Słomniczanka Słomniki joins the White Star's partner clubs

Wisła Kraków has long been keen to collaborate with smaller clubs, steadily expanding its roster of partners. On Friday, an agreement was signed at the stadium on Reymonta Street, adding Słomniczanka Słomniki to its ranks of partner clubs.

Słomniczanka Słomniki is a club with a long tradition that places a strong emphasis on youth training, ensuring the best possible development of its young players. Seeking opportunities to continually improve their skills, representatives of the aforementioned club, together with the Wisła Academy, decided to join forces. The decision to cooperate with the Słomniki team was also influenced by fan factors, as noted by Słomniczanka's academy coordinator, Aleksander Pazdro.

"Why did we decide to partner with Wisła? We're from Słomniki. We've been supporting Wisła Kraków for generations, supporting them at matches, often traveling with two buses filled with everyone from the youngest players to their parents, grandparents, and friends. We've also always participated in charity events organized by the club and its fans. I know we were noticed for our numerous trips to R22 and tournaments related to the Wisła community, but above all, for our commitment and willingness to take action. We asked what benefits such a partnership would bring, and that immediately resulted in the decision to take steps towards its implementation."

Kamil Król, who is responsible for cooperation with partner clubs at the Wisła Academy, has been monitoring Słomniczanka's situation for a long time. A representative of the White Star revealed a few details about the new partner.

"I've been observing the Słomniczanki Słomniki school for a long time. Interestingly, the club frequently organizes events related to the Wisła community and traditions. As for the cooperation agreement, we first had a phone conversation and then arranged a meeting in person at the club in Słomniki."

The collaboration between the Wisła Kraków Football Academy and Słomniczanka offers new opportunities for both coaches and players from Słomniki. The White Star's new partner has already brought several talents to the Kraków Academy, and now the path is open for more. Coaches will also benefit, as they will be able to learn from Wisła's coaches.

"Our partnership is about discovering and providing development opportunities for our talented players, because that's what clubs of our caliber are all about. We're open to anyone interested in starting their football journey, regardless of age. On the other hand, we don't want to be an anchor for these players, but quite the opposite – a ladder to the top of the game. Among our club members, Daniel Zdeb, Patryk Cichy, and the slightly older Mateusz Wyjadłowski have had the opportunity to showcase their talents at the Wisła Kraków Football Academy. We also have a wealth of talent, especially those born in 2014, 2015, and 2016."

"We prepare these players in the best possible way, setting high standards for them so they can surpass a certain level and open the door to a new development path. Our collaboration with the Wisła Kraków Football Academy provides this opportunity through close monitoring of players from partner clubs. Furthermore, the club will enable us to travel to Reymont Stadium more frequently and provide a significant dose of knowledge through training internships for our coaches," Pazdro stated.

"First and foremost, we will be closely monitoring the club's activities in the area of ​​children and youth training. The most talented kids will be regularly invited to join our projects, such as Wisła Junior and Wisła Future," added partner club coordinator Kamil Król.

The new partner club of the White Star continues to develop its youth training program. Currently, the club boasts approximately 120 players, divided into teams of juniors, schoolboys, orliks, two youth teams, a junior team, and teams of juniors and seniors.

“The number of players is constantly growing, especially in the children’s categories, due to open recruitment and a large influx from nearby clubs,” admits the coordinator of the Słomniczanki school.

The Club's school in Słomniki also sets itself an ambitious and valuable task, which is to creatively and actively manage the time of young people, and the coaches implement consistent training requirements across all teams.

"As a club from a smaller town, our primary goal is to keep as many children and young people as possible involved in the world of football, or at least in the world of sports. It's no secret that more and more players give up the game after a while. We set the bar high, implementing three training sessions a week, starting from the junior level. From this age, our players also work with a goalkeeping coach. Besides working on the pitch, we want to give players the opportunity to actively spend time as part of their participation in the club. We also organize free trips to the water park, bowling, paintball, and Wisła Kraków matches. Additionally, thanks to sponsors and our own funds, we try to co-finance weekend training camps and training camps. Recently, a group of young players went on a trip to Austria, where we visited, among other places, the RB Salzburg training center. This is what we want to distinguish ourselves by – providing opportunities and getting children away from the computer, offering various ways to spend time with their peers. When it comes to purely football-related aspects, we focus on team play, good ball handling, and technical training. We want to ensure that in every match Our team played ambitiously until the final whistle and without any complex, competing with every team we faced." - Aleksander Pazdro added

Słomniczanka, for a smaller town, also has good sports infrastructure that all teams can use.

"Our facility includes a full-size, floodlit natural pitch, a small side pitch where we most often work on motor skills, and an artificial pitch (orlik), which should have a new surface next week and which we use most often in the winter. In the club building, we also have our own gymnasium and a multimedia room with a projector," concluded the Słomniczanki school coordinator.