10/11/2015 16:30
When close friends become rivals… Izquierdo vs Gryka
2016 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League - Women
Dresden, Germany, November 10, 2015. Lisa Izquierdo and Magdalena Gryka are close friends. However, the outside spiker of DRESDNER SC and the setter from Poland’s Impel WROCLAW will have to put this aside for the match which is coming up on Wednesday night in Wroclaw. DRESDNER SC and Impel WROCLAW will indeed face each other in the second round of action in Pool E of the 2016 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League – Women. “We’ve been exchanging text messages for the last few days and I’m really looking forward to seeing ‘Maggi’ again,” says Lisa Izquierdo.
Seven years ago these two players crossed their ways for the first time. Lisa Izquierdo, whose father hails from Cuba, moved to Dresden at the age of 14. Magdalena Gryka, on the other hand, left her home town Grimma and set up her ‘new home’ in Saxony’s capital almost at the same time. “We met for the first time when we moved together to the local sports school,” Izquierdo recounts. From this moment the two talented young players became close friends and spent most of their time together. “When we came back from practice we had to start the messenger of ICQ,” looks the 21-year old outside spiker back to this special period.
Both players went straight to the successful youth programme of DRESDNER SC and gained a lot of experience during this period of their Volleyball education. In 2010 and 2011 they made the big step to the highest division joining the Bundesliga team of DRESDNER SC that is still coached by their then mentor Alexander Waibl. Just at the age of 18 both girls were members of one of the most successful Volleyball teams in their country.
While the two players finished their school education their friendship grew even more. “Maggi is such a pleasant and thoughtful person. As an athlete she is ambitious, focussed and has a lot of understanding of the game,” summarises Lisa ‘Izzy’ Izquierdo in a few words the assets of her friend.
When both players finished another successful season as German vice champions in 2012 they went different ways. While Lisa Izquierdo signed to stay for two more years with DRESDNER SC, Magdalena Gryka decided to move to Poland and signed a three-year contract with Impel WROCLAW. “I have never had any regrets about my decision to stay in Dresden. Alexander Waibl is for me the best coach in Germany. He is my best option to develop even more and to become a better player. He gives me a lot of confidence,” stresses Izquierdo when recounting her special connection with the coach and the club. Although she never expected such a meteoric ascent. “I thought I would need a lot of more time to get a chance to play in the starting six,” says the 21-year old outside spiker.
But it took her only a short time to become one of the starting players of the team. Meanwhile she is a main reference for the team and also for the club. She represents the successful youth programme of DRESDNER SC. But if she performs on court on Wednesday night that is not sure. Izquierdo stills suffers from the consequences of an injury to her calf. “I had a lot of problems with the muscles in my calf during the last days. But it gets better with every day,” she says.
If Lisa Izquierdo and Magdalena Gryka will face each other on the court that is still to be determined. Last year Magdalena Gryka was her team’s starting setter. But this year she is next to the experienced Polish national team player Milena Radecka. “Impel WROCLAW made some impressive transfers this summer,” Izquierdo acknowledges. Carolina Costagrande, Kristin Hildebrand (Richards) and Katarzyna Skowronska-Dolata are the most prominent players in the ranks of the Polish team in the 2015-2016 season.
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