"Hosoi was our master, because he was born with a beautiful style." "Style is something that you're born with." "You can try to pose on skate, but it won't work." "LIFE ON WHEELS" "The first time Hosoi came to Brazil, nobody knew who Hosoi really was." "Then, he went to the Company in Rio de Janeiro." "He started to shake his ass on the ramp, and everyone started to call him gay." "He didn't understand anything, and kept on shaking his ass there, waving his shirt around..." "Gay!" "Gay!" "Gay!" "And Hosoi yelled:" ""Christian, Christian, Christian... "" "He went nuts, and skated like there was no tomorrow." "He thought that gay meant Christian, and he even said:" "Man, they know me down here!" "He was the first one to do an Ollie right there in front of everyone." "He jumped through 5 skates, and everyone went like: "What?"" "On the flat part of the half pipe, he did a street double, jumped and nobody knew what that was." "He was already "the man" back then." "I think Hosoi had a great influence to the history of skate in Brazil, because he was one of the pioneers." "I think someone tipped him, because he came up and said:" ""I want to go to Guara. "" "There were just a few parks in Brazil, and Guara was a mandatory stop." "He got to Guaratingueta, looked at it, and started skating." "Just like that." "No equipments." "He started doing some carvings on the banks, and in the background, there was a The Cure song playing..." "He liked that the song, and just kept thriving on." "Then, he started jumping through the knobs, from here to there..." "The crowd started to cheer him on." "He got on the bowl, put his helmet on, and he started to fly." "Hosoi was doing a session that turned our heads around." "I think he got that tattoo when he was 8 years old..." "A brat, baby." "He hadn't lost all of his baby fat yet, with baby skin..." "So, I went up to him, and said, " Hey, kid, are you really that good, or are you just talking smack?"" " Yeah, I am." "Why?" " I am going to watch you later." "If you skate as good as you say, I will sponsor you." "This trick is divided into parts..." "You start with a fakie, get an air grab, then pass it through your legs, and then do a indy grab..." "He was one of the few, at his age, to have a professional shape." "It had his named tagged "Léo Kakinho" on it, and it was one of the most sold shapes for kids." "He was their idol." "He was a phenomenon!" "At the age of 10, he was awesome, at 11 he was already competing with big names, and at 12 he turned pro." "At the age of 13, he was one of the main references of Brazilian skate." " Leo, how old are you?" " 13." "So, I've heard that you had to compete with Cesinha, who is 31 years old, the exact opposite of your age." "How was it?" "Normal..." "I skated my best, and didn't even notice that he was 31." "I thought he was younger." "Kakinho used to dominate those banks." "There was no one like him on them." "It was tough to beat him in the banks." "He won practically every Banks contest in Guara." "He won them all." "He was a new kid that had came from Sao Paulo's suburban area." "And all of that helped to shaken up things in that area, which was Guaratinguetá, São Jose, Jacareí..." "He really did develop a new and very strong line of skate." "Guará, in the 80s, became the Brazilian capital for skate." "There was only one contest in Brazil, Guaratinguetá." "It was just like a concert." "People selling hot dogs, sodas, beers, booze, barbecue at the gates..." "The Itaguará club was packed!" "I used to love it!" "I liked selling hot dogs, because I had time to study." "I sat around the whole day, you know?" "I used to design my lines on a paper." "I was always trying to come up with a new trick in my head." "We went to see Thronn ride, and we could not believe it." "Nobody did believe on what they saw." "He rode on the walls, he rode here, there, just about everywhere." "I was riding around with my friends, goofing around, and then, I twisted my ankle." "So, I went to the hotel, limping a bit, and when I looked on the ground, I saw some mushrooms." "So, I thought, "they say you can get high from those. "" "Since I am already screwed, hurt, and I am not going to compete..." "I might as well eat the mushrooms." "I started to eat, and eat..." "And nothing happened." "I kept on eating, and eating, and all of a sudden" "I started to get hot, you know, and found everything so funny." "I started laughing, and I couldn't stop." "I wanted to, but I couldn't." "I was laughing my ass off." "I got out of the car with my skate, and I started to ride on Dutra, right by a bunch of trucks." "But during this whole thing, I forgot my foot, and the pain." "I was amazed!" "So, I stayed up all night goofing around, because we didn't care that we had to wake up early to compete." "We used to stay up, and then on the next day we would be late, hung over, and we would skate..." "We would drink some guaraná, and it was all good to go." "And that's how it was." "I got to the contest, put some "calminex" on, which was a balm used in horses, and I started skating." "I rode with the guys, kept on skating..." "My body started to warm up, and my foot was just fine." "I wasn't feeling anything." "I wasn't feeling the mushrooms anymore, just the skate running through my veins, and I kept on skating." "So, I had to go do my line for the contest." "He jumped from a wall, jumped over a house, did a Wall ride." "He did everything he had to do, and in the end, he Flipped, and bang!" "He won!" "He won the Brazilian Championship." "So, I looked at the audience, and it was packed with metalheads." "There were only punks and metalheads, and I thought, "Oh, boy"!" "I went up, my legs were shaking, because they were all staring at me..." "The crowd hushed when I went for the