Michal Kubiak, the current representative of the Polish men's volleyball team. Although he is small for a volleyball player at 191cm, he has captivated many volleyball fans with his outstanding technique and strong mentality. Since the 2016/17 season, he has played for the Panasonic Panthers and has become well known to Japanese volleyball fans. Today, we will briefly introduce Kubiak's career.
First, beach volleyball
Kubiak began her volleyball career in earnest in 2002 at the age of 14 with a club called Marathon Swinoujscie. However, she started out playing beach volleyball, not indoor volleyball. However, her talent had already blossomed during her beach volleyball days. In 2004, at the age of 16, she teamed up with former Polish national team member Bartman to win the European Under-17 Championships and a silver medal at the World Championships. In a later interview, Kubiak said, "Even if you're an indoor player, taking up beach volleyball at the beginning of your career is a great way to broaden your horizons."
Beach days (photo left)
Indoor training period
In the 2005/06 season, at the age of 17, he joined the Polish second division club Jokell Piła to begin his indoor career. He made a name for himself there, and in the following 2006/07 season, he transferred to the first division club AZS Olsztyn, but he barely made the bench there and finished the season. After that, he moved to different clubs, one season at a time, in the second division, Israel, and the Italian second division. It is well known that in the 2009/10 season, he was a teammate of Yu Koshigawa at Padova (then in the second division), Italy, where Yuki Ishikawa currently plays. At the time, he had fewer opportunities to play than Koshigawa.
While Kubiak was struggling to achieve results at the top level, his contemporaries Kurek, Nowakowski, Jarosz and Bartman had already begun their careers as players for the Polish national team, achieving the remarkable feat of winning their first European Championship in 2009.
During his time in Padua (Koshigawa is on the right)
Talent blossoming
The 2010/11 season was a breakthrough year for Kubiak. After a four-season absence, he returned to the Polish first division club Warsaw, where he quickly established himself as a starter and had the most aces in the league in terms of serving. He was also named Rookie of the Year. The team also improved from 10th place the previous season to 5th place. His performance that season was recognized and he was called up to the Polish national team for the first time by Anastasi, who was the manager of the Polish national team at the time. Since then, Kubiak has not been called up to the Polish national team in a single season.
2011 was also a very successful year for the Polish national team. Kubiak was not given many opportunities to play because Wienialski and Kurek were in the same position, but he made the bench and won bronze medals in the World League and European Championships that year. He was also selected as a member of the World Cup team and traveled to Japan. The team continued their momentum by winning the silver medal and qualifying for the London Olympics.
In the 2011/12 season, he transferred to the powerful Polish club Jastrzebski Węgyel. He played an active role as a central player for the team over three seasons, along with Italian national team player Lasko. Although they never won the championship, they came in third in the league twice, third in the European Champions League, and won a silver medal at the Club World Championship. Personally, I was very impressed by Kubiak's performance in the Champions League in the 2013/14 season.
The Jastrzębski-Węgyel era
London Olympics and World Championships
In 2012, the Olympic year, the Polish national team was on a roll after winning their first World League, a preliminary tournament that year. However, in London, they were attacked by a "demon". After losing to lower-ranked Australia in the qualifiers, they were defeated in the first round by Russia, who would later win the tournament. Kubiak finished in the quarterfinals and was eliminated from his first Olympic Games. The following year, as if dragging along the results of that Olympic Games, the Polish national team did not perform well, finishing 11th in the World League and in the quarterfinals of the European Championships, which was held in Poland. However, Kubiak personally started playing more games from the start in place of Wienialski.
And so, 2014 began with Antiga as the new coach. Kubiak was not even on the bench in the World League that year, but he was on the bench at the World Championships held in Poland. His role was as the "third OH" after Wijnaryski and Mika. However, he was often used from the start of many games, and even when he came on as a substitute, he played his role well and contributed greatly to the team. Thanks to the performance of Vlazwij, who returned to the national team for the first time in five years, the Polish national team won one after another, and before we knew it, they had won the World Championships for the first time in 40 years.
World Championship Winner (http://www.sport229.com/championnats-du-monde-de-volleyball-la-pologne-bat-le-bresil-3-0/)
Captain Polska
In the 2014/15 season, he moved to Turkey's Halkbank Ankara with manager Bernardi. He played for two seasons with star players such as Juantorena (Italy) and Sokolov (Bulgaria), winning the Super Cup twice, the Turkish Cup once, and winning the league once and coming in as runner-up. As an individual, he won the league's Best Outside Hitter award and MVP in the 2015/16 season. He then played for Japan's Panasonic Panthers from the 2016/17 season until today.
In 2015, he took over as captain of the Polish national team from Wienialski. He also took over Wienialski's position in the match and finally established himself as a starter. In the World League that year, which was his first major international tournament as captain, he missed out on a medal, but achieved a good result of 4th place and was confidently selected as the best outside spiker. After that, in the World Cup, where they competed for the Olympic qualification, they lost to the United States and Italy and came in 3rd place, narrowly missing out on a ticket there. However, the following year, they survived the fierce battle of the European qualifiers and won the final qualifying round in Japan to qualify for the Rio Olympics. However, the Olympic nightmare once again stood in their way, and the Polish national team lost to the United States in the quarterfinals. Kubiak's Olympic season ended again in the quarterfinals.
Rio Olympics (https://www.fakt.pl/sport/inne-sporty/rio-2016-michal-kubiak-komentuje-spotkanie-z-egiptem/gbvtgpq)
Afterwards to now
Those who have been reading this article avidly will be aware of his subsequent success with the Panasonic Panthers. Not only was he a key player in leading the team to two league championships, but his outstanding volleyball skills and strong champion mentality, despite being about the same height as Japanese players, had a huge impact not only on his teammates but also on many people involved in volleyball, and his contribution to spreading a new "world standard" in Japan is immeasurable.
In 2018, under the new head coach Hejnen, Poland won the World Championship again and was also named Best Outside Spiker. Last year, he continued to achieve good results, winning a bronze medal at the European Championships and a silver medal at the World Cup. Unfortunately, the Tokyo Olympics, which were scheduled to be held this year, have been postponed until next year, but we hope that the third time will be a charm.
Michał Kubiak
Born February 23, 1988 (32 years old)
From Wałcz, Poland
Height: 191 cm
Weight: 80kg
Highest point reached: 328cm
Position: Outside hitter
Jersey number: 13
Club (Senior)
2005-06 Yokar Piva
2006-07 AZS Olsztyn
2007-08 KS Poznan
2008-09 Hapoel Kiyat Atta (Israel)
2009-10 Pallavolo Padua (Italy)
2010-11 AZS Polytechnic Warsaw
2011-14 Jastrzebski Wenger
2014-16 Halkbank Ankara (Türkiye)
2016- Panasonic Panthers (Japan)
Representative career
2011- (Captain: 2015-)
English 
Japanese