By Michalis Gioulenoglou/ info@eurohoops.net
Riga, Latvia – Mateusz Ponitka has played for 12 clubs already, being a journeyman in Europe. However, the 32-year-old all-around forward has made a name for himself after beating Luka Doncic and Slovenia back in the Eurobasket 2022, which led him to a contract with EuroLeague powerhouse Panathinaikos.
His role and his performance on the club level simply can’t compare with his feats with the national team.
As he said to Eurohoops: “It’s something special for me. Poland, I always give my maximum, even though there were different times, I had some problems in the past, but I was always there”.
Ponitka has already created a legacy with his national team, making it to the Eurobasket quarterfinals for the second straight tournament, and he hopes that this will affect the whole sport in Poland: “I believe the people will understand it and they will respect it in the future. Here we don’t play for money, here we don’t play for statistics. We play for our country and for ourselves here, to put our country on the basketball map, to make our country proud of us”.
That’s why he is always ready to give something extra: “My motivation is always there. I have to be there for my teammates, and I have to push, first of all, myself and then also them to be better and to develop as players and also as human beings. So this is different. This is something amazing, you know, when you are sure, when you know people around you, and you trust them, and you can go to war, so that’s us”.
However, when he was asked if he could be called the Michael Jordan of the competition at least for Poland, he laughed: “No, no, no, because Michael Jordan is one of a kind. Other players are one of a kind. I’m just me being me, and that’s it for me. It’s important to be here, to somehow be remembered with my team, and this is the crucial thing for me”.
Photo credit: FIBA