Ollie." "Nobody knew how to do an Ollie." "We didn't do tails, nose." "It was just odd." "He was a bit ahead of the rest of the skaters, him and Fernandinho Batman." "Batman was another fool that blew my mind, when I saw him on the streets." "He used to ride on the street like it was a ramp, connecting everything." "It wasn't like now that you do a trick, then you'd stop, go down a rail and then stop;" "go down a stair and stop." "No way!" "He went straight on, and on the streets, man." "Ibira Boys was the name of a very unique generation of skaters." "And we brought it on us, we defended our own, because the old generation had just quit." "Either you rode on Wave Park, or you went to Jacarepaguá, which was another ramp in Rio de Janeiro." "In São Paulo, there was one in Alphaville." "To skate in Alphaville, you had to be rich and introduced by someone." "At Wave Park, you also had to have some cash to get in, and for those who didn't, you had to use the street or go to Ibirapuera." "Wave Park closed, so we all had to move to Ibira." "It mixed things a bit, there were no Wave Boys or Pig City anymore, which was a subgroup from Wave Park." "They were from the best skate teams, but from different teams." "And among them, when they rolled out to explore a new skating area, they used to name themselves differently." "Formiga, Kao Tai, Jun Hashimoto," "Aderbal, from Lobotomia." "Jun was like my role model." "He was simply amazing." "Formiga is one of those guys that..." "He was like a bull rider." "He would almost fall..." "Wobbled from one side to the other, but did not fall." "Bruno Brown didn't shine as much for his tricks," "Formiga and Jun used to do the more aggressive tricks, as he did for his style." "He had a very aggressive way of riding." "Bola Sete, the deceased Bola Sete." "Those were guys from Wave Park, the ones to skate on the biggest ramp in South America." "The Pig City was famous." "Then, there was the rivalry between Pig City and Country Boy." "It was a rough time, because we were the new generation there." "They used practice martial arts, and then go skating on Ibirapuera Park." "During the night, you had to be ninja to skate." "The ninja-skaters." "It wasn't really a gang, that would raise hell, you know." "But we became a group, as we had things in common, same generation, practically the same age, everybody was learning how to skate." "The Ibira Boys were Thronn, Bolota, Jorge Kuge," "Marcio Tanabe, Bolota, Pois É..." "Jair Borelli which was a dude that used to take pictures, and freestyle with us." "There was Tomy Tomado who freestyle," "Pois É, and later on there was Chorão." "But there were also the Cocoas at Ibirapuera, that was kind of led by Anchovas, because he was known as Cocoa." "So, Ibirapuera used to get packed with skaters from street." "If you set a rail, about 20 other skaters would come to ride it, doing Rock'n 'Slide, Wall tapping, jumping over the stairs." "Thronn showed up, out of nowhere, and started to skate, and there we were just watching him." "He rode, rode, rode, and kept tearing it up." "So, we thought, "Pushy, ain't he?"" "When I started frequenting Ibirapuera," "I wasn't immediately accepted, like" ""Hey, bro, roll up here." "Come on in. "" "But I kept insisting." "I used to go up, and they'd ignore me, they were mean to me." "And I thought, "What?" "Man, I like skate," "I am going to get in with this crowd, and that will be that. "" "They read the American magazines, wear Vans' shirts, Van's tennis shoes." "So, I'd get a piece of plywood cut it up, put the logos of all the skate brands on the wood, cover it with contact paper, and that was my skate." "I used to show up with a DM hub, odd wheels..." "I had a bunch of old stuff, and I so I was changing my board." "I used to get a yellow polo shirt and write Vans on the collar, with fabric paint, and I rolled up like it was nothing, and they used to say, "What's up with this fool?"" "Thronn was very talented." "He fit in quickly with the group." "I learned from a lot of people, like B, Teco, Bolota, they've all helped me a lot." "So, when I got good enough, enough to roll with the pros," "I became a pro." "I never skated as an amateur." "We were all very stylish." "They used to wear long bangs." "One had colored hair, another had a Mohawk..." "Flávio Ascânio and some used bangs this long." "Marcio's hair was crazy." "Thronn, Pois É, they were all crazy." "Their clothes were thrashed out." "Loose pants." "I rolled with the Funeral punks, the death punks." "And you got to have attitude to roll with them." "It's not like this new punks that come up to you smiling." "They were serious, mean, pissed off at the system, politics." "It was no joke." "And everything was a reason to fight, and the beat down was on." "At that time, there were the Ibiraboys, and one other group that was growing fast." "They skated really well, those from Moema," "Luizinho, Camisa, Not Dead, Paulinho, they were from the streets." "They were rowdy." "They stayed all night skating around." "What does Oingo Boing means to Not Dead?" "It means a lot, man." "It means a time when there wasn't so much money involved." "It was just skate." "We used to ride all day, and when the night came, we were starving..." ""So, Not Dead." "What's up?"" "Not Dead was the biggest pizza thief in São Paulo." "So, Not Dead used to come up to the delivery guys:" ""Give me the pizza!" He stole pizzas all the time." "He became so famous that one time a guy came to him and said," ""Please, man, please don't take the Coke too." "Please!"" "They were afraid to even hear the name Not Dead." "The pizza guys were afraid of him, because he was a troublemaker, bully, he was rowdy." "They didn't care about anything." "They'd run over everything." "I wanted to see them do it today, because