ZIELONA GORA (Basketball Champions League) – A simple glance at the names of the coaches who will try to outwit one another in the inaugural edition of the Basketball Champions League and it becomes obvious that the list contains some of the brightest basketball minds in Europe.

Every single one of them though, even the most celebrated, even the one with the largest silverware collection, must feel at least a little bit envious of Artur Gronek. Even several veteran players will probably feel the same way when they hear that the new head coach of Stelmet Zielona Gora is only 31 years old and, needless to say, the youngest coach in the Basketball Champions League.

After serving as an assistant at Zielona Gora during the last three years, first to Mihailo Uvalin and then to Saso Filipovski, Gronek took the reins of the team this summer after the back-to-back Polish champions parted ways with the Slovenian coach.

The young Polish tactician caught up with the official website of the Basketball Champions League in the wake of his team’s late admission in the competition to be included in Group E alongside AEK Athens, Besiktas Sompo Japan Istanbul, Dinamo Sassari, MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg, Partizan Belgrade, Proximus Spirou Charleroi and Szolnoki Olaj.

Is it true that when you were an assistant you spend so much time scouting opponents and working on plays that you barely slept four hours a day? Do you think it will still be the case now that you are the head coach?
It is true, because basketball is my life, together with my family. At my age, if you want to do something good you need to work twice as much as the others (more established coaches), so this is only way. Basketball is a very broad subject and almost every day there is something new. Of course it is impossible to know everything, you have to be selective, but to be able to select you need to have the necessary knowledge.

What is the best thing about becoming the head coach of the Polish champions at the age of 31?
This is a great chance for me, a great opportunity for a coach my age. It will be a great challenge to compete against great teams and great coaches in the Basketball Champions League. Taking over a club that has three Polish championships and one second place in the last four years and to be able to work with so many great and experienced players is also a big responsibility.

How do you rate your team’s chances in Group E?
This is really a tough group with many great teams from strong European leagues. I think every game will be a big battle and we will see a situation where each team can beat any other in this group. I think it will prove to be one of the most difficult groups in this edition of the Basketball Champions League.

Some of your opponents in Group E consider your team has a solid homecourt advantage, do you believe you can win all games at Hala CRS?
You are always looking to play the best possible both home and away but of course when you play at home it is a little bit easier because it’s like playing with six players. That said, all the wins we earned last year in Europe we got them on the road, so there is no certainties and no sure advantage. I do believe though that in this group it will be important to win our home games and, after that, to play away as well as possible.

Are Zielona Gora fans looking forward to Basketball Champions League coming to town and what do they and the club expect from you and the team?
The fans and the club in general is excited about playing in this competition and we all see it as a great chance to show one more that Stelmet is a team which can compete in Europe. I think the teams we got in our group will be very interesting to watch for our fans and every game we play against these teams will be attractive both to the fans and the team. From my side, this is great because we get to compete at high level against teams that are better than teams in the Polish league. We get valuable experience and we will also play two times per week which is very good to keep the team in game form.

You brought in a lot of new players this summer, at all positions. What were your main criteria in selecting the personnel and what characteristics you were looking for?
I selected players who, first of all, can play and like to team basketball. I picked guys with good character who will contribute to the building of the team, I did not care for players who want to play one-on-one with everybody else is standing in the corner. They also had to have experience from Europe, almost every player we got has been in a European competition before. I think it is good for me, as a young coach, to have on the team players from which I too can learn something. Another quality I looked for was that they have good habits on defence and have played before on teams with a strong defensive mindset. Under Saso Filipovski we did a good job on defence these past years and I want to maintain all those things that we did well.

Why was the players’ personality in specific so high on your list?
I would say the player’s personality was even the first point I looked at (during recruiting), because we are spending together more than five hours per day and entire days when we travel, so I think it is important to have a good person next to you. At this level, everyone is capable of playing good basketball but I think that a team with good personalities makes for a stronger collective.