Volleyballer Sinead Jack-Kisal wins Polish Volleyball League with new club

AFTER defeating the covid19 virus, TT volleyballer Sinead Jack-Kisal earned yet another win as she helped her team, Chemik Police, defend its Polish Women's Volleyball League (Tauron Liga) championship title. Chemik defeated DevelopRes Rzeszów 3-1 (25-23, 23-25, 25-22, 25-15) on Tuesday.

The talented 27-year-old middle blocker said the achievement is an honour after such an intense competition.

She had previously represented Białystok, Poland (2010-2013) and VC Uralochka-NTMK, Russia (2013-2016).

She also competed in Turkey with Galatasaray HDI Sigorta from 2016-2018. And after that, she moved to Japan’s Denso Airybees and then returned to Turkey with İller Bankası.

But on March 18, she signed a new deal with her current club after İller Bankası did not make it to the playoffs.

Speaking with Newsday on Wednesday morning, she said, "This team is so professional and basically everyone has the same goals, which is why it was easy for us to get the gold.

"Everybody had one dream, one team and everyone worked so hard."

She said Chemik's head coach Ferhat Akbaş remembered her from 2016 and was familiar with her style of play, which is why she was approached.

"And he knew my club didn't make into the playoffs so he knew I was free so...They also had a lot of injuries among their middle blockers. They had four and two of them got injured and they needed another. So, he contacted my agent and also spoke to me and asked if I could come help the team."

Before these back-to-back championship wins for the 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 seasons, Chemik also copped gold for all four seasons between 2013 and 2017.

Jack-Kisal said it felt great having "your talent recognised by one of the top teams in the Polish league.

"It was pretty intense because prior to coming here, I contracted covid19...I couldn't do anything. No training, nothing for 21 days and then after recovering and having to come back to actively be in full zone be ready to play after not doing anything for so long was a struggle. But I know I came here for a purpose and I needed to not only work towards my goal but the team's goal as a collective."

She said the team was very supportive and patient, which she believed further enhanced her performance and assisted with her recovery.

"In the beginning, they had two games to qualify for this championship. I didn't play a lot...I just went in, did little things then came back out.

"But when we started the first and second match game, that's when in played full three, four straight games and they were all five-set matches."

She thanked Akbaş for continually reminding her of her strengths and abilities and said she was grateful for the experience.

"He also saw this as a learning experience for me so he could teach me some stuff. And it was worth it in the end because I learnt so much in such a short space of time."

Asked what's next, she said she hopes to eventually return to Turkey to be reunited with her family.