The Injuries Kept Piling Up. Sometimes the Hardest Thing Is Accepting That Desire and the Body No Longer Move at the Same Pace

Samanta Fabris says the injuries kept accumulating, but accepting that her desire and her body no longer moved at the same pace proved harder than anything else. After more than a decade at the highest level, the Croatian volleyball player is preparing to say goodbye to the sport.

Her career began in Rijeka and took her to Italy, Russia, Turkey and China. She also became captain of Croatia’s national team, building a record filled with trophies, major matches, travel and sacrifice. “I am proudest of my consistency and of being part of the Croatian national team for so many years,” Fabris says.

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I am proudest of my consistency and of being part of the Croatian national team for so many years.

Fabris says she is proud to have belonged to the era of the late Ante Baković, who helped put Croatian volleyball back on its feet, and to have finished her national-team career under Fran Žanić, who continued along the same path.

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I was a very lively and stubborn child, always on the move.

She started playing volleyball only at 14, after first playing football with boys. As a child in Danijeli, she was lively, stubborn and always moving. She enjoyed competition, but did not set out to become the best. If she could not do something, she tried again until she succeeded. She now sees that persistence as one of the most important qualities in her career.

Her parents, Mirjana and Zoran, also shaped her approach. They built their lives through their own work and sacrifices, teaching her that a goal demands complete commitment and that falling down means getting up and continuing. Fabris says the discipline, responsibility, modesty and perseverance she needed as a professional athlete were first lessons learned at home.

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I did not like giving up. If I did not know something or it was not going well, I would try again until I succeeded.