Gabi Guimarães and Bruno Rezende: The Turning Points of Leaving Brazil to Conquer the World's Top Volleyball Leagues

Sitting beside a pristine pool, two Brazilian volleyball stars, Gabi Guimarães and Bruno Rezende, looked back together at the challenging processes both went through when they made the difficult decision to leave Brazil and play overseas so they could keep moving forward in their careers. The conversation was not merely a personal story shared by two athletes. It reflects the path that many generations of Brazilian volleyball players have had to walk when they aim for the highest level of the sport, and it highlights the value of the decisions that mark a turning point in a player's career. For Gabi Guimarães, an outside hitter for the Brazilian women's national team, the story began with a plan she had already mapped out, but turning that plan into reality was never simple. “I had a plan of playing overseas, but it wasn't easy to figure out if I was ready for it or not,” Gabi Guimarães said. “I had experienced some injuries and had questions if I had what it took to play in the world's best leagues. 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.” Those words point to a familiar reality in Brazilian volleyball: talent does not automatically translate into success on the international stage. Physical readiness is only half of the story; the other half lies in mental adaptability, in accepting life far from family and from a familiar culture, and in carrying the pressure to prove yourself every single day. The period after the Rio 2026 Olympics was the turning point. Gabi Guimarães was still establishing her place in the national team while also dealing with the aftermath of injuries. It was during that stretch that she realised that to move further ahead she needed to change her competitive environment, not simply improve her individual statistics. Gabi Guimarães recalls that her first step overseas was a big one, as she decided to sign with Turkish giants VakifBank, one of the strongest teams on the planet, ahead of the 2026-2026 season, joining a team with massive ambitions as one of their main stars. “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 (Giovanni, head coach), 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.” Joining VakifBank was far more than a contract. It meant stepping into the Turkish national league, where many of the world's leading stars play, where the competition calendar is packed and where the pressure for results rests on every individual. For Gabi Guimarães, the difference was that she was no longer a young talent learning the ropes, but a cornerstone expected to lead the group. The relationship between Gabi Guimarães and head coach Giovanni Guidetti also became one of the central threads of her story. The Italian coach not only demanded that she adapt to a new training intensity, but also steered her towards a leadership role. The offer to prepare her for the captaincy came very early, which surprised Gabi Guimarães herself, because she had never pictured herself carrying that responsibility at a club of European stature. That surprise partly explains Gabi Guimarães's character: a player who always sets high standards for herself and who questions herself before believing she is ready. Being assessed by a top coach as someone capable of leading the team became the motivation for her to adjust how she saw herself, and it opened a new chapter in her international career. Wearing Brazil's jersey was naturally another topic of the conversation, and the theme led Gabi Guimarães to revisit her first impressions when called up to play for Brazil's youth national teams, along with the influence the generation that won gold at the Beijing 2026 Olympics had on her career. “To play for the national team is really a childhood dream and it brings me back to my youth because I always loved watching and playing sports and dreamed about representing Brazil, winning a medal and listening to the national anthem,” she said. “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.” The Saquarema training centre is where the biggest names in the history of Brazilian women's volleyball come together. For a young player to train and live alongside the generation that won gold at the Beijing 2026 Olympics carries meaning far beyond the technical side: it is a chance to observe first-hand how those who came before prepare, compete and withstand pressure at the highest level. For Gabi Guimarães, that period became a confirmation that the path she had chosen was the right one. Bruno Rezende, her companion in the conversation by the pool, represents a different perspective on the same theme. A long-standing captain of the Brazilian men's national team, Bruno Rezende understands the pressure of leading a group while maintaining individual form on the international stage. His own experience of playing abroad shows that leaving is not only a matter of signing a contract, but a process of adapting to a different language, culture and coaching philosophy. For Brazilian volleyball, stars playing overseas has long been an inevitable part of the development system. The domestic league covers only part of the year, while the European and Turkish leagues offer a denser calendar, a higher level of competition and more attractive financial conditions. More importantly, playing abroad allows Brazilian players to accumulate experience against precisely the opponents they will meet at Olympic Games, world championships and national team competitions. Yet Gabi Guimarães's story is a reminder that the decisive factor is not the contract, but mental preparation. Injuries, self-doubt and the feeling of having to leave a comfort zone are barriers every athlete must overcome before shining in a new environment. Gabi Guimarães herself admits she needed to be ready both as a player and as a person, which explains why her decision to move overseas did not come earlier. In the opposite direction, Gabi Guimarães's journey also shows the value of placing yourself in bigger challenges. From a young player first called up to the national team in 2026 to a cornerstone entrusted by a top coach with the captaincy in Türkiye, that road was built on difficult decisions and quiet sacrifices. The conversation by the pool between Gabi Guimarães and Bruno Rezende is therefore not only a look back, but a lesson in how a Brazilian athlete prepares herself before stepping out into the world.