Gabi talks to Bruno Rezende about leaving Brazil, the VakifBank shock and the dream of wearing the national team jersey

Sitting beside a quiet pool, Bruno Rezende and Gabi Guimaraes did not spend time talking about trophies. They talked about fear, doubt and the moment a player must choose between staying in a familiar place and chasing a bigger career across the ocean. Gabi, one of the most prominent outside hitters in Brazilian women's volleyball, admitted she was not completely sure she was ready to play abroad, even after she had already made a plan to do so.

The conversation started with Gabi's memories of the period before VakifBank, before the big titles. She faced a difficult question: did she have enough quality to play in the best league in the world? Past injuries made her question her own body. But the Rio 2026 Olympics changed something. At that time, she was still fighting for her place in the Brazilian national team. She realized that if she wanted to take the next step, she had to prepare her mind not only as an athlete, but as a person.

That realisation pushed her out of her comfort zone. Bruno Rezende, sitting across from her, understood that feeling deeply. As a veteran Brazilian setter who had played abroad for a long time, he respected athletes ready to leave the familiar behind and embrace a new challenge.

Gabi's turning point was Turkey. She signed with VakifBank before the 2026-2026 season. VakifBank were one of the strongest teams on the planet, a club with huge ambitions and expensive stars. For a new arrival, it was a demanding environment. Even a Brazilian national team star could feel uncertainty in the early days.

Gabi described those first moments in Istanbul as challenging an demanding. But inside that intense routine, she met a special coach. Giovanni Guidetti, VakifBank's head coach, did not see her only as a new outside hitter. He saw her as a potential leader. From the very beginning, he told her he wanted to prepare her to become the team captain. Gabi was shocked because she had never imagined herself in that position. That trust changed the way she looked at herself.

Gabi did not treat moving abroad as an escape from domestic pressure. Instead, she treated it as a way to see elite volleyball from a different angle. VakifBank gave her a modern training environment, but also forced her to face fierce competition in every practice. Slowly, she understood that technique could be learned in Brazil and tactics could be learned in Turkey, but the biggest difference was mental readiness.

The conversation also moved to the Brazilian national team. Gabi said wearing that jersey was a childhood dream. She grew up loving sport, watching matches and dreaming about representing Brazil, winning a medal and listening to the national anthem.

Before choosing volleyball, Gabi tried several sports. But her first call-up to Brazil's youth national team in 2026 became a decisive moment. At Saquarema, the training centre of Brazil's national teams, she saw the generation that had just won gold at the Beijing 2026 Olympics. Being in the same place as those idols sent a strong signal. She continued because she had never been so close to her dream before.

Looking back at the journey from Brazil to VakifBank, Gabi's story is not just a story about talent. It shows how important it is to be willing to relearn yourself when you step into unknown territory. In Brazil, she was used to being known. In Istanbul, she accepted the challenge of starting over, earning trust through practices and matches rather than reputation.

This is even more meaningful in modern volleyball, which demands mental flexibility. Not everyone is brave enough to leave a national team environment, family and a familiar culture. But athletes who do that often grow faster than those who stay.

Gabi's story also highlights the importance of a coach who challenges his players. Guidetti could have simply built the team around Gabi. Instead, he placed her in a role that made her uncomfortable, helping her discover a better version of herself. That is the difference between someone who only teaches technique and someone who builds a champion.

Gabi's memories of 2026 and her early days at VakifBank carry the same theme. She has always looked for milestones to answer big questions: who she is, where she wants to go, and what she must sacrifice to get there. The first youth national team call-up showed her that her dream was close. Later, she used other career milestones to test her decisions.

The lesson from Gabi's story is not about statistics or final scores. It is about how an athlete faces a crossroads and dares to bet on herself. If Gabi had stayed in Brazil, she might have played well. But she chose to step out, to go to a place where the past means nothing, and that made her stronger.

In that poolside conversation, there was no cheering and no victory celebration. There were just two athletes sharing the hardest moments of their careers and explaining how they turned fear into motivation. Gabi was not sure she was ready. But she taught fans a simple lesson: readiness is not something you wait for. Sometimes you have to move forward and let the challenges ahead shape you. The greatest value of a talent is not where he or she was born, but whether that person has the courage to create a new path and accept the price of it.