Gabi Guimarães opens up on leaving Brazil: The national team dream started in Saquarema

By a pristine pool, on a day with no matches, Bruno Rezende and Gabi Guimarães had a very personal conversation. They did not talk about tactics. They did not talk about statistics. They looked back at the hardest decision of their careers: leaving Brazil to play overseas. For Gabi, that was a long journey filled with injuries and doubt. Gabi admitted she always had a plan to play abroad. She also admitted that knowing whether she was ready was not easy. Past injuries made her ask whether she had what it took to compete in the best leagues in the world. That thought became clearer after the Rio 2026 Olympics. At the time, she was still earning her place with the Brazilian national team. She understood that she needed to be mentally ready, both as an athlete and as a person. Gabi’s story shows a side rarely seen in the headlines. Fans often see the contract, the new jersey and the expectations. They rarely see the days when a player wonders if she is good enough, strong enough, or brave enough to leave her comfort zone. Gabi did not hide any of that. She said she needed to leave her comfort zone and make sacrifices to take the next step in her career. Her first move abroad was a big one. She signed with VakifBank, one of the strongest teams on the planet, ahead of the 2026-2026 season. The Turkish club had massive ambitions and they saw Gabi as one of their main stars. She did not choose a smaller club to ease into European volleyball. She chose a team where pressure existed from day one. Gabi admitted that what she found when she arrived changed her mind. It showed her immediately that she was entering another level of volleyball. The beginning was challenging and demanding. But she built a great relationship with Giovanni Guidetti, the head coach. He became incredibly important to her. One of the first things he told her was that he wanted to prepare her to be team captain. Gabi was shocked. She had never seen herself in that position. In her mind, a captain was someone with a loud voice, a strong personality and the ability to lead in decisive moments. She did not see that image in herself. Guidetti seeing potential that she could not see became a turning point. It showed that an athlete can grow from a good outside hitter into a leader. Gabi also spoke about her dream of playing for the national team. For her, representing Brazil was a childhood dream. She always loved watching and playing sports. She dreamed of wearing the national team jersey, winning a medal and hearing the national anthem. Those images brought her back to her youth. Before volleyball, Gabi played many sports. She was not sure volleyball would be her long-term path. But in 2026, everything changed. She was first called up to Brazil’s youth national team. She went to Saquarema, the famous training center of Brazilian volleyball. There, she was alongside the generation that won the Beijing 2026 Olympics. That moment became an important sign. Gabi said she had never been so close to her dream. Volleyball stopped being just a game. It became a real path she wanted to follow. In Saquarema, she saw athletes she admired. She saw how they trained, how they celebrated and how they dealt with pressure. That Olympic generation gave Gabi a concrete model to look up to. The most striking part of Gabi’s story is that she does not describe going abroad as a simple leap. She describes it as a series of small decisions. Each decision came with pain, doubt and moments of hesitation. When she talks about leaving Brazil, she focuses on sacrifice. She does not talk about money or fame. She talks about being mentally ready to leave a place that felt familiar. Many people think athletes move abroad because foreign clubs pay more. That may be true in some cases, but Gabi’s story reveals another meaning. For her, leaving Brazil was a way to test her own limits. She did not want to stay in an environment so comfortable that she stopped growing. She wanted to put herself somewhere unfamiliar. VakifBank was exactly that kind of environment. The team had great players, demanding coaches and high expectations from fans. Every practice meant something. Every match was watched closely. Gabi did not have time to adapt slowly. She had to find her place immediately. That pressure helped her grow faster. The conversation between Bruno and Gabi by the pool also shows something important. The biggest decisions in a sports career often do not happen under bright lights. They happen in quiet moments, when an athlete has to face herself. Gabi had to face the fear of not being good enough. She had to face leaving her family, her friends and her familiar surroundings. That was a test that cannot be found in a training plan. No coach can teach a player how to deal with loneliness in a foreign country. Gabi overcame it by treating it as part of her growth. She did not run from the challenge. She chose to face it and turned it into motivation. Another remarkable detail is the role of Giovanni Guidetti. He did not just help Gabi improve technically. He gave her a new understanding of her place in the team. When he said he wanted to prepare her to be captain, he gave her a responsibility bigger than anything she had imagined. A good coach does not only read the game. A good coach also reads people. Gabi also reflected on her early days in Brazil. She played many sports before choosing volleyball. She was not the only one dreaming of playing for the national team. But she was someone willing to chase that dream. Being called up to the youth team in 2026 gave her the belief that she was on the right track. Saquarema became a milestone in Gabi’s memory. That was where she saw her idols in person. That was where she understood that an Olympic dream could be reached through real effort. The Beijing 2026 generation did not just inspire her. They gave her a standard to chase. From that moment, volleyball became the path she could not turn back from. The lesson from Gabi’s story can apply to many young athletes. Moving abroad is an opportunity, but an opportunity only matters when a person is ready to embrace it. Without mental readiness, a big contract can become a heavy burden. With readiness, even the harshest new environment can become a place to grow. Gabi does not offer a formula for success. She simply tells what she has lived. She believes that leaving her comfort zone was necessary to move forward. She believes sacrifice is part of the dream. And she believes the dream of wearing Brazil’s jersey has always been at the center of every decision. Brazilian volleyball has produced many generations of talent. But to become a global star, every athlete must find their own path. For Gabi, that path began with doubt and continued with a brave move to VakifBank. She did not choose the easy road. She chose the road that forced her to grow. The story of Gabi and Bruno by the pool does not have a winning goal or a spectacular save. But it has something more valuable. It offers an honest look at what sport asks of each person. For Gabi, volleyball is not an escape from reality. It is the way she faces herself. She left Brazil, but Brazil never left her. The image of Saquarema, the sound of the anthem and the dreams of childhood are still there. They remind her that every big journey starts with a very human desire. At that moment, she was not just playing for a club. She was playing for a dream that had been growing long before the arena lights turned on.