Gabi recounts the journey of leaving Brazil: “I needed to leave my comfort zone to grow”

In a quiet moment by the pool, Gabriela Guimarães, known as Gabi, sat with Bruno to revisit the past. There were no whistles, no stands, only stories about the hardest decisions of a career. For her, the moment of leaving Brazil to play abroad was not a contract or a transfer – it was a separation from her own comfort zone. “I had a plan of playing overseas, but it wasn’t easy to figure out if I was ready for it or not”, Gabi admitted. She had experienced injuries and asked herself whether she had what it took to compete in the best leagues in the world. After the Rio 2026 Olympics, while still earning her place with the national team, she realised she needed to be mentally ready not only as a player but as a person. “I started thinking about it after the Rio 2026 Olympics, when I was still earning my space with the national team, and I understood that I needed to be mentally ready not only as a player, but as a person, and that maybe at that point I'd need to leave my comfort zone and make some sacrifices to take the next step in my career”, Gabi recalled. Her first overseas step was a big one. She signed with Turkish giants VakifBank, one of the strongest teams on the planet, ahead of the 2026-2026 season. She joined a team with massive ambitions and quickly understood she was entering an entirely different level of volleyball. “The scenario I found when I got there was mind-changing, as it showed me right from the start that I was getting into a whole other level of volleyball”, the outside hitter reflected. “It was really challenging and demanding at the start. I built a great relationship with Guidetti, and he was incredibly important for me. One of the first things he told me was that he wanted to prepare me to be the team captain, and I was shocked because I have never seen myself in that position.” Wearing Brazil’s jersey was another natural topic. Gabi described playing for the national team as a childhood dream. She always loved watching and playing sports and dreamed of representing Brazil, winning a medal and listening to the national anthem. “I played many sports before volleyball, but when I was first called up to Brazil's youth national team in 2026 and got to be in Saquarema alongside that incredible generation that won the Beijing Olympics, that was a strong sign that I should continue because I had never been so close to my dream before”, she said. For Gabi, leaving Brazil does not mean turning her back on her homeland. On the contrary, it is the way she grew to deserve the yellow and green jersey. Her journey reveals a universal truth in sport: to reach new heights, athletes often have to sacrifice safety and familiarity. The captaincy that Guidetti offered her was not just an honour. It was a reminder that an athlete who once never saw herself as a leader can be reshaped by someone else’s belief. Change did not come from a single practice; it came from learning to take responsibility for herself before leading others. Notably, Gabi spoke about the captaincy with surprise. She had never seen herself in that role, but Guidetti saw something she could not see. This detail says a lot about how great athletes are made: sometimes they need someone else to light the path towards their best version. The memory of 2026 remains a powerful motivation. When Gabi arrived in Saquarema beside the golden generation of Brazilian volleyball, she witnessed not only stars at their peak but also a possible future – a long road ahead and a belief that childhood dreams were not distant. Gabi’s story is relevant beyond Brazil. To Vietnamese audiences, it may not be tied to a specific match on home soil, but its message is universal. Anyone who has left home, faced injury or doubted their ability can find a piece of themselves in her words. Gabi does not present her journey as an absolute victory. She tells it as a dialogue with fear, hesitation and the limits she had to overcome. That is why her story carries more weight than statistics about points or trophies. Volleyball is a sport of fast rallies, but life-changing decisions often unfold slowly. For Gabi, the journey began with an inner question, not an offer. She chose to leave at the moment she understood that growth never lives inside a comfort zone. Her story raises a bigger question: are we brave enough to leave the place where we stand, even when that place has become familiar? And do we trust ourselves enough to believe that beyond that boundary, a better version of us is waiting?