U13 2012

Gustavo says hi from the Santos F.C. training facility, in Santos. Pele and Neymar are everywhere here.

Santos´s beaches are great and beautiful for runs, as they are nearly flat. Temperature, a `low` 28C, but humidex +40C. Elevation 0m, running on sand at the beach.

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Falcao is known as the best futsal player in the world. This free kick happened this week in Belo Horizonte:

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The 15Km Sao Silvestre race is being held Sunday in Sao Paulo, the most famous New Year race in the world, with tens of thousands of runners, including the top in the world.

Lesser known, but perhaps more important (to me) as it encourages children to get fit,  is the Sao Silvestrinha edition, a race for kids, held 2 days earlier. This year was the 19th edition,  and it was another success.

2,000 kids participated - in the heat.

And this is Brazil, where some kids do not have running shoes (and no cleats either)

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An homage for his 20 years with S.P.F.C.

He was picked up by Sao Paulo at age 17, recruited from a farm in Mato Grosso, deep inside Brazil. When he arrived, he was so incredibly shy that he did not open his mouth at all.

Some of the images are with Tele Santana (arguably the best Brazilina coach, and coach of the Brazilian WC 82 team, the best team ever). Ceni says he always arrived 30 minutes earlier for practice so that he could play tennis with Tele, because Tele also liked to play. Tele used to wake him up at 5:30AM - to play tennis.

He is good with his feet, but can´t dance. He admits he cries a lot (nothing wrong with that).

 BTW, the 2nd gk with most goals is Chilavert, who has scored... 64 (Ceni has 107!)

Take a look at the shot at 2:39 into the video: goal keepers should *always* go for the ball.

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From a story in a local magazine. People like Ana are precious and too few in our world. Another beautiful story.

You may know Ana Moser. She stood out as one of the best volleyball strikers in the world and was one of the stars of the Brazilian team that won the bronze medal at the Atlanta Games in 1996. Five years later, she retired from the court and decided to bring new perspectives to low-income youth of the city through the creation of Sport & Education Institute (EEI).

Dozens of modalities are held at EEI twice a week by sixty teachers on after school hours, to groups of students of all ages. The activities always begin and end with a round of conversation. If the subject is gymnastics, they discuss not only the technical aspects, but also the values ​​that made athletes reach an Olympics.

The project currently benefits about 3,000 youth. "We turned around and became a decent person because of the sport and I want to enable this transformation in other people," says Ana. She usually works twelve hours a day at the IEE.

About 80% of the revenue to keep the entity is of a Brazilian law to encourage the sports, which directs 1% income tax of companies to sports projects. In over a decade of activity, the institute has contributed to increase the use of public spaces, such as skating rinks, and also the conservation of schools.

In addition, there was a marked improvement in academic performance of the students, as well as their communications at home. "We had a 7 year-old boy beating other children and even pulling the hair of a teacher,"  His father was a drug dealer and he lived in a violent environment at home. "Six months after joining the project, he asked me for a hug one today and now participates in everything,"

Ana Moser vibrates with stories like this and has plans to increase the scope of work. "I now want to organize other centers and discuss sports policy in cities of the World Cup,".

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Rio registered yesterday its warmest day on record ever: +43.2C (the highest since records started in 1915). Humidex was +49.0C.

People still play soccer (and some crazy ones go for runs). And we sissy ones complain when it´s +30C in Ottawa!

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Merry Christmas!

The objective was to run 10K, the only way was to do it at 8AM, otherwise it would be too hot. The run still finished with sunny +32C. Very hot, very hilly terrain (108m elevation gain, 112m elevation loss). Lost 3.5Kg..Very tough,  never give up!

Light green shows elevation below. 110m elevation gain, combined with +32C = very tough!

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Not used to the heat and 99% humidity, a short 4.5Km run, too dehydrated to continue! Two laps around several beautiful and perfectly maintained soccer fields.

A whole different set of satellites:

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This is Sao Paulo's F.C. Stadium, home of the best fans in Brazil :-) (photo taken from 9th floor of a nearby building). Capacity: 120,000 people.

Other photos from today, weather is nice.

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Arrived with +33C, the grass is very green for soccer here. It was also the longest day of the year (most minutes of sun).

There was even a white armadillo on the sky...

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Wednesday gym trivia: how much weight does the coach lose in the session? Answer below these pictures.

Warm-up: Men in Black

The Pig




On a new high-precision scale:

• Weight just before going to the gym: 65.4Kg
• Weight immediately after gym (and after drinking 500ml water and 250ml juice): 64.7Kg
• Fluid (weight) loss: 1.45Kg (=65.4-(64.7-0.5-0.25)).

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What a beautiful story.

The blessed gloves that Cassio received in childhood made him leave the left flank of the soccer field and seek his place between the posts. It was a gift from an uncle that made the Corinthians world champion goalkeeper acquire a taste for the position, and secure on Sunday the title of best player in the Club World Cup in Japan.

Highlight of the headlines yesterday, the 25 year-old Brazilian now sees a promising future ahead. But his start was full of doubts. The oldest brother of three children of Dona Luciane, he shared his routine childhood between school, soccer, and working at his uncle's carwash.

Life was not easy for the children of Dona Luciane, a maid, who worked hard to support the children without the support of her husband, whose relationship to the family was minimal. The four shared a tiny house in the neighborhood of Santa Lucia in Veranópolis, town of 23,000 inhabitants in the hills of Rio Grande do Sul. "It was just a room with bunk beds, a kitchen, a living room and bathroom," says the youngest brother, Eduardo. 

Cassio believed that his future would be a left fullback, but this shifted thanks to visionary uncle John Carlos, "Kojak", who noticed in the teenager the chance of success in goal. "He usually played in the left back or forward left at school. But because he was tall and after winning a pair of gloves from our uncle, he went to the net and started to get along. Then came the passion for being goalkeeper". 

Cassio tried out for Caxias at age 13, and Shark, in Santa Catarina. He joined the base categories of Grêmio in Porto Alegre, where, after much work, rose to the professional team. It was when he gave the first shock to his mother: "My God, did they give you something to grow up?" Says Luciane, remembering the first words he said to his son after months away from home.

Cassio was then cast in the U20 squad, which helped him stamp his passport to Europe. In 2007, he moved to PSV Eindhoven, where he remained for four and a half years, without much chance, to then get it right with Corinthians."In Europe, he was very discouraged when he was not drafted to play. We spoke by phone and one day he told me crying that he wanted to quit. But we talked and he agreed to insist on his career," recalls his mother. 

Third goalkeeper for Corinthians, he earned a chance in the Libertadores Cup quarter-final against Emelec, when he had a beautiful performance and won the starting place. Life changed for everyone. Cassio renewed with the club until 2015 and built a three-story house for the family next to the old one. "Now my mother lives here, beside the old house, my brother built it",  explains Eduardo euphoric.

Cassio, who was near his current height of 1,95 m, was nicknamed Frankenstein. "This nickname, he hates to this day," says his brother.

Gaucho barbecue. Cassio is coming home. But before disembarking in Veranópolis, he will spend at least two days in Sao Paulo for a series of interviews. Dona Luciane plans a barbecue for the child. 

Meanwhile, uncle Kojak is having very busy days. "I have never washed so many cars as today," between a wash and another in his car wash. "Everyone is coming here to embrace us," says the illustrious city dweller, not more famous only than the nephew, the one to whom he gave the first pair of gloves.

"He came from a humble family. It was not easy. But today we feel proud to know that we grew a person that is super polite, and respected and recognized around the world," says the uncle, the great supporter of the hero and idol of the Corinthians nation.

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