Józef Gryglewski (English)

Z Historia Wisły

Józef Gryglewski - Wisła swimmer since 1933, several-time district champion in the 100 m classic style. At the same time, he worked in Wisła as an activist and instructor. After the war, he was among the people who re-organized the Wisła swimming section. He was an educator and coach of Stanisław Krokoszyński, Aniela Kubik, and Olympian Stefan Cieszki. He also trained the Wisła water polo team.

Press reports Gazeta Krakowska. 1970, No. 63 (March 16) No. 6858 He was born in Krakow and raised in a house on Zwierzyniecka Street - a few steps from the Vistula River.

During his childhood - in the 1920s - the queen of Polish rivers was still flowing water through Krakow, not the dark brown liquid we see today. Therefore, on hot days, anyone who was alive was drawn to the river. 4 kids from adjacent areas - obligatory.

Józef Gryglewski learned to swim early.

He was so good that when one of the activists of the then YMCA saw him in the water, he quickly became a competitor.

His sports career (he was the champion of the Krakow district in the 100 m classic style) - like everyone else from his generation - was interrupted by the war and Nazi occupation. In 1945, Józef Gryglewski was among those who organized the swimming section again.

He was and activist and coach in Wisła, during the period of time when players such as Cieszki and Kękuś were brought up.

At the same time, he was an activist of the Swimming Association - the sports captain of the district, a member of the Water Rescue Committee and the Committee for the Promotion of Swimming. These issues - water safety, popularizing swimming - have always been of great interest to him, and he still devotes a lot of energy to them.

He is an activist of the Volunteer Water Emergency Service and also conducts mass swimming lessons organized by the Krakow District Swimming Association. He has mastered the methodology of working with the youngest students of the art of staying afloat.

And this is very important, because today even preschoolers start learning to swim.

He is still in touch with competitive swimming - he is a swimming and water polo referee. Away from the water - he says - life loses most of its charms, (wb)