“I still don’t believe it.” Shock after the death of a Polish volleyball player

A great tragedy shook the AVIA Solar Sędziszów Małopolski club over the weekend. Volleyball player Jakub Opoń has died. – It doesn’t occur to me that Kuba will not be at training on Tuesday – says coach Tomasz Józefacki in an interview with WP SportoweFakty.

30-year-old Jakub Opoń went missing on the night from Friday to Saturday. When the volleyball player defending the colors of the AVIA Solar Sędziszów Małopolski club did not return home, a search was started. These ended with tragic news about the player’s death (more here).

– It’s unbelievable to me. I still just don’t believe it. I think I’ll just go to training on Tuesday and we’ll meet as normal. It doesn’t dawn on me that Kuba won’t be at training on Tuesday, Tomasz Józefacki told us.

– For me it’s so unreal. I know it happened, it’s confirmed. It will probably be only on Tuesday during training that it will hit me hard that Kuba will not be there – says the coach of the second-league team with great pain.

The entire team is shocked by the tragic news. – We received the information on Sunday after 15. We were in our homes. Delicate entries are posted on Facebook. The players, like me, don’t believe it happened. We were waiting for completely different information. We hoped that Kuba was simply staying with someone he knew and that he would return home safe and sound, Józefacki confessed.

– The Polish Volleyball Association asked if we wanted to postpone the match. However, initially it turned out that we would stick to this calendar and play the match normally on Saturday. But we will talk about it on Tuesday during training – added the former volleyball player of clubs such as Resovia or AZS Olsztyn.

Coach Józefacki was very happy that Opoń joined the AVIA Solar Sędziszów Małopolski team last season. As he emphasized, he had built a good relationship with him. What qualities did he value most in his protégé?

– First of all, peace. Kuba played as a libero. It provided such stability in this element, it was predictable. I perceived him as a person with positive energy. First of all, he was liked and had a nice character. He did a lot of good in the team, in terms of atmosphere. Always cheerful, hardworking. There were no problems with it, Józefacki said.

For now, it is not known what caused Jakub Opoń’s death.

Rafał Smoliński, journalist of WP SportoweFakty

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