Gabi Guimarães leaves her comfort zone: The psychological lesson from VakifBank that Vietnamese volleyball can learn

Sitting by a quiet pool, with no scoreboard and no TV cameras, Bruno Rezende and Gabi Guimarães had a conversation about the biggest choices of their careers. Gabi did not talk about trophies or statistics. She talked about fear and the moment she had to ask herself: "Leaving my comfort zone, am I really ready?" The answer did not come quickly, but it did come, one day when she realized that if she wanted to go further, she had to move abroad. Gabi Guimarães, the outside hitter of the Brazilian women's national volleyball team, first thought about playing overseas after the Rio 2026 Olympics. At that time, she was still fighting for her spot on the national team, but she understood that staying in a familiar environment would not allow her to reach world-class level. She spoke about her close encounters with injuries and the feeling of doubting herself. "I had a plan of playing overseas, but it wasn't easy to figure out if I was ready for it or not," Gabi 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." The name VakifBank appeared as a turning point. In the 2026-2026 season, Gabi signed with the Turkish club, one of the strongest teams on the planet. It was not a safe contract. She arrived in a different volleyball culture, with a new training intensity and tactical demands. "The scenario I found when I got there was mind-changing, showing me right from the start that I was entering a whole other level of volleyball," she said. But what surprised Gabi the most was not the strength of the opponents, but the message from coach Giovanni Guidetti. From the very early days, he said he wanted to prepare her to be the team captain. Gabi was shocked. She had never imagined herself in that role. "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." Gabi's story proves that a player moving abroad is not just a professional decision. The key requirement is psychological readiness. She had to learn to adapt to a new coach, new teammates, new sporting culture and the pressure of a club that expects titles. The problem is not about how many kilometers you run or how many spikes you make, but whether you have the calm to keep performing when everything around you is unfamiliar. For a country still developing its volleyball like Vietnam, Gabi's story can be seen in a closer way. Not everyone has the chance to wear the VakifBank jersey or play in Turkey. But the "leaving the comfort zone" model is happening right on domestic courts. A young Vietnamese player deciding to move from a familiar club to another one, where the competition is not safer, is a smaller version of what Gabi went through. The paradox is that many people think playing abroad only requires good technique, but in reality technique is only half. Gabi feared injuries, doubted her ability, and questioned whether she could be a leader. Those questions are not weaknesses. They are signs of someone who understands that elite volleyball is not just a physical game. If you fail to overcome psychological pressure, an excellent outside hitter can collapse at the first real challenge. The Brazilian generation that won the gold medal at the Beijing 2026 Olympics inspired Gabi when she was at Saquarema with the youth team in 2026. That moment was a strong sign that her dream was real. "To play for the national team is really a childhood dream," she said. "I always loved watching and playing sports and dreamed about 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." Gabi Guimarães does not embrace perfection, she embraces her own fragility. Leaving Brazil was a difficult decision, but she believed it was necessary for her growth. Her story invites Vietnamese athletes to think differently about their careers: do not be afraid of novelty, do not fear failure in more demanding environments, and above all, understand that big dreams come with quiet sacrifices. Volleyball is a team sport, but sometimes the most personal decisions can shape an entire team. When a person dares to leave their comfort zone, they not only change their own life, they also open a new path for the young people watching. The answer to "Am I ready or not?" never lies in technique, but in whether you have enough faith to embrace risk. Gabi bet on herself, and that was the moment she began to become a leader not only on the court, but in her own life. Under stadium lights, many people only see thunderous attacks or straight-set victories. But the history that the scoreboard never tells is the psychological journey before an athlete can stand at the top. For Vietnamese volleyball, Gabi's message is not about going to Turkey or Europe. It is about creating a training environment that is difficult enough, where young athletes are taught how to handle pressure, how to recognize their fears and how to turn those fears into motivation. The revolution of a volleyball nation does not necessarily start with the opening whistle, but with the quiet choices made away from the court.