I AM THE MESSAGE.
Ekaterina represents those who with strength and determination can really touch the sky while remaining that ball of normal and wonderful insecurities that we are all. #gamechanger
Ekaterina Antropóva
We will definitely hear from her. Grew up in Russia in a family of professional athletes, she learned from an early age to find the fire of determination within herself: “I started volleyball when I was seven because my mom insisted, I actually wanted to be a gymnast! The coach screamed and my arms hurt, I didn’t like that sport, but I didn’t give up. Something pushed me to keep going, and in the end, I learned to love it.” Since then, Ekaterina and her passion have grown together, day after day, until they became one.
In 2017, when she was only fourteen and had a life full of small fundamental certainties for that age, the family decided to move to Italy to give her talent a real chance: “When I arrived, I was very young and I didn’t know no one, I was afraid of not being understood and accepted. But, as sport teaches me, until you give up there is hope. I managed to find my dimension in this new home, and Italy became my life. It’s been five years of hard work, sadness, injuries, hope, passion, love, gratitude, laughter, inspiration, happiness, confusion, acceptance, life.” Today she plays for Savino Del Bene Volley in Serie A1 and is a true promise of Italian volleyball.
in addition to being a super athlete, Ekaterina is a girl like many of her age, full of passions and insecurities. Needless to say, when she walks into a room you can’t help but lay eyes on her and admire her physicality. This, when you’re a young woman who, like anyone, has days where she just wants to be transparent, is a continuous exposure that’s not easy to wear: “I’m 6,62 feet, stop asking!” she repeated so often to want to write it in large letters on her Instagram account, with a touch of irony. A loud whisper for all those staring and pointing regardless of the person’s sensitivity.
Luckily Ekaterina didn’t let herself be discouraged by this, and has found a way to make peace with her body through another great passion: fashion! It was she who knocked on the Whispr window, fascinated by the garments and values we support, immediately showing us the desire to take the field for the challenges she believes in. And we fell in love with it. A game changer who carries out her small revolutions simply by being herself: “Being a woman in the world of sport is a difficult matter, you notice the difference in sports clubs between women and men athletes. Being a woman is neither an advantage nor a defect, but parity is still not close when it comes to opportunities, visibility and investment. This injustice is hard for me to understand.”
Fortunately, she can rely on her teammates. An example of female solidarity: “An all-female team can be complicated but it all depends on the people you meet. I was very anxious when I arrived, being new and so young, sometimes it happens that there are too many strong characters and you can’t find a meeting point, but I was lucky, I got on well. My teammates are points of reference for me and help me grow“.
