Ana Cristina Miron: two European Championships 15 years apart – two completely different experiences

Fifteen years separate Ana Cristina Miron’s first appearance at the CEV Women’s Volleyball European Championship and the one right now, at CEV Trendyol EuroVolley 2026. She was only 17 when she experienced EuroVolley for the first time, back in 2011. Now, at 32, the Romanian outside hitter is back to the continental stage with a very different perspective on volleyball – as an experienced national team player, but also as a mother.

Volleyball has been part of Miron’s life for as long as she can remember. Coming from a family of volleyball coaches, she grew up around the sport and made remarkably quick progress herself. She was only 15 when she made her debut in Romania’s top division.

“Of course, I did not expect to play,” Miron recalled. “But I was training well, I was practicing alongside experienced players and I also had a coach with enormous experience. I think that is how I developed and gained confidence in myself. I will always thank coach Darko Zakoc because, during those four years, he laid the foundations for everything I know today.”

Her rise continued just as quickly. By the time she was in 10th grade at school, Miron was already training with Romania’s senior national team. For a teenager, suddenly finding herself surrounded by some of the biggest names in Romanian volleyball was an experience difficult to forget.

“The coach of my club in Constanta was also with the national team and he did not leave me at home. He took me into training with the senior team,” she said. “I had the chance and the luck to train and play alongside some great players of Romanian volleyball. For me, at that age, it was something extraordinary even to sit with them at dinner. They welcomed me very well and they taught me many things.”

Soon afterwards came another major step. In 2011, at only 17, Miron played at her first European Championship in Serbia.

Fifteen years later, she is experiencing EuroVolley once again, but this time she is one of the experienced figures on the Romanian roster.

“I came into a completely new team,” Miron said about returning to the national squad. “There are young girls, some of them even 10 years younger than me, but they welcomed me very well. They are girls with great character and I felt very comfortable with them.”

Miron’s presence at EuroVolley 2026 carries additional significance, because her career has included a chapter that goes far beyond sport. She stepped away from volleyball, became a mother in 2019, and then managed to return to the game at the highest level.

It was something she had dreamed about long before it actually happened: becoming a young mother while still being able to continue her volleyball career and one day have her child watching her play. She is now mother to Cezar, who will turn seven in December.

“It is beautiful,” she said. “I feel that, in addition to my volleyball career, I have also achieved something beautiful in life. I had wanted to be a mother for a long time and I managed to do that. And I also managed to start playing volleyball again and have my child come to my matches.”

Her return was much more than simply getting back on court. Strong performances with Dinamo Bucharest helped Miron work her way back into national team contention and, in the summer of 2024, she was called up by Romania again after a long absence.

“I had not been with the team for about five years,” she recalled. “The whole team was new. I had hardly played with any of them before, maybe with one or two girls. But there was such a pleasant atmosphere and they gave me very good energy.”

She quickly showed that she could still perform at international level, becoming an important player for Romania during their European League campaigns. The most difficult part of returning to the national team was not physical, however. It was being away from Cezar for such a long period.

“It was difficult for me emotionally,” Miron admitted. “He misses me a lot, but he understands that I live with volleyball and that I will leave and come back, but he is used to me being away for one or two days for club matches. However, it is different with the national team. Now it’s been a long time, three weeks since I last saw him, and he is starting to ask when I will come back. He would ask me some difficult questions that make me emotional.”

Balancing the demands of international volleyball with life as a mother is one of the realities that makes this stage of her career completely different from the one she experienced as a teenager.

If it is any consolation to him, at least Cezar can watch his mom play at EuroVolley in Baku. He is at home with his dad and his grandparents, preparing for his first year at school. Of course, the whole family is watching the games.

Romania are yet to celebrate their first win in Pool C, although they were very close a couple of times, when they pushed the Netherlands and Azerbaijan to five-set battles.

“It has been tough and the losses are a little bit hard for us,” Miron told cev.eu. “But we must move forward. Tomorrow, it’s another game, and we must win, whatever it takes.”

Cezar will also be watching…