra has been playing in 2014–15 CEV Champions League. They won all matches in Pool F with Precura Antwerpen, Hypo Tirol Innsbruck, Jihostroj České Budějovice, with a perfect record, winning 18 and losing only 2 sets along the way. In playoff 12 beat Italian club Cucine Lube Treia twice - 3–0 in Macerata and 3–1 at Atlas Arena, Łódź. They went to playoff 6, where their opponents were Italian Sir Safety Perugia. PGE Skra lost their first match with Italian team (2-3) and gained 1 point. In revenge match, on March 11, 2015 at Atlas Arena, Łódź PGE Skra Bełchatów beat Sir Safety Perugia 3-1, gained 3 points and went to the Final Four, which will be held in Berlin. They will play with another Polish team - Asseco Resovia Rzeszów and for the firsat time in history two Polish teams will be playing at semifinal of CEV Champions League Final Four. Club played in Final Four of 2014–15 CEV Champions League, but lost with Asseco Resovia Rzeszów in semifinal and next day in bronze medal match with Berlin Recycling Volleys and did not achieve any medal. On May 6, 2015 they won bronze medal of Polish Championship after winning matches with Jastrzębski Węgiel.

Former names

1957–1991	KS Skra Bełchatów
1991–2004	EKS Skra Bełchatów
2004–2005	KPS Skra Bełchatów SSA
2005–2007	BOT Skra Bełchatów SSA
2007–present	PGE Skra Bełchatów SSA

Coaches

1997–1999	Paweł Blomberg
1999–1999	Waldemar Kuczewski
1999–2000	Zbigniew Zarzycki
2000–2003	Wiesław Czaja
2003–2006	Ireneusz Mazur
2006–2009	Daniel Castellani
2009–2013	Jacek Nawrocki
2013–present	Miguel Angel Falasca

Team

Main article: PGE Skra Bełchatów squads

2015/2016

Head coach: Miguel Angel Falasca

No.	Name	Date of birth	Position
1	Srećko Lisinac	(1992-05-17) May 17, 1992	middle blocker
2	Mariusz Wlazły (C)	(1983-08-04) August 4, 1983	opposite
4	Mariusz Marcyniak	(1992-03-05) March 5, 1992	middle blocker
6	Karol Kłos	(1989-08-08) August 8, 1989	middle blocker
7	Facundo Conte	(1989-08-25) August 25, 1989	outside hitter
8	Andrzej Wrona	(1988-12-27) December 27, 1988	middle blocker
9	Marcin Janusz	(1994-07-31) July 31, 1994	setter
10	Nicolás Uriarte	(1990-03-21) March 21, 1990	setter
11	Mihajlo Stanković	(1993-06-05) June 5, 1993	outside hitter
13	Michał Winiarski	(1983-09-28) September 28, 1983	outside hitter
14	Marcel Gromadowski	(1985-12-19) December 19, 1985	opposite
16	Kacper Piechocki	(1995-02-17) February 17, 1995	libero
17	Robert Milczarek	(1983-11-28) November 28, 1983	libero
18	Nicolas Marechal	(1987-03-04) March 4, 1987	outside hitter
19	Israel Rodríguez	(1981-08-27) August 27, 1981	outside hitter

Notable players

2002–2003 Łukasz Żygadło 2003–2004 Michał Ruciak 2003–2004 Michał Bąkiewicz 2007–2013 2003–2007 Krzysztof Ignaczak 2004–2005 Piotr Gruszka 2006–2008 2007–2011 Stephane Antiga 2013–2014 2007–2014 Daniel Pliński 2008–2009 Jakub Jarosz

2008–2012 Marcin Możdżonek 2008–2012 Bartosz Kurek 2008–2012 Miguel Angel Falasca 2010–2014 Paweł Zatorski 2011–2013 Aleksandar Atanasijević 2012–2013 Dante Boninfante 2013–2014 Samuel Tuia 2014–2015 Ferdinand Tille

2003–present Mariusz Wlazły 2005–2006 2009–2013 2014–present Michał Winiarski 2010–present Karol Kłos 2013–present Andrzej Wrona 2013–present Nicolás Uriarte 2013–present Facundo Conte 2014–present Srećko Lisinac 2014–present Nicolas Marechal 2015–present Marcel Gromadowski 2015–present Israel Rodríguez

See also

• Volleyball in Poland
• Sports in Poland

External links

• Official website (Polish) (English) (Russian)