LEILA PLANS TO HAVE KIDS ONLY AFTER YEAR 2000 : BELIEVES THAT IT'S DIFFICULT TO BE AN ATHLETE AND A MOTHER AT THE SAME TIME
Sérgio Kraselis - Folha de São Paulo
Chosen as the best player of the '96 Grand Prix, the attacker Leila, 25, guaranteed the title for the Brazilian women's volleyball team. Beautiful and charming, Leila, who was born in Brasilia, said she learned the meaning of the word "overcome" during the championship won by Brazil for the second time, last Sunday, in Xangai, China. "I played through pain, but I was encouraged to push through. It was like a personal war against stress," Leila told Folha News, in a phone interview from her house in Belo Horizonte. Stressed out by the number of games that she had to play, the attacker said that she's going to take ten days off and put her domestic life in order with her husband, Luis Gustavo. "Kids? Only after the Olympics in the year 2000," confirmed the player. Following are the main parts of the interview.
FOLHA - You were chosen the best player of the Grand Prix, and you received a cash prize of US$ 10.000. Have you already thought about what to do with the money?
LEILA - Pay all my phone bills (laughs). When I stay away for a long time, I usually call home twice a day and talk to my husband. The bill is huge, but it´s worth it. That way, I miss him less. But I'm not a person that spends too much. I was without a job for 6 months and I knew how it was not to have enough money. I learned to control my spending.
FOLHA - How is the relationship between the players with all this living together? Are there moments when you argue among yourselves?
LEILA - On the contrary, there's a lot of understanding because all of us are away from our families, our husbands, boyfriends, children and friends. All of us call, send postcards, messages by fax, look at pictures. There's a time when many people get desperate.
FOLHA - And what do you do to keep everyone in a good mood ?
LEILA - There´s always someone who'd say: "Hey, it's just 18 days to go!" Then, everybody would laugh. But really, the only moment that we forget about home is when we are playing.
FOLHA - Besides being chosen as the best player, you're also considered as one of the most beautiful women in the team. But you always deny this distinction. If you don't think of yourself as pretty, who´s your idea of a pretty woman?
LEILA - I think Vera Fisher (actress) and Luiza Brunet (model) are two beautiful women.
FOLHA - And a handsome man?
LEILA - Obviously, the first one on my list would be my husband. I think Antonio Fagundes and Mauricio Mattar (actors) are very handsome.
FOLHA - Would you say that they are your idols?
LEILA - No. Ana Moser has become my idol for her personal battles as a player. She is my mentor and I try to follow everything she does. And my mother Francisca, is my life´s idol, for she went through a lot to get over breast cancer and to continue going on.
FOLHA - How is the player Leila's domestic life?
LEILA - It's a normal life. I like arriving home and seeing Vania, a great person who works for me, and phoning my mother. But now, I'll be spending the next few days organizing my house. A man can't organize a house like a woman. My mother's going to help me put my closet in order. I want to enjoy my house and my husband.
FOLHA - Did you get a few days off from your club, the MRV/Minas?
LEILA - I'm gonna take ten days off to take care of my left shoulder and to travel at least three days around Minas Gerais and to take some waterfall baths. I love the countryside.
FOLHA - And did Minas Gerais´s cooking appeal to you, being from Brasília ?
LEILA - Without any doubt. I love grilled steak, rice and beans with salad. That's what's best. I can't even think about Oriental food. It makes me nervous (laughs).
FOLHA - Brazil is going to vote tomorrow. Have you already decided who to vote?
LEILA - I have no idea. I think that Brazil needs more honest people. I've already traveled all around the world and here the problem is the lack of honesty. If the Brazilian people knew the person's past, many things would change, for sure.
FOLHA - Which was the most difficult moment in your career?
LEILA - In 94, when I was cut from the Brazilian team. I promised myself that I was going to turn around and return to the team. I trained a lot for that. I wanna be an addition to the tean even if we don´t win a title. I wanna be the team´s left handed player.