Panthers Juniors Ahead of the Season: Preparations, Challenges, and Ambitions

Interview with Miłosz Maćków, Head Coach of Panthers Juniors

How is the preparation period going? When did you start training, where are you now, and what’s ahead?
MIŁOSZ MAĆKÓW: – We began preparing for the new season back in winter. Since May, we’ve been training twice a week, and from mid-June three times a week, and that’s how it will stay until the end of the year. Additionally, the players have gym sessions and strength & conditioning training. There are three weeks left until the season starts, which means nine more practices. Last weekend we played a controlled scrimmage against the Warsaw Mets, we also practiced among ourselves, testing plays on both offense and defense.

Did you run into any difficulties during this period?
– Maybe only with balancing junior and senior PFL practices. The coaching staffs of both teams are very similar, and at times we felt like we weren’t doing enough. But the scrimmage against the Mets, played exactly twelve months after the previous one – also on August 17 – proved us wrong. When I compared the number of plays on offense and defense, it turned out to be practically the same as last year.

Is the roster finalized?
– Yes, and considering that we have players with PFL experience or those who trained or even played on special teams in the ELF, the starting positions are covered. However, we’re still looking for “number twos,” meaning solid backups at some positions. We’re observing everyone, reviewing film, and we’ll be making selections and giving players reps, because next year those “number twos” will become “number ones.”

Will the lineup be very different from last year’s?
– Not really. More than half the team are players with one or more junior seasons behind them. The game-day roster is 53 players, plus a few younger ones who will be testing whether this level of competition is for them. Practice is one thing, but facing an opponent on the field is something else entirely.

As usual, you’re not focusing on results but on development.
– Developmental rosters are managed differently than the main or only teams in a club. For example, with Jaguars Kąty Wrocławskie, where I was head coach for half of last season, every game felt like a must-win. With juniors it’s a bit different – the result is more of a byproduct of training. At Panthers Juniors, we don’t chase the biggest wins; we rotate players so backups get as much playing time as possible, because they’re the ones who will define the team’s strength in the future.

We always come back to this – there aren’t many games in PFL-J, only four in the regular season plus potentially two playoff games.
– Unfortunately, yes. We’re aiming for the final, because that’s an extra 40 minutes on the field. Luckily, this year we have a senior team in the PFL, where a dozen or even dozens of our juniors gained experience, many of them as starters – and hopefully that will pay off in the junior season. It’s also great that for the second year in a row we managed to organize the joint camp with the Warsaw Mets. The weather was perfect, we had 30 offensive and defensive plays planned, but ended up running 70 each – basically a full game. We gained valuable experience, freely rotated the lineup, and avoided injuries. This cooperation is really encouraging, and we hope to meet the Mets again in the final and get revenge for the last loss.

The players surely still have that loss in mind.
– Definitely. At this stage of their football journey, there’s still a lot of genuine fun in playing. At the top level – whether in the Polish league, in Europe, or abroad – the approach is different, competition is treated much more seriously.

Your first game will be away against newcomers, the Hunters Tarnów.
– Usually we play our opening games away – we share the stadium with Sparta Wrocław – so we’re pretty used to that. A new team is always a bit of an unknown. They have an experienced head coach, Dawid Ostręga, who was responsible for developing juniors in Kraków for several years. I also know they beat the Tychy Falcons in a scrimmage. It’s a pity that such a long trip awaits us right at the start, but maybe it’s good to get it out of the way early...

Interview by ARKADIUSZ BARSKI