A little help from our friends

Polish team sports have suffered from a distinct lack of triumphs in recent decades. However, after years of underachieving, the past few months have seen surprising successes and brought hope for the future.

The men's volleyball team was first to shine. Despite a tradition of nearly always placing fifth or sixth and 'snatching defeat from the jaws of victory,' last December Poland's tall men went all the way to the World Championship final. They lost to mighty Brazil, but bested archrivals Serbia and Russia along the way. Two weeks ago another success followed. Poland's handball players came out of nowhere to win a silver at the World Championship, defeating handball-powerhouse nations like Germany, Russia, Iceland and Denmark on the road to the final.

In soccer, after a disappointing World Cup performance and a disastrous start to the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign, the Polish soccer team bounced back by beating World Cup semi-finalists Portugal and always-strong Belgium to get back in the race for a slot in the tournament. The national basketball team, which has sunk so low that it had to play in the pre-qualifying round of the European Championships, has managed to earn a spot in the tournament for the first time in 10 years.

The turnaround of the aforementioned teams has coincided with foreign coaches taking their reins. Argentine Raul Lozano, Slovenian Andrej Urlep and Dutch Leo Beenhakker coach the volleyball, basketball and soccer teams, respectively. The handball team is guided by Bogdan Wenta, who is Polish but played for years in Germany and learned his coaching craft there.

The recent successes offer hope for a strong Olympic presence in team sports next year. Minister of Sport Tomasz Lipiec announced the implementation of the Beijing 2008 program, aimed at creating optimal conditions for teams preparing for Olympic qualifications. "Success in team sports creates a great social response and adds to the prestige of all Polish sport," the Minister said.