Keeping the Worldwide Local: Poszetka x GKS Katowice

Personal and domestic, but global at the same time - this is Tomek's story about his long-standing fascination with sports (one in particular), neighborhood matches, championship titles and world cups. A story slightly different from those usually featured on our blog... but still in the Everyday Classic spirit.

We continue our “community” theme, heavily featured this month. Having showcased Lokal Bakery in our "Przedwiośnie" photoshoot and premiering a pocket square that supported the 06 Kleofas Katowice boxing club, we move on to the next project - and although it is still set in Katowice, it reaches much further; worldwide.

Let me start from the end, i.e., with a statement that could sum up the entire article:

I guarantee you that everyone who goes to an ice hockey match will feel what I feel and eventually admit that it is the most exciting team game in the world.

And you have to know that I've seen my fair share of sports: I am a 40-something fan of almost all team disciplines!

First of all: are there any more admirable athletes than these crazy hockey players who are simultaneously agile, fast, strong, and balanced, trying to steer a small black puck into a goal that is not much bigger while skating on a huge cube of ice surrounded by hard boards?!

I am not saying that, for example, footballers and volleyball players have no talent, but I see at least a few arguments in favor of ice hockey.

In my opinion, this sport requires not only physical conditions, courage, and years of training, but also an additional pair of eyes and a 360° viewing angle. Anyway, my youngest daughter's reaction to the game proposal says it all: "Dad, I won't be able to play hockey, I can hold a stick on grass, but on ice? I'll fall down!"

It is possibly the most team-oriented team sport.

Some sports, although involving whole teams, are often dominated by individual athletes who receive credit for victories. Football has Messi, volleyball has Leon, basketball has NBA stars scoring 50 points each... and hockey has entire teams. Of course, there are some hockey superstars, but the sport makes it impossible for a team to win if it doesn't play together - the quick transition from attack to defense blurs the lines between defenders and attackers. Everyone defends, everyone attacks, everyone wins - in the end, in hockey, there is no concept of "I", there is only "We".

No other sport compares to hockey in terms of speed.

It's not just about skating, but also about the shot, the goalkeeper's reflexes, and the pace of the game. There is no time for inattention in hockey - there is always something going on. If you blink, there's a good chance you'll miss something important - an opportunity to win or a chance to dodge the impact. Constant action is the essence of this sport!

The formula is attractive to the viewer - these crazy playoffs!

In hockey, the champion title is not won, as in football, after taking first place in the general table. The real carnage begins right after the regular season: to win the league, you must survive three rounds of grueling competition (each with a best-of-four match against an opponent), with seven months of regular-season play under your belt.

Hockey players are warriors.

I guess there is no doubt about it - these are the toughest athletes in the world, maybe outside of martial arts. These are guys who get hit in the face by a speeding puck and keep playing. They break bones on the ice but end the shift.

GKS Katowice: cosmic Polish Champions from The Satellite!

For our photoshoot we chose... Ok, truth to be told, there was no other team that we could invite. GieKSa players are our neighbors, literally: when you begin your way from Poszetka to the city center, you will stumble upon the so-called Satellite (the smaller part of the famous Spodek) where the matches happen. In addition, I, Tomek, have over 20 years of fan emotions behind me, including fresh memories of the last two Polish Championships won!

However, Poszetka and GKS Katowice have more in common than just geographical proximity, emotions, and Tomek's personal history - there is also the "WORLDWIDE" aspect, representing Katowice on the international level. ;)

While we have been proudly shipping our products to almost every corner of the globe for almost a decade now, the hockey team has also become something of a global brand: not only do they play in the European cups, but the core of the team is made up of foreigners from various corners of the globe.

Here we have portraited a few of them.

Swede Sam Marklund - another short-but-tough guy who looked like this after the last match. - [Link]

All in our clothes, on their turf - just another embodiment of the Everyday Classic philosophy.

Greetings from Katowice!