05-05-2009 : POLISH 3rd/4th PLAY-OFFS: Well, 3rd place is what we finished. The semi-final was a difficult series of games against ultimately the Polish Champions, Belchatow. Physically I was not at my best during this series and this was a big disappointment. My knee affecting my ability to train and also affecting my ability to play. During the final of the European Challenge cup I pushed very hard and came away with my knee that did not recover until the end of the season. It was a difficult thing to manage with the amount of training and games. However, Belchatow were the better team, we were close in alot of sets but in the end, Belchatow found something extra and were deserved Champions. The 3rd/4th play-off was still difficult as Kedzeirzyn fought hard until the last match. Both teams had to find solutions to various problem, but in the end I guess we had less problems than they did and played the better volleyball to win 3rd place.

12-04-2009 : POLISH SEMI-FINALS: We played the first 2 games away in the best of 5 series. Game 1 was not our best performance it has to be said. We lost 3.0 and really struggled to get our game going. What made it worse is that Belchatow did not play their best game either. They however served really well and this was their strongest part of the game. We had a couple of leads during the 2nd and 3rd set but good serving from Belchatow was the key for them coming back and taking the match. Game 2 was a different story. The level of this game was higher than the first and it provided one of the most controvertial decisions of the year. The rotation scandal. I am not 100% up to date with the rules however the decisions didn't make sense to me. I may be bias as I play for Jestrzebie, but I still fail to see how they came to this conclusion. We were losing the match 2.1 and leading the 4th set 10.9 when the Belchatow bench/stats man? noticed that a player was on the court and not on the starting rotation sheet. They subsequently told the coach who told the scorers bench. They went on to try to see if we were in the wrong rotation with the correct server in position 1. The coach had to go back and tell them no, there is the wrong player on the court not the rotation itself. The refs had no idea!! Well, being a middle blocker the player in question started the match off the court, so they decided while he was on the bench being substituted for the libero we could keep those points, but when he came on and did a full rotation those points we could not keep, so they took 5 away. No players knew anything about a wrong player being on the court and before this point it was game on as usual. As far as I am aware (I am not a Referee) the wrong rotation could be established from the start of the set because 7 players are considered on the court even if one of them is sitting on the bench. i.e middle or libero. So should we have gone back to 0? In any case if we called a timeout and put the right person on court what would they do then? Play-on? This case has been protested as its a big game and there are some descrepensies in the protocol that the referee's took that I will not go into. However being Easter and everyone is on holidays (except for us),the case may take some time to come through. We play the next game on Thursday so we shall see what happens. It must be said that the first mistake was done by us in putting the wrong rotation sheet to the refs. Been done plenty of times before!!! But all they have to do is look at it. Why 5 points?? Seriously.....

06-04-2009 : POLISH QUARTER FINALS: After a difficult win in Olsztyn 3.2, we are guaranteed a European ticket for next season and are in the chase for championship glory. We play the semi-final against Belchatow, the favourites for this years title. This will prove to be a difficult series but we hope to get off to a positive start this Thursday and Friday.

01-04-2009 : CHALLENGE CUP FINALS: Well losing in a final is never the best experience but we can say we gave it a good shot. The first game against Constansa was a difficult match. Actually I would say that they played better than we did for the majority of the match. When it counted at the end of the sets we played very well. This was not our best performance, however Constansa played well and put us under alot of pressure. In the final we started very well. Playing an almost perfect 1st set with 93% in attack from good reception. The 2nd set we started poorly and we made alot of errors during the set. This was a shame as we lost our superiority that we had established in the first set. The 3rd was better and everything seemed to get back to our regular game as we went into the 4th. Here it really was a final. The crowd was going crazy and not to mention the game speaker yelling through the speakers at an increadable level. Not to mention the linesmen doing there best. We had our chances in the 4th to win but we were thwarted by an equally determined Ismir. The 5th set can be a lottery but in this one we were out played. They deserved to win the 5th. Our chances were in the 4th. Even if the last point could have been a bad call we gave up too many chances through the set. A hard game to get over but now its time to get back to the finals.

20-02-2009 : WOW. Win 1.3 in Treviso. A historical moment for Jastrzebski as we fly into the final 4 of the European Challenge Cup. After losing the first game at home 2.3 we needed a great return match in Italy to qualify and that's exactly what we did. Starting and finishing the first set with aces was my personal highlight. We all played well and we had to if we were going to achieve this historic result. This is the first time the club has qualified for a final 4 in European competition. Highlighting the strength of Polish volleyball in Champions league - Czestochowa and Belchatow both qualified to the next round beating Piacenza and Moscow respectively. The final of Challenge Cup will not be played for a few weeks so we have time to concentrate on the local competition. We are only a couple of games from completing the regular season.