today..." "Everybody is so calm." "It's over." "Today, skaters are a bunch of goodie two-shoes." "That is not true." "That's not his true essence." "The police?" "They don't harass me much." "They think I'm an artist." "Back then, the magazine Yeah!" "Was responsible for selling this image." "They published "Skate is not a crime. "" "So, there was this thing about skaters being hooligans, potheads, rowdy, gangsters." "Skate was always seen as something for the poor, rowdy, for the potheads." "Back then, weed was something..." "But now, everybody can smoke weed." "Any college sells weed." "Here, you can even find it on the Drugstores." "In California, I think everybody smokes wee." "Skate had a very strong connection with surf, in the beginning, and the surfers were known to be potheads." "So, we inherited it." "We are the sons of the weed." "There were the Ibira group, and the ABC group." "The ABC group..." "I'm sorry, but ABC..." "If it wasn't for ABC, there wouldn't be no skate." "Skate's history in Brazil is São Bernardo." "São Bernardo's skate ramp was internationally famous." "Most of the visitors, used to say:" ""I want to go to São Bernardo. "" "And they went to ride on São Bernardo's ramp." "I grew up in São Bernardo hearing that:" ""If you skate on this ramp, you can skate anywhere in the world. "" "People looked at an old picture of the ramp, and thought that it was perfect, but when they got here, they'd see that it was lopsided, which still it." "Everybody wanted to see it though." "It's a huge stadium, almost like the skate's Morumbi." "Like soccer's Maracanã, where you'll find all kinds of people." "There wasn't a time that you knew you could get there and ride." "On Saturdays, Sundays, it was just impossible." "But we used to go anyways, and packed it even more." "The ramp used to get packed with outsiders." "It was just like a Sunday on a park." "There were a lot of people that liked the sport, that enjoyed watching people ride, flying around, and doing tricks." "I used to live in an obscured hood," "I grew up around gangsters." "So, even though I skated, I didn't hang around skaters." "I skated, but I hung around with thieves." "You know?" "I mean, I grew up with them." "So, to me, thieves were closer to me, than the skaters." "I didn't ride on Sundays." "On Sundays, I used to just watch." "I used to chill around, watching the other guys skate" "They'd would chat, skate, and there I was just chilling." "It was me, Mineiro, Anta, Chile, Narina, Zá Bolha." "It was a family..." "Orelha." "Orelha, Jeff, Baseado, Mortão..." "Who else?" "Índio, Limpa Trilho." "We ruled the ramp." "Orelha lived in Jardim Miriam, but rode here, and was one of us." "He thought that when he was riding skate, it was just skate, and if someone interrupted him, he used to get mad and fight about it." "He used to ride, yelling from back there, "Watch out!"" "And he came dialing up the whole way..." "Then, he would go down, do a vert on the half, and if someone was on the way, he would run them over." "Jeff Cocon was one of the guys that for a long time was known as the ramp's janitor." "They used to come, invade our space and they still wanted to mess around with us." "No..." "So, we used to hold them back, and sometime we kicked them out, when they overdid it, you know." "I rumbled around, I was not about to compromise." "I fought around, and didn't care." "I enjoyed fighting, I did." "I learned how to do it." "I would stare in their eyes, swing around and it was a beat down, hands and feet all together." "Glauco was another guy in the scene that showed up, and he was a big local, Glaucon." "We didn't accept it, that's just how I see it." "And I know that, a lot of people used to say:" ""He is such a push over." "He thinks he owns the ramp. "" ""I didn't think that." "The ramp was indeed mine. "" "But that's just how it is in public parks." "The locals take over, and..." "From one way or the other, he will become noticed and respected by others, and will end up earning that respect." "And that is just how it was, and the word got around:" ""São Bernardo is rough. "" "There are the locals that dominate the area, and think they rule it, and the newcomers and outsiders end up feeling a bit cornered." "It is not like anyone could come up and ride here." "This is our place." "We are the ones that practice here, the ones that fix the holes." "The mayor could care less about us." "We used to get cans and putty to cover the holes, and then rode like crazy." "They used to say that those that rode at Ultra were afraid to ride here because of Glauco." "Glauco used to terrorize the scene." "He really didn't like it." "He thought that all the outsiders that came to ride here were playboys, and they were not welcome to ride in São Bernardo." "Just because you learned a few tricks, got someone to sponsor you, can do a twist or some shit like that, they start to get cocky, and think they are the bomb." "It is just not like that." "At least not here." "You can pose around, but out there." "Here, it goes down much differently, bro." "It was hard to skate, because there were no options until Ultra open up." "After that, I don't think I ever went to São Bernardo again." "And if I did go, it was a one time, two time thing..." "How would someone ride on half like that?" "It was all lopsided." "Forget that, I am going to skate at Ultra." "I used to avoid going to São Bernardo, and I really didn't go that often." "I wanted to skate at Ultra." "Mostly because I had been there, it was far and a creepy place to ride." "I used to be terrified of bringing my imported skate here." "I just got over that fear, after I started talking to Jeff." "Because Jeff was always..." "I used to show up with my imported skate, and he would ask to ride it." "He used