Stanisław Poburka

In the years following the end of World War II Stanisław Poburka played volleyball for several domestic clubs, winning bronze at the 1946 Polish Championships. In 1950 Poburka also played in two matches for the Polish national handball team before becoming a coach. He first worked with the men’s team at Legia Warszawa, with the team winning bronze in the Polish Championship in 1955. They then won four consecutive silver medals from 1956 to 1959, before winning bronze in 1960 and 1961. Poburka also had success with the women’s team, leading them to silver in the championship in 1963.

In 1962 Poburka became the head coach of the Polish women’s national team, winning bronze at the World Championships in the same year. This was followed by silver at the 1962 European Championships and bronze at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Poburka returned to the Olympics for the 1968 Mexico City Games, this time as the head coach of the Mexican women’s team. Despite the home advantage, Mexico only managed to finish seventh out of the eight teams that competed. Poburka returned to Poland after the Olympics to coach the women’s team at Wisła Kraków, who finished as runners-up in the Polish Championship in both 1976 and 1977. He continued to work with several more teams until his retirement in 1985.