As the EHF Champions League top scorer in 2020/21 and the leading force in all teams she has played for, Ana Gros has been one of the dominating players in Europe's women's handball for years now.
That doesn't mean the Slovenian standout didn't have to come from far to get to the summit.
Starting to play handball in elementary school and approaching the pro level at Krim Mercator Ljubljana, Gros looked set for a giant leap in her career with a move to Györi Audi ETO KC at age 19.
She was "excited" and "scared" at the same time, as Gros reveals on the eve of the Women's EHF EURO 2022 in the final episode of the Handball Portraits, a five-part video series featuring some of the biggest names in the game.
Gros did go to Hungary, but was too young and too unexperienced to have a real chance in the star-studded squad. Two years later, she moved to Germany and joined Thüringer HC in an attempt to kick-start her career...
... which didn't work out the way she had hoped for.
She didn't get much playing time there, either, and was lacking the trust of the coach. Reflecting on that period early in her career, Gros calls it "one of the most difficult periods of my career."
And even though she questioned whether she still to play handball at all, the disappointment also helped her forward.
"I knew if I persevered and overcame these difficult moments, than I would emerge even stronger," Gros says.
And this is exactly what happened. She moved to Metz Handball and started to really blossom.
"I started enjoying handball again, and from there, my career took off," says Gros, who years later made the move to French league rivals Brest Bretagne Handball.
Gros led Brest, a relatively newcomer to continental top-flight handball, to the EHF Champions League 2020/21 final and became the competition's top scorer that season.
It helped her take her career to the next level – and now back at Györ, she is chasing her first EHF Champions League title.
"I felt inside that I still had some unfinished business in Györ," Gros says.
But coming up first is her fifth EHF EURO, which Slovenia are co-hosting with North Macedonia and Montenegro.
Slovenia have not won a medal at a major tournament yet, but 2022 might the year this changes. For national team coach Dragan Adzic, the right back and captain is the undoubted leader of his team.
"Ana Gros has something that others don’t have. That is what makes her special," Adzic says. "Her emotion and her desire is something that pushes her further."
For Gros herself, the EHF EURO is about more than just winning matches with Slovenia. It about the future of her sport in her home country.
"I want to take handball to a higher level and greater visibility," she says.
All episodes of the Handball Portraits:
5 October – Estelle Nze Minko
10 October – Cristina Neagu
17 October – Montenegro 2012 team
24 October – Anita Görbicz
31 October – Ana Gros
Get your tickets now
The Women’s EHF EURO 2022 will be held in Slovenia, North Macedonia and Montenegro from 4 – 20 November 2022. With the slogan Play with Heart, the 15th Women’s EHF EURO will be played in four cities: Ljubljana, Celje, Skopje and Podgorica. Tickets are available here.