to say: " Let me roll on your skate, dude. "" "I remember that Mineirinho used to come with his driver." "The driver used to grab his bag, and hand it to him with his skate." "The guy used to open the door, give him his bag, and skate." "It was a different world." "They would hear my dad honking, and say:" ""The big Mercedes is around!"" ""The boss has arrived!" "The Mercedes is in the area. "" "So, I'd just grab my things, say bye to everyone, and leave." "A bit embarrassed, but I had to go." "It became sort of a tale, like," ""There was this one dude that came with a driver in a Mercedes. "" ""Really?" "Who was that?"" "But when it came down to skate, he was really good." "At the age of 15, he was a big hit." "He won the Tri Bank Championship, and competing against skaters that were around for quite some time." "He was a small boy, a kid, and looked just like a little lamb." "He really did have an angel face." "...There should be more skate parks, so that it can grow even more." " How old are you?" " 13." "Is there anything you would like to say for those kids about your age, a message, or some advice?" "You have to jump on your skate, and never get down from it." "He was a rich kid, but also a humble kid." "And, then I saw him out there eating hot dog with the guys, cheap hot dogs and hamburgers." "And I said," ""That kid is also a rowdy." "He is just like us. "" "Money doesn't make anyone skate." "It can help you skate, but you got to have your own feeling, a vibe, and that's you get good at it." "He grew up there, and he defended his area." "He used to defend his space, and there was nothing anyone could do about it." "I used to say, " Campon, with Campon", and" Ultra Boys with Ultra Boys", and so on." "While in São Bernardo, you would find places where you could not ride, at Ultra there wasn't a single spot where you couldn't ride." "I didn't even know where Ultra was." "I had never even heard about it." "Because it was Ultra Pisos, the shed belonged to Ultra Pisos." "And I'd said, " But what does tiles have to do with skate?" "Bolota and I used to go a lot to Ultra, and used to peep through the cracks, to check out what was going on in there as people used to say they were building a ramp that was never opened." "So, we used to go there to check it out, and say:" ""Look, they are really building it." "Look at all that wood there." "Check out the amount of white plywood." "Fool, let's go steal that, and build a ramp for us." "Let's come back at night to steal all that plywood. "" "Ultra gave us the opportunity to practice on a plywood half, with a perfect coping, indoor, a safe place for all those kids to skate." "Those kids were all..." "They came from good families." "Their mothers used to drive them there, honk, drop them off..." "They were all geared up with the best equipments." "Really young kids that were already flying, doing blunts on the half." "I thought to myself:" ""Oh, my God!" "Those kids are going to make us work, bro. "" "Nobody does that trick that he is about to do." "A tiny little kid, with huge glasses on, jumping through some skate ramps, who was later known as Zoinho." "He was really a kid that followed the same vibe, and was always psyched." "The kid got the best gift a father could ever give to a skater." "I don't even know how I would ask for a ramp, if my father had money." "It is something that..." "One thing is to look at it from a side, and another one..." "A relationship between a father and his son is different." "Anyone feels a little unease around their father, especially if you want to ask for something." "It is hard enough to ask them for money." "So, imagine asking your dad for a half pipe." "That's something serious." "I thought it was easy to build a ramp." "I thought it was easy..." "I want a ramp for my birthday, for Christmas..." "Just give me a ramp." "Mr. Nelson was a very humble man." "In my opinion, he was a kind father to his kids." "He wanted to build a good ramp, something that his kids would enjoy." "But he didn't know anything about skating." "I think that he didn't mean to turn that into a business deal." "We didn't know why he was building it." "I didn't make sense, right on Morumbi Avenue." "A shed of that size..." "He should rent it." "He could do anything else with that thing." "He was building a skate park, that would not make any money." "He was doing it out of love for his son." "It was for his son, and his son's friends." "Ultra became a huge deal due to its ramp, and also because of the people." "You may build a ramp with a huge technical level, and it could turn into nothing." "The skaters could not care for it, could not be interested." "But Ultra was one of the places that was almost like a snowball, where everybody started to ride well." "Every one was complimenting the half, like Negão, Tioliba." "The guys from this area used to go there to practice some air tricks, as the half pipe does help a lot with those." "The half was built according to international standards." "What are the dimensions of the ramp that you've designed here?" "The transition of this ramp is about 10.26 ft, which is its curvature radius, and about 1.32 ft of height." "The goal of having such a big ramp was to help with the technical evolution of the skate." "But Ultra was more than just a half pipe." "It had also a mini ramp with a spine, which I remember it to be metal, and there was a street section, composed by a rail, a box, and something else, and then there was the half pipe" "with a space that allowed the kids to really kill it, and they were really, really riding it well." "The amateurs were really ripping it." "There were a quite a few that could easily turn pros, and that was the new generation that was really bringing it on." "Back then, the amateur class