15-02-2009 : 3.0 loss in Resovia. In front of a capacity crowd we went down in 3 sets. Resovia served and blocked very well putting us under alot of pressure and this was the key to there success tonight. We got close to taking the 1st set only to let ourselves down at the end. Resovia gained in confidence and continued to play well for the rest of the match. They deserved the victory.

12-02-2009 : Sisley Treviso. European Challenge Cup. Going down 2.3 at home is no disgrace against Treviso. We really did not take advantage of the opportunities that were presented. Giving away some easy points at times. The second leg in Italy should be very interesting and we are still in with a chance to go to the final 4.

Gdansk : Another hard game. The polish league is a tough one as all the teams are capable of winning if you don't play well. Also they are a team with nothing to lose and were really going for the service. Also I have to say that the lights were not the brightest providing a tough time with reception. We battled through a tough fought 1st set even having set points against us. We proved the stronger at the end of the set. The 2nd was similar to the first as Gdansk played well and took out the set. For the rest of the match our block proved very effective as was our service so the remaining 2 sets were comfortably won. Also my first MVP for the season.

09-02-2009 : Olsztyn : What a great performance - 3.0 at home. We had a great start and managed to continue this level of intensity throughout the game. A comprehensive victory. Both teams were tied for 3rd place in the championship, so this was an important result in the race for 3rd place in the regular season. It looks as if 1st and 2nd are too far out of reach and with 3 teams going for the 3rd its going to be a tough struggle with only a few matches remaining. Looking forward to the 1st cup game against the league leaders and champions. Belchatow : 0.3 in the 1st cup game. What a disappointment. We actually started the match quite well leading into the 1st technical time-out even missing a couple of chances to make the lead greater. Then for 40min we seemed not to be able to compete with the almost mistake free Belchatow. The blew us away 25.16, 25.16 in the first 2 sets. It was not until the 3rd that we got ourselves back in the match and into a good lead with 16.12. However with their confidence still high after the first 2 set demolition, Belchatow came back steadily with each couple of servers taking a point until they had their first chance which they took on there first attempt. This seems to end our cup chances even though we do have another game the point difference will almost certainly be too great to overcome. A huge disapointment. We will however try everything to win in the same way that we lost when we meet for the 2nd game.

26-01-2009 : Kiev. Winning the first set in Kiev was the best way to cut out the stress of a potential 'Golden Set'. We played well from the first point and this assured us of a next round clash with Treviso. The winner goes into the final 4 of the tournament. Czestokowa. 3 points away in Czestokowa. After a bad start we rallied hard in the first set largely due to errors from our opponents wining 25-21. In the 2nd set the crowd did its best giving the home side a boost. This with some help from the man in the middle gave them a solid lead in the middle of the set which they held until the end, 21-25. The 3rd and 4th sets we played generally without too many mistakes and with good team composure, 25-22 and 25-22. It was a great result after all the travel we've had, missing a flight and being home for about 5 hours inbetween trips. 3 points the result.

17-01-2009 : 3.0 against Kiev in Challenge cup. It was a solid performance winning the first leg against Kiev. The knee is still not the best and now Samica had a fiinger injury early in the 3rd prompting Yudin's entry - he played very solid keeping our momentum and the win. Injuries have taken there toll this year. Lins now recovered from his knee injury also Pecherz now recovered from his shoulder injury. This year the receivers have had a tough time. With the return to be played, having a 3.0 victory is very important. We need to win 1 set to go to the next round most likely to play against Treviso.

12-01-2009 : Well a disappointing result in Warsaw. It was an exciting game for the public with a close scoreline of 21.25 24.26 24.26 23.25. The first 2 sets was at a good level with some great rallys and a general higher level than the 3rd and 4th. In the 3rd and 4th sets some errors crept into our game and we gave away too many free points. Warsaw played well and deserved the victory. For us its another close game. We probably deserved a point but in the end we went home without scoring.

07-01-2009 : A difficult period with my knee not being at its best. After the travel and playing on some hard floors, I have been suffering from a reoccurring tendenisis. Wednesday we won the first game of two for the quarter finals for the Polish Cup. It was against a second division team and it was a comfortable win. Saturday : WIN 3-0 against Radom - we played consistently well. Not much to say about this game as we were the better team.

13-12-2009 : WIN 3-1 in Kedzierzyn. Was a close and hard fought win. 28.30 26.28 25.23 20.25. We started behind in the first set and then we made a miraculous fightback with some great defence and counter attack. This was a result that we needed even though it was not quite enough to put us in the top 4 to miss the first round of Polish cup games. To beat the league leader and undefeated team from Kedzierzyn away from home was a great result as we have struggled in the first half of the regular season. It was a great team performance.

19-12-2008 : CHALLENGE CUP: WIN 3-0 in Portugal, against Fonte do Barstardo. It was a relatively stress free match apart from the end of the 3rd set where the match came to 24 and we had a sideout to close it at 24-23. However we won the next 2 points and won the match. We played on an island in the atlantic almost closer to America than mainland Europe, inside the local school. It was an interesting location for this game. The hard floor was not welcome but the result of the game was. We played poorly at home only to win 3-2. So we needed the win to go through to the next round. Now we look like playing in the Ukraine.

05-12-2008 : Rzeszow. Again we did not take our opportunities in the first set. We were leading all the way the 20's and we had our chances to take a bigger lead at times during the set. Our service and side-out picked up in the 2nd set. It needed to bringing us back level at 1 set each. A close 3rd set ultimately decided the match as Rzeszow took the close 3rd set and with it confidence into the 4th. Big serving and strong transition attack won them the game. Now its off to the ICE-PALACE to play the European cup.

29-11-2008 : Against Gdansk we could not make any other result than to get 3 Championship points. The match started close and we needed to win the first set. This is something we have struggled to do this season. Having won the first we played well and gave ourselves a good lead in the 2nd and 3rd sets. In the end it was a comfortable 3-0 win.

15-11-2008 : EUROPEAN CUP: against Olympiacos Pireus. A hard fought loss in Athens 3-2 gave us confidence that at home we could pass to the next round of the CEV cup. It was not to be. At home we could not get into gear. We started poorly and with it erasing any doubts Olympiacos had entering the match. All guns blazing in the 3rd set as we managed to play well and keep ourselves in the match. This was short lived as in the 4th Olympiacos played an almost faultless set with some very strong service backed up by some good blocking and transition attack handing them a 3-1 victory and the tie. Our european campaign is not over. This loss means we now play Challenge Cup. Our first game will be against a Portuguese team.

15-11-2008 : POLISH LEAGUE : Having won our first 4 matches is a great start to the season. This weekend we face Czestochowa. They are also coming off a Champions League loss but impressed as they lost a close 3-2 against the Greek Champions Panathinaikos.. This will be a tough test for us to back up after the CEV defeat.

20-10-2008 : First away victory for us. It was again a close set in Radom where it took 2 service aces from Samica to make the difference. After a close first set our consistancy again shon through as we took the remaining 2 sets more comfortably. The team played well and everybody contributed. This year is going to be a tough one as all the teams seem very even.

12-10-2008 : Well off to a good start to the season with a good 3-1 win in the 1st game against Delectę Bydgoszcz. After losing the 1st set 39-37, with 4 net cord aces to them, Bydgoszcz seemed to drop a bit of performance and luck. For the rest of the match we were able to maintain our level. I can't say it was a great start from me as things didn't go my way but I can say that it's great to win just the same. Every interview I get asked about the gym and what do I think. Well it's the smallest in the league and I hear alot of complaints already. But for me it's just fine. We have great fans and it's a great place to watch the game with the steep stands. I think it is a great home gym for us.

06-09-2008 : TRAINING CAMP : The team went on a training camp for the past week. We trained in Scckurk, the training centre for the Polish national team. There we spent alot of time getting to know our team mates and training hard. At the end of the camp we travelled to Czech Republic to play 2 matches against the national team. Both of these games we lost 3-1. The preparation however is going well and the team is improving.

18-08-2008 : I’M BACK. I am now in Poland watching the Olympics on television. Busy with the new team is helping me keep my mind focused on the season ahead not reflection too much on what might have been. Europe at this time of year is fantastic with all the people in the centre of the town having a drink in the fine weather. Training is hot inside with the heat. Our team is nearly complete with only Yudin not with us as he is in Australia. We are training hard and have a good team. On the weekend I was lucky enough to be at the Czech MotoGP as a guest of the DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM. It was great from the pits to see Casey Stoner in action. Plus I was also fortunate to be invited in the box of RIZLA SUZUKI Chris Vermuelin one of Australia’s other premier MotoGP riders. It was a long weekend as well as an unlucky one for Stoner. However I enjoyed watching the guys at work and marvel at how good they are. When it was raining they were both incredible. A big Thanks to Federica from Ducati and all the team. Click Here for MotoGP Photo.