Even though he’s only 26 years old, Douglas Souza made up his mind on his future in the Brazil Men’s Volleyball National Team.
Douglas posted a video on Instagram confirming his retirement from the Brazil National Team. At the age of 26, the 2016 Rio Olympics gold medalist and a starter in the ‘Seleção’ highlighted that the stressful routine as a high-performance athlete and the successive calls-up for the national team were affecting his mental health and that now the time has come for changes in life and career. The outside hitter even revealed that he had to treat depression and that the Tokyo Olympics were the final point of his trajectory in Brazil Men.
“I’ve been with the national team for 10 years, counting on the youth team, since 2011, and for me, it has always been an honor, a prestige, great pride to be in the national team. I felt like I needed to break down barriers and I managed to do that very well. But there came a point in 2016 when my mind and body started to show some signs that I needed to slow down. It was the national team, the club… We don’t have vacations and it’s very difficult for us to have time for our family, our friends, which are very important things for me. Then I saw that it got worse until I had to deal with depression. Nobody knew about it until now, when I’m talking to you. Our mental health is extremely important, it’s something we have to take care of, have to treat. And unfortunately being in the selection it was very difficult to have that time,” the 2018 FIVB World Championship – Best Outside Spiker said in a video, adding that the decision to retire internationally had been made for more than 3 years.
Douglas, an openly gay athlete, emphasized that he’ll continue playing for clubs after a break of a few months that followed the termination of the contract with Italy’s Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia.