were very high level." "In one month, or even within a week, you could see that those kids had skilled" "4, 5 different tricks, which is something that the pros do." "I would go up there, and see Valtinho doing a twist up." "He was one of the amateurs that really astonished the crowd." "Those kids were improving much faster than we did." "I was ashamed to ride sometimes, because I was one of the guys from an older generation, with older tricks, and Ultra's generation was the one that developed the new tricks." "He used to get there, all intimidated, but then he would start ripping." "Sometimes, we would get there, and say, " let's skate with them, we won't fly, but at least we can do some new tricks. "" "I invited Cris, Renatinho, and Valtinho to be a part of the Flow da Urgh team, and then we saw the Ultra Boys generation started to be formed." "Cristiano was one of the fuel energies that made that happen." "He really wanted to skate, to fly, he really wanted to do all those things, you know?" "He was one of the leaders of that generation, and the rest just followed him, trying to keep up with him." "Chris is really skating well." "He is awesome." "He was the owner of the ramp, so he kind of had to do well." "He was a well known amateur due to his high air tricks." "When he left flow team, he had already been invited by other teams." "And that was one of the reason we were not able to hold him back, as everyone had his eyes on him." "I am competing here, because there hasn't been too many contests lately, but to be honest, I really didn't want to." "I don't really trust this UBS." "It was Cris, not Bob." "Cris was the one taking it all, as far as I remember it." "From what I remember, it was Cris." "Those kids were extremely dedicated." "They used to skate all day long, and to get them off the ramp to close it, it was not easy." "They didn't want to leave." "Like Bob, you had to drag Bob out of the ramp." ""We are closing!" And I just kept on dropping." ""We are closing. " And as he walked away, I kept on riding." "Then, he came back, got a piece of wood, and threw it on the middle of the Flat as I was dropping." "I stumbled on it, and yelled:" ""Are you crazy, Cocoa?"" ""I told you that I was closing." "Come on, go." "Leave. "" "And that was him." "He got mad very quickly." "He would go nuts." "And we, I liked to see him that way." "Who am I?" "Labios de Mel!" "Cristiano owned the ramp, and he would say that to everyone." "What can you say?" "The kid was like..." "I don't know, 12, 13 years old." ""Grito da rua" is all about skate." "Do you think that is important?" "Very important." "It will help skate to develop and grow a lot." "His voice used to bug the hell out of us." "He would start talking, and we would tell him to shut up." "I remember that people used joke around, like, "Sing Tete Espindola. "" "And I would start yelling..." "I used to bug everybody, and they would roll out laughing." "I used to yap and yap, till they would tell me to shut up." "You know how it is, but I am not quite sure, but there was this one time that..." "I don't know, but it's ok though." "Good luck!" "He was the black sheep of the Ultra Boys, because he used to hurt himself all the time." "The first time that I saw, he fell so hard that..." "He got up like he was made out of rubber." "I thought, " Oh, my God!" "What is that?" "This kid is crazy!"" "He got up, and kept on riding." "Sponsoued by Uugh, Uugh Skates." "Hey, Bob." "Aue you ok?" "He falls, but he tuies it again." "That's ouu Bob!" "He would fall face down." "He broke his arm." "He really did fall, you know, and we used to tell him:" ""Man, you have to stop skating!" "You are crazy!" "That's dangerous!"" "Oh, the air tricks are hot, man!" "Those airs are a thrill!" "It's almost like you are really flying." "They were going to open a ramp by my house, which was Ultra." "They said that they were building a ramp that was 3 blocks from my house, and all the neighbors started to buy skates." "So, Rodolfo got a skate, then Daniel started to ride." "So I told my dad that I wanted a skate." "Then, he got his skate, and without knowing what he was doing, he said, " I am going to ride." "I am going to go down the ramp. "" "We told him to try the mini ramp first, and he said:" ""No, I want to go down on the half. " Even though he didn't even know how to skate on the mini ramp." "He didn't even know how to tap." "So, he went down, and fell about 3 times head first, right there." "I positioned the tail to go down, and made the sign of the cross, and without thinking about it, I just went down." "When I started to drop." "I fell head first on the ground." "I remember that I fell so hard, it was such a serious fall that I couldn't even cry, because in addition to everyone that was staring at me, scared out of their minds of the fall that I took." "I had no idea of how to react, and the only thing that crossed my mind was to get back on the skate and try it again." "Bob used to fall hard." "He always fell really hard." "When we saw him again, we thought, "There comes that guy again. "" ""How long have you been skating?" And I answered," ""I'm not sure... ", I was actually riding for about two months or so." ""Did you try going down on the mini ramp?"" ""Yeah, I know!", but I just didn't care." ""Then, let's go there." "Let's try it on the mini ramp. "" "So, I headed over to the mini ramp." "I was going to use a mini ramp, so short, just like an jump ramp." "So, when I went down it, I fell, and everybody started to laugh." "So, I got my skate, and I was furious, you know." "I got my skate and left." "And on that day, I thought:" ""I am going to come back, and I will skate every single day, and nobody would ever laugh at me again. "" "Before heading there, I should had try to at