M

y first memory is always the same.

Always the same image that pops in my head.

It’s me, as happy as possible, playing sports at the club, just in front of my house.

That was my routine, my safe zone.

The place where I can express myself, my inner nature.

All of my emotions.

I was a very active child, always playing sports or engaging in any possible game

with my friends.

It was my identity.

It was our identity.

I tried so many sports in my childhood, such as football, futsal, handball,

swimming, and many more, because I wanted to feel accepted.

Because I wanted to feel good.

When I was little, as soon as I started playing sports, any sport, I realized that I had

an easy time learning every movement.

I was blessed.

Everything was so smooth.

Everything was so natural.

Everything just fell right into its own place.

I don't know if this is what people call talent.

I don’t know if this means that I’m a talented person, but I’m sure it was something

that motivated me a lot.

Something that made me feel powerful.

Something that I really treasure, even now.

I grew up in Espinosa, inside the Minas Gerais State.

It’s a very small town, deep in the heart of Brazil.

A little paradise with just over 30,000 inhabitants but almost 600 km far from the

Ocean and far from the nearest beach.

Over there, beach volley shouldn’t be in a little girl’s dreams.

It shouldn’t be written in the stars.

Maybe even sport in general should be hard to desire.

Growing up in such a small town, allowed me to live a very happy childhood, always

feeling free to run into the wild with my friends.

No second thoughts.

No doubts.

No stress.

I had to face some bullies, every now and then.

Kids can be mean, and sometimes I suffered for being much taller than other people

my age. Maybe that’s the reason why, outside my comfort zone, I was really really

shy.

My first experience with beach volley happened during my tryout for the Minas

Gerais team. My home-town team.

Until then, I never played.

Not even once.

I was “discovered” by a coach while I was playing at a school competition, back in

2013. But maybe I should mention that I was playing handball, that day.

To be honest, the passion I immediately felt for beach volley was due to the deep

dynamics of the sport.

I have always been very “individualistic” and when I realized that in beach volley I

would always be participating in the play, that I would touch the ball every single

time, I thought that would be my place forever.

Somebody call it egoism.

Or attitude.

But in Brazil we rather call it "being hungry".

From that moment on, beach volleyball changed my life.

Literally.

It turned me into a different person.

For a long time, people wanted to make me disbelieve what I could achieve.

That greatness was possible.

But since I stepped into the sand, I never had any doubts.

Even before becoming a professional, in my heart I was already sure that somehow I

would manage to fulfill my dream of becoming an athlete.

For that feeling, I‘m deeply grateful.

And I and hope that beach volleyball continues to transform lives as it did with mine.

I've had many incredible days, during my career.

Winning at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games was probably the best of all of them.

It made a big impression on me, because it was the first time in my life that I actually

touched a dream of mine with my bare hands.

It was magical.

It was like connecting once again with the little kid that I was.

It was like hugging her.

It's really hard to separate those two things.

The kid and the grown up.

The human being and the professional.

Me and the other me.

In sport everything is so intense, and I believe that, on the court, we became who we

really are.

Mistakes and successes show to the world our true colors.

We need to embrace the intensity of the game, while also taking care of our

emotions, because we are human beings, before anything else.

I really wish to be as healthy as possible in the future, so I can continue experience

special moments with my family and friends.

As I did since I started playing on the sand.

I got here trough my passion and my love for the game, even though, a little girl

born in the heart of Brazil, perhaps, shouldn’t suppose to make it so far.