From tomorrow, Tuesday 18 April, “From darkness to gold”, the autobiography of Bruno Mossa De Rezende, one of the greatest volleyball players in the world currently working for the Valsa Group Modena, is available in the bookstore.
“From darkness to gold: with passion and strength I crushed my ghosts and conquered everything”. So says the first page of the book, an intense and sincere story punctuated by victories, but which allows you to discover the psychological labyrinths in which a top-level athlete can get lost, only to find himself stronger than before.
The autobiography, published by the Rizzoli publishing house, was edited by Gian Paolo Maini, journalist and head of the Modena Volley press office, and by Davide Romani, journalist of “La Gazzetta dello Sport”, and is introduced by the player’s preface Neymar Jr.
“I feel the tension starting to rise. Nothing strange: it’s normal when an important match approaches. Yet little by little I realize that it’s not just adrenaline that I have in my body. Today my muscles are tense, my nerves pulled. I drink, but my mouth is dry. I look down and see my hands shaking, shaking slightly.”
What happens when you are the setter for your country’s national team, a team that has won everything, and suddenly ghosts, insecurities, doubts, too many questions appear in your head at the wrong time? All complicated by the fact that the coach of that team is your father, one of the most successful coaches in history?
Bruno Mossa de Rezende’s volleyball career is marked by a scar: it is a before and an after. The date that acts as a watershed is August 12, 2012: in the Olympic final in London Brazil and Russia face off and the green-and-gold lose deeply after having found the lead by two sets. From that moment Bruno sinks into a hole, “I always go out and drink, always. I run away from home so as not to be alone with my thoughts, and I always end up finding myself in a bar or at a party. At that point I drink until I feel anesthetized”. Having reached rock bottom, it is not obvious to be able to go back up but Bruno does it: he agrees to get help, begins to work on himself, discovers mindfulness and slowly relearns to concentrate, to free himself from that sportingly dramatic moment. The prize of this path is an extraordinary prize which finds its peak in the gold medal won at the Rio Olympics in 2016, right in front of his public, and which over the years has been enriched by the Italian treble with Modena (a team in which he currently plays ), a Champions League and a Club World Cup with Civitanova and the role of standard-bearer at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
Bruno Mossa De Rezende, (1986) currently plays in Modena Volley. In his career he won, among the many trophies, seven Brazilian championships, two Scudetti (one with Modena and one with Lube Civitanova), a Champions League and a club World Cup, again with Civitanova. With the national team, among others: one gold and two silver at the Olympics, one gold and two silver at the World Championships, one Nations League and four World Leagues.
Gian Paolo Maini, born in Modena in 1979, is a writer and journalist. He is responsible for Modena Volley’s press office and director of www.parlandodisport.it. This is his second book after La prima corsa di Enzo Ferrari (2013).
Davide Romani, born in Cremona in 1978, grew up with the goals of Gianluca Vialli, is a journalist for “La Gazzetta dello Sport”.