least learn how to ride, but I didn't want to learn it." "I wanted to stand on the skate, but I learned that it wasn't like that." "Today, Grito da Rua is over here in Sumaré." "We finally have some sun, and Sumaré is crowded with skaters." "Grito da Rua!" "Grito da Rua from Alto de Pinheiros!" ""Grito da rua" is this, skate, street, and skate is not going to die out." "Wherever you would go, you would see people skating." "Janio decided to ban skates in São Paulo." "So, we launched the movement Anti-Janio." "First, Janio banned skate in Ibirapuera." "We are here, in front of the bookstore Belas Artes, and we are going to head out for a protest to claim back the Ibirapuera's Park." "We want to be able ride again on the Park." "You know, Janio, banned skates, and we cannot accept something like that." "Ibira!" "Lbira!" "Lbira!" "Lbira!" "Lbira!" "Lbira!" "Lbira!" "Lbira!" "Lmagine if someone banned you from doing what you love?" "You couldn't even get..." "Here, in São Bernardo, it wasn't banned." "I used to go to São Paulo, and I laughed at the situation." "I used to laugh and say:" ""What?" "I'm going to raise some hell. "" "I used to go all out, bro." "And the police, all hyped up, tried to catch me." "When we got to Ibira, as Folha went in first, to ask the mayor what he thought of our movement," "Janio ordered to close all the gates in the park, and he didn't let anyone to get in." "I was in front of the crowd, as they were skating, with a megaphone:" ""We want Ibira!" "We want Ibira!"" "Marcio is really crazy." "I mean, every skater is crazy." "So, Janio only caught me because I was driving a bike without a helmet." "So, he got out of his car, and started to yell at me." "Man, I am a skater, born and raised in São Paulo, you do not yell at me." "So, I reacted, and got arrested." "He pulled Marcio over, gave him a ticket, and when Marcio started talking about skate, he said:" ""I will not only continue to ban skate here at the park, but also in the entire city, from tomorrow on. "" "And he sure did ban it." "MAYOR JANIO BANS SKATES IN SÃO PAULO" "JANIO CONVENES COURTS TO APREHEND SKATES" "For how long will the ban last?" "Until they stop running kids and women over!" "The police would confiscate our skates, and so we had to go to the station to show what was going on, to show the skates that were there stacked in a room." "There were a bunch of rules for the retrieval." "You had to go with your mother." "I had my skate, as I wanted to go down a hill, but I was just holding it." "So, I saw a police car, and thought that they wouldn't do anything." "They got out of the car, they kicked me, got my skate, and threw it right on the curb." "Another one came from behind, and slapped me." "He told me to get up, which I did, and he kicked me again." "Then, he told me to go up the hill, and so I did." "He told me to throw the skate, but as he was going to hit me again, I ran." "There were rooms, and rooms filled with apprehended skates." "Instead of having prisoners at the police station, they had much more apprehended skates than prisoners." "I saw a policed car full of skates, filled up to the ceiling." "It was just outrageous." "I could not believe it." "And everybody was trying to talk the cops out..." "So, when I saw some cops..." "One of them said," ""You, come here. " So, I went, and he said:" ""You know that you cannot skate around here... "" ""Why not?"" ""You just can't." "The mayor has prohibited, and so on... "" "I said, "Oh, really?" "Ok, then. "" "And he went on, "Give me your skate. " I said that I wouldn't do it." "So, they try to get it from me." "Three cops came up to me." "I put my skate between my legs, and squatted on it." "When they tried to get it, I started to do the "pogo", which was a dance that we used to hit everyone at the parties." "And so, notebooks, badges, pens, started flying around." "Everything they had was in the air, and they did not catch me." "I rode in a contest at a project in São Paulo, that was this hill, I went down it as fast as I could, and didn't care." "When I looked back, there were about 4, 5 police cars chasing me." "I went by a shed, threw my skate there, and kept on running." "Because they could catch me, but not my skate." "The media exploited this ordeal like crazy." "The newspapers Folha de São Paulo, Estado de São Paulo," "Globo TV, they all talked about:" ""The Banning of Skates"." "Because it was simply ludicrous." "Never before did skate got so much publicity from the media." "The law was extremely clear, and it was just ruled out when Luiza Erundina became the mayor." "The first thing she did was to go to Ibirapuera, and pose on a skate." "She said, " Skate is once again allowed in São Paulo and in the park." "It made front page!" "It was a new era, although she didn't do anything for the skate." "FRENZY ON PAULISTA AVENUE" "The contest at the Cásper Libero Foundation." "Held in 88 was to show that," ""Mr. Mayor, we cannot skate on the streets, but we can ride on a private area. "" "And that was right at Paulista Avenue, so that everyone could see it." "This is Mauuo Muueta." "Mauuo Muueta is the champion of one Of the biggest contests of 88." "Mureta was on my team." "He was going well." "Ueda, actually his style, is also going to do well." "So, there were a lot of people that used to enjoy watching him ride, and they were mainly from São Bernardo and ABC, which was another region were the skate was popular." "Everyone had an idol to root for, everyone had a different champion in mind." "It was one of the most thrilling finals that I had ever seen." "A SHY KID TURNS PAULISTA AVENUE UPSIDE DOWN" "Ueda started to ride, and build his line, turn after turn, and the result was an unquestionable victory, you know?" "And an awkward thing happened, as I was broadcasting