Andrzej Adamek (born January 6, 1972, in

Wałbrzych Wałbrzych (; german: Waldenburg; szl, Wałbrzich; sli, label= Lower Silesian, Walmbrig or ''Walmbrich''; cs, Valbřich or ) is a city located in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in southwestern Poland. From 1975–1998 it was the capital of W ...

Lower Silesia Lower Silesia ( pl, Dolny Śląsk; cz, Dolní Slezsko; german: Niederschlesien; szl, Dolny Ślōnsk; hsb, Delnja Šleska; dsb, Dolna Šlazyńska; Silesian German: ''Niederschläsing''; la, Silesia Inferior) is the northwestern part of the ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

) is a Polish basketball coach and former professional basketball player.

Early career

He began playing basketball in his home town. In 1995–96 he moved to the

Polonia Przemyśl Polonia Przemyśl is a Polish sports club, located in the south-eastern city of Przemyśl. Founded in 1909, it is one of the oldest sports associations in Poland. History The club, whose hues are white-red-blue, supports two departments - foot ...

. With this team he achieved a Polish vice-championship. In 1998 he came back to Lower Silesia and played in Zepter Idea Śląsk Wrocław. The main reasons why he left ''Polonia Przemyśl'' were their financial problems and worse position in the league. In

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...

he did not belong to the most important players, he did not stand out. He did not even appear on the bench very often. During the 1999–00 season after talks with the Slask's authorities he decided to move to the

Kielce Kielce (, yi, קעלץ, Keltz) is a city in southern Poland, and the capital of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship. In 2021, it had 192,468 inhabitants. The city is in the middle of the Świętokrzyskie Mountains (Holy Cross Mountains), on the bank ...

. However this step was not the best solution for Adamek. He still played rarely. From Kielce he moved to the

Prokom Trefl Sopot Arka Gdynia is a Polish professional basketball team, based in Gdynia. The team plays in the Polish PLK. The club's sponsorship name comes from the company Asseco. Historically the team is one of the most successful in Poland, mainly because of t ...

. The beginning of the season was successful for him. He played regularly. But when the Prokom's activist hired

Igor Miličić Igor Miličić (born June 9, 1976) is a Croatian-Polish professional basketball coach and former player who currently serves as head coach for Napoli Basket of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) and the Poland men's national basketball team. P ...

everything changed. "Szkopek" had big difficulties with his place in the team again. In 2002 he came back to Wrocław and played for Idea Śląsk Wrocław. In 2003 he decided to play abroad; he chose Swedish league. In 2004 he returned to his hometown and started to play and coach ''Górnik Wałbrzych''. He retired definitely in 2005. He coached ''Górnik Wałbrzych'' in First Polish League (actually First Polish League is the second after the PLK). He has made a contribution to remain his team in First Polish League. In 2006 he was assistant coach in

Śląsk Wrocław Wrocławski Klub Sportowy Śląsk Wrocław Spółka Akcyjna, commonly known as WKS Śląsk Wrocław, Śląsk Wrocław () or simply Śląsk, is a Polish football club based in Wrocław that plays in Ekstraklasa, the highest level of the Polish fo ...

Adamek also has spent a short while as head coach of the Śląsk Wrocław.He took over the team when the management were looking for a new coach. He was a temporary head coach but he had a chance to show his skills in ULEB Cup.In the 2008–2009 season he began as assistant coach in Śląsk Wrocław. However - after the financial problems - ''Śląsk Wrocław'' was withdrawn from PLK. Adamek received an offer from the

Górnik Wałbrzych Gornik may refer to one of the following. * Gornik, Pleven Province, a village in Chechen Republic *April Gornik, an American painter *Górnik (means "Miner" in Polish) is a common name of Polish sports teams: **Górnik Konin **Górnik Łęczna *** ...

and decided to take over the team. Because of the financial problems in Górnik, Adamek has moved to the

Turów Zgorzelec PGE Turów Zgorzelec is a Polish a basketball team based in Zgorzelec. The club played in the Polish League (PLK) and won the Polish championship once, in the 2013–14 season. The club was sponsored by the PGE Group, and they are also the clu ...

where he is working as assistant coach of Paweł Turkiewicz. As assistant coach in Turów he has advanced to the national finals.

Professional career

Andrzej Adamek was a multiple PLK champion with

. He also was a runner-up with

. Moreover, he performed for

Polish national basketball team The Poland men's national basketball team ( pl, Reprezentacja Polski w koszykówce) represents Poland in international basketball competitions. They are controlled by the Polish Basketball Federation (PZKosz). Poland has competed at the EuroBa ...

Coaching career

He used to be called the one of the most promising coaches of young generation in Poland. In 2006, he was named the

assistant coach, to head coach

Andrej Urlep Andrej Urlep (born July 19, 1957) is a Slovenian professional basketball coach who is serving as the head coach for Śląsk Wrocław of the Polish Basketball League. He is credited with reforming and modernising Polish domestic basketball. For th ...

. He was an assistant coach of the Polish Basketball National Team during the

EuroBasket 2007 The 2007 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2007, was the 35th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the 2008 Summer Olympics, giving a berth to th ...

in Spain. In 2012, he won his first championship as the head coach. Adamek, however, has had a very prolific career as an assistant coach. He is a 7x

Polish Basketball League Polska Liga Koszykówki (PLK) (English language, English: Polish Basketball League) is a professional men's club basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Poland. It constitutes the first and highest-tier level of the Polish basketball leag ...

champion, 2x runner-up and 1x bronze medalist. Adamek is the former head coach of the U-18 Polish National Basketball Team. In 2019, his team was a runner-up in the

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. Originally known as the (hence FIBA), in 1989 it dropped the word ''amateur'' from its na ...

U-18 Division B European Championships, held in

Oradea Oradea (, , ; german: Großwardein ; hu, Nagyvárad ) is a city in Romania, located in Crișana, a sub-region of Transylvania. The county seat, seat of Bihor County, Oradea is one of the most important economic, social and cultural centers in the ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

, and advanced to the top flight Division A. In 2022, Adamek's team finished 9th in the

U-18 European Championships, hosted by the city of Izmir,

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. Poland saved the Division A spot for another year. In June 2023, Adamek became the head coach of Górnik Wałbrzych, his first club as player, then the tier-2 league team. He returned to his hometown after two successful years as the

assistant coach, winning the 2022 Polish Basketball League championship and finishing as runner-up one campaign later. In 2023-24, Adamek's Górnik Wałbrzych clinched playoffs as the 2nd seed. Eventually, Górnik won the finals against Enea Abramczyk Astoria Bydgoszcz 3-1, despite trailing 0-1, and earned a spot in the

. Górnik returned to top flight after 15 years in lower leagues.

External links

Polskikosz.pl

E-basket.pl
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adamek, Andrzej Living people 1972 births Arka Gdynia basketball coaches Asseco Gdynia players Czarni Słupsk players Górnik Wałbrzych (basketball) players MKS Znicz Basket Pruszków players Polish men's basketball players Śląsk Wrocław basketball players Sportspeople from Wałbrzych