Gabi by the pool: To go far, she had to leave Brazil and let Guidetti push her into the captain role

By a pristine pool, Bruno and Gabi did not talk about statistics. They talked about questions no scoreboard can answer: when is an athlete truly ready to leave home? For Gabi – Gabriela Braga Guimarães – that moment came later than she expected. “I had a plan of playing overseas, but it wasn’t easy to figure out if I was ready for it or not,” the Brazilian outside hitter told Bruno Rezende. She had experienced injuries and doubted whether she could play in the world’s best leagues. After the Rio 2026 Olympics, while still earning her place with the national team, she understood she needed to be mentally ready – not only as a player, but as a person. Maybe she needed to leave her comfort zone and make sacrifices to take the next step. The first thing Gabi remembers about crossing the Atlantic is a big leap: she signed with VakifBank. The Turkish club was among the strongest teams on the planet, with massive ambitions. Gabi arrived in Istanbul before the 2026-2026 season as one of their main stars. “The scenario I found when I got there was mind-changing, because it showed me right from the start that I was getting into a whole other level of volleyball,” she said. Everything was challenging and demanding. But within that pressure, she built a valuable relationship with head coach Giovanni Guidetti. “One of the first things he told me was that he wanted to prepare me to be the team captain,” Gabi recalled. “I was shocked, because I have never seen myself in that position.” Guidetti’s approach did not start with offensive or defensive tactics. He touched something harder to measure: belief in her leadership. For an athlete used to staying humble, that early trust was a powerful push to re-examine her whole journey. Wearing Brazil’s jersey led the conversation back to childhood. For Gabi, playing for the national team was a childhood dream. Being called up to Brazil’s youth team in 2026 and arriving at Saquarema – the training home of the generation that won gold at the Beijing Olympics – was a clear sign that she should continue. The dream had never felt so close. Many people look at the VakifBank contract and assume the highlight is a prestigious destination. But the opposite is true: for Gabi, leaving Brazil was not a glorious finish line but a psychological test. She did not leave because she disliked home; she left to discover who she was without protection. Talent gave her a place in the youth team, but vulnerability, doubt and the courage to admit she was not ready made her grow. “The final stride always begins at the starting line of an afternoon nobody remembers.” For Gabi, that afternoon could be leaving Saquarema in 2026, or the quiet moment after Rio 2026 when she asked herself: “Do I have the courage?” Her answer was stepping onto a plane to Istanbul. Matches may end, but a writer’s obsession with untold stories is a marathon without a finish line. People remember the score. But I remember the way she described the fear of leaving Brazil – and how she turned that fear into a strategic step. Gabi’s journey is not just a volleyball story. It is proof that before conquering the world, every athlete must conquer their own hesitation.