the contest, during the Jam Session, I've ended up announcing that from what we have seen, Ueda is our new champion." "Mureta, who was on the other platform, looked at me furious." "Marcio was there cheering me on," ""Who is going to beat the Japanese?"" "Even Marcio was inciting that situation, because he..." "Maybe, he really wanted to turn things up a notch." "So, tell us." "Can you beat the Jap?" "That kid is gueat, but we'll see." "Let's see who will do it, as everybody is going to try." "I remember that Ueda was going really well, and so did Negão, who was riding like crazy on that day." "It was an awesome show." "Fuontside 540!" "The only one that can do that tuick, heue in Buazil, is Negão." "I don't remember if Mureta ended up winning." "He lost to Ueda." "Although nobody will ever forget when Mureta hit the ceiling." "And I said it out loud on the mic, "Mureta, radical as shit!"" "Mauio Muueta is fou suue the most agguessive skateu of all times." "He is sponsoued by Mad Rats, the fiust and best skate Buazilian tennis shoes." "Marcio Tanabe is a son of a bitch." "He's always looking after his interests and Mad Rats is a result of that." "He wants his team to be on top." "He always did." "And he did anything to get there." "Mureta was a kid that was launched by Mad Rats and by him." "Back then, he was the kid." "So, he used to use that to market it even more." "By the definition that we use today to determine who are the athletes," "Ueda would be the athlete, and Mureta would be the skater." "Because Ueda was just a boy, that was new, that was emerging, skating very well, but, that used to take his dad everywhere he went." "It's something that's normal, but that we are not used to it." "Skate was something that people from the hood did." "That was a generation that fathers really supported, and they became big names on the international skate scene." "It was different, because back then we had to keep it as a secret." "It was the best thing that ever happened to me, as having my father around helped me grow and learn a lot." "He has a lot of support just as from our family, as from the organizations, and also from the other skaters." "Let's see if we can still organize this year an event for the parents." "It was beautiful to see Mr. Jorge always by his side." "I'd say, " Look at that kid's coach." "He is going to become a machine of tricks, you know?" ""So, Mr. Jorge, how did your son rank?"" "So, he ate the last piece of his kebab, and showed me the stick." ""First place. "" "He was very proud of his son, and Ueda won several titles." "So, it was really nice to see the complicity that they shared." "He made me feel safe, because he was right there by my side, always doing his best to help me make it happen, to keep me happy." "That was..." "That was... the whole point." "In the beginning, he was still a bit gangling, but you could also see that he had improved." "Within a week, on the first week he didn't even know how to drop, or had just learned do drop, and on the other, he was already sliding." "A month after that, he was throwing airs up to his chest, and after that..." "He never stopped." "Mr. Jorge was always with Ueda, and Ueda used to improve so fast, because he was able to watch at home his performances, and could see how to correct the errors that he had made, moving much faster through the timeline." "The first time I saw him, I remember that it was a night session, he had on a black helmet, which was intact, his hair was a bit longer, a tiny mustache, and his father was right there, with a Ueda sticker, recording it." "It's easy to see the connection between those two." "It was after an amateur competition, that I started to apply myself a bit more." "I don't know." "In the future, maybe I would become a business skater, but for now is just skate and skate." "He was the best skater that rode at Polato." "Polato was a very hard ramp to skate on." "The flaws of that ramp have made riding on other ramps much easier." "What about when you had to get out of the bowl?" "They had to use a rope to rescue the skater." "It wasn't just anyone that could ride there." "And then I saw Ueda skating." "He was a complete skater." "He rode high, he carved, he turned, he did smith grind on the whole curve..." "He improved really fast, and quickly he became a pro." "Soon enough, he was giving us a hard time." "Once there was this championship at Stones, which Mureta won." "He did really good, and..." "Maybe there was something that started with his brother," "I am not sure of what happened, but he was there, and he wanted to fight with my family." "I don't know if he wanted to hit them, but I know that they started to close them in..." "My mom was at that event." "My whole family was, my cousins, and I know that all his buddies were there, and it was a really tense situation." "What about this huge legion of Mureta's fans, how do you see it?" "I live in this area, you know." " Do you live around here?" " It's my family." "This is my hood." "Mureta is from the hood, mean, and Ueda was a good boy, a flyer." "I skate, but I don't live like a skater." "Skate is my hobby, a sport, if I didn't skate, I would do something else." "Mureta started skating when he was 7 years old." "At that time, he wasn't Mureta yet." "He was Mario's brother." "His older brother used to hang with our group." "So, we used to skate, and dominate the whole area, and when we got tired, Mureta would drop in and skate." "Mario used to skate much better than Mureta." "Mario used to do some hot invert, and hand plant." "Mario's style was a bit more aggressive, but then Mureta started riding, and suddenly, Mureta was skating better than Mario." "And Mario stopped to watch him..." ""My brother is tearing it up. "" "Skate was in his