Andrzej Adamek

Andrzej Adamek

Górnik Wałbrzych
Position	Head coach
League	PLK
Personal information
Born	(1972-01-06) 6 January 1972 (age 52) Wałbrzych, Poland
Nationality	Polish
Listed height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Listed weight	196 lb (89 kg)
Career information
Playing career	1988–2004
Position	Shooting guard
Career history
As player:
1988–1995	Górnik Wałbrzych
1995–1998	Polonia Przemyśl
1998	UMKS Kielce
1998–2002	Śląsk Wrocław
1999	→ Czarni Słupsk
2000–2001	→ Prokom Sopot
2002–2003	Znicz Pruszków
2003–2004	Helsingborg
2004	Górnik Wałbrzych
As coach:
2004–2006	Górnik Wałbrzych
2005–2007	Poland (assistant)
2006–2007	Śląsk Wrocław (assistant)
2007–2008	Śląsk Wrocław
2008–2009	Śląsk Wrocław (assistant)
2009	Górnik Wałbrzych
2009	Turów Zgorzelec (assistant)
2009–2011	Prokom Gdynia (assistant)
2011–2013	Prokom Gdynia
2013–2014	Zastal Zielona Góra (assistant)
2014–2015	Zastal Zielona Góra
2015–2018	Zastal Zielona Góra (assistant)
2019	Śląsk Wrocław
2019–2020	Mono Vampire (assistant)
2019–2022	Poland U-18
2021–2023	Śląsk Wrocław (assistant)
2023–present	Górnik Wałbrzych
Career highlights and awards
As player: 3× Polish League champion (1999, 2000, 2002) 2x Polish League bronze medalist (1996, 2001) Polish Cup winner (2001) 2× Polish Basketball Supercup winner (1999, 2000) As head coach: Polish League champion (2012) Polish Cup winner (2015) FIBA U-18 Division B European Championship runner-up (2019) I Liga champion (2024)

Andrzej Adamek (born 6 January 1972) is a Polish basketball coach and former professional basketball player.

Early career

Adamek was born on 6 January 1972 in Wałbrzych. He began playing basketball in his home town. In 1995–96 he moved to the Polonia Przemyśl. 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 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. However this step was not the best solution for Adamek. He still played rarely. From Kielce he moved to the Prokom Trefl Sopot. The beginning of the season was successful for him. He played regularly. But when the Prokom's activist hired Igor Miličić 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 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 and decided to take over the team. Because of the financial problems in Górnik, Adamek has moved to the Turów Zgorzelec 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 Śląsk Wrocław. He also was a runner-up with Polonia Przemyśl. Moreover, he performed for Polish national basketball team.

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 Polish national basketball team assistant coach, to head coach Andrej Urlep. He was an assistant coach of the Polish Basketball National Team during the EuroBasket 2007 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 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 U-18 Division B European Championships, held in Oradea, Romania, and advanced to the top flight Division A. In 2022, Adamek's team finished 9th in the FIBA U-18 European Championships, hosted by the city of İzmir, Turkey] 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 Śląsk Wrocław 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 Polish Basketball League. Górnik returned to top flight after 15 years in lower leagues.

External links

• Polskikosz.pl
• E-basket.pl