At the age of 45, he won the MVP award. Historic match in PlusLiga!

Łukasz Żygadło, currently the director of Steam Hemarpol Norwid, is a kind of link between what once was and the contemporary view of volleyball in Częstochowa. The former player’s extensive achievements include, among others: three Champions League golds (2009, 2010, 2011), two in the Italian league (2011 and 2015) and the memorable, breakthrough silver at the World Championships (2006) and a historic triumph in the World League (2012). And these are just some of the long list of trophies and successes on his account.

PlusLiga: Łukasz Żygadło is the oldest winner of the MVP award!

It turned out that due to a more serious injury suffered by Quinn Issacson – Norwid’s basic setter – the world runner-up entered the game. By creating support for Tomasz Kowalski, nominally the second player in the team in the position of playmaker.

However, in the last dozen or so days, Żygadło has started appearing on the pitch more and more often. The director and playmaker performed so well in Friday’s match against PSG Stal Nysa (3-0) that he was awarded the MVP of the match. Fully deserved, considering the idea and distribution of the balls by an experienced volleyball player.

Thus, Żygadło became the oldest player in history who played in a PlusLiga match (this record had already been broken) and also won the MVP award. Interestingly, last season, also at the age of 45, Jarosław Macionczyk achieved this feat, helping the Jastrzębski Węgiel team.

Żygadło will turn 46 on August 2 this year.

Steam Hemarpol Norwid Częstochowa is a revelation in PlusLiga

We wrote about the phenomenon of the team from Jasna Góra a few weeks ago, when we were there in Częstochowa, during the match between Norwid and Bogdanka LUK Lublin. The hosts won 3-1, beating Wilfredo Leon and company.

Żygadło himself, then still “only” as a director, assessed the development of the club, which has been operating in the PlusLiga since last season (i.e. 2022/23).

– What is really valuable is the fact that as a club we have a full structure: from the junior sports class, where we work on player development, through the academy for the youngest, to the PlusLiga team. There are few such centers that can boast of the full training pyramid in one place. After promotion to the PlusLiga, we had to focus strongly on the first team in order to survive, and now, in the current season, to take another step forward. This is a big challenge, especially since three teams are relegated from the competition. We also want to show the community with our performances that we are working on something really interesting. I must admit, the whole thing was a damn difficult task, Żygadło said in mid-November last year.

Well, it’s going pretty well. Norwid won his 12th victory in his 19th match of the season. It seems that you could count on one hand who, before the start of the current PlusLiga campaign, assumed such an optimistic scenario for this team.