feet, veins, heart, in his soul." "Tricks that were just totally hot!" "Amazing!" "He was from the streets, hood; throws the skates anywhere and rocks it." "I like to skate." "I am not sure if it is in my blood," "I don't know why, but I like it." "Mureta didn't really care for any kind of sponsorship." "It was always the same deal." "You want to pay me, but why?" "My dad gives me everything I need." "Practice to compete, why?" "Why would I want to win?" "I have a skate ramp right by the pool." "Mureta's aggressive style, in my opinion, he will always be one of the biggest names of Brazilian Vert." "He was all ghetto, and trashy, he didn't care, a rebel." "He was a true skater:" "A rebel!" "Mureta used to impress me with his style, and the same style used to scare me a bit as well." "So, he was one of those that I didn't..." "I didn't mess with him." "He was crazy, that hairdo, his style..." "He scared me." "He is one of those people that look like they are about to kill you." "You won't dare to cross his path." "He wasn't a bad person." "He was just different, and with a strong personality." "They used to call him Richie, Richie..." "There has nothing to do with being rich," "Mureta was rich, but he used copper line to tie his shoes." "There are some rich people, but use copper cords to tie their shoes." "He just didn't care, you know." "His helmet was all tagged, and held by a shoelace, just crazy..." "He used to wear tennis shoes all ducked out with silver tape." "He has always been a controversial person, a crazy guy." "But he wasn't one of those crazy guys that..." "He was more of a..." "Chilled out guy." "But if you promise to give a thousand bucks at a game, and then just give 500, he would break the trophy, and would rip the check." "He really did it." "He broke a lot of trophies." "I saw his mother gluing together several trophies of his with super glue." "No, the ones I broke are not there." "I would have more if I hadn't done it." "To me, a trophy doesn't..." "It means, but it doesn't mean much..." "My mom likes to put them in the living room." "He use to practice, did everything he had to do in order to win, and when it was time for him to compete, he just disappeared." "You can participate in championship, at times even win, but that is just a consequence." "I skate to have fun." "When there is an event, people practice hard, they killed themselves practicing." "Negão used to take it seriously, as many other skaters, like Edsinho, Tioliba, but Mureta just chilled." "He used to show up, did what he had to do, and that was that." "The rivalry was really between Mureta and I, that really felt like..." "There is no rivalry, just in the contests." "There is no rivalry..." "He doesn't talk to me, and I don't talk to him." "It was me, Léo Kakinho, and Mureta." "Then, there were Negão, Tchuliba, and some other skaters." "To be honest, I never skated on Mureta's half pipe." "Never!" "Negão is duopping in." "Let's go." "And it gives a fuontside 540!" "Now, heue we go." "Heue, we go." "Ready, go." "The Overall Skate Show was one of the biggest events in Brazil in the 80ties." "The Projeto SP was crowded." "We were desperate, because we hadn't bought the tickets yet." "People saying, "It's almost sold out. "" "I remember that the Inocentes played at the event," "I even interviewed Clemente." "I asked, "Did you like it?"" ""Yeah." "The half pipe is really far, and with all these people," "I didn't get to see shit, but it was awesome. "" "There were people coming from all corners of Brazil to see Tony Hawk and Lance Mountain." "We aue a day fuom the opening of the Sea Club Oveuall Skate Show, the biggest indoou event eveu held in Buazil." "I was in the crowd, up there on top, and I remember sitting on the fence, while my feet hang, and leaned back on the fence, watching Hawk and Lance Mountain skating." "You could barely see it, as they were so far back, but it was awesome." "I bought the video..." "I think it was after that, that I became interested in Vert." ""Where is the gringo?" They told him to fuck off..." ""Where is that son of a bitch?" They were pissed." "Imagine the situation, a bunch of punks, a bunch of Bob Cuspe in the audience, a bunch of clueless people." "And they wanted to hear that they understood, and that it was ok?" "No." "He came to Brazil, and got really sick." "The organizers forced him to go out on stage." "The worst thing was to make the guy show up, and apologize." "There should have never happened." "He was nice about it, and said," ""I'm sorry y'all." "Really. "" "As Robin would tell Batman:" ""Holy Shenanigans!"" "We had to come up with something in order to calm the crowd down." "Otherwise, we might have had a revolution outburst there." "People could have burnt the gymnasium, I don't know what could've happened." "On his biography, he says that the worst trip of his life was to Brazil." "Because he ate some bad pasta, and to top that off, they forced him to apologize to 5 thousand people for not being able to skate." "I was lucky to be there when Hawk did skate, and then he ended his line with a back rodeo to the top of the platform." "The contact with the American skaters that came to Brazil, like Hosoi," "Tony Magnusson, and even Tony Hawk, for those that had the opportunity to see him skating, gave us a better view, a broader idea of what it was possible to do with a skate." "One of the best examples of that, as far as I remember, an episode that has marked us, was when Hosoi join the Fest Jovem." ""Hey, y'all." "Let's invite Hosoi!"" ""Let's call him!" "Hosoi!"" "And everybody started to scream, "Hosoi!"" "Louder!" "He will come!" "Hosoi!" ""Say his name out loud, and he'll come!" "Hosoi!" "Hosoi!"" "And everybody started to scream, "Hosoi!" "Hosoi!"" "Hosoi!" "Hosoi!" "Hosoi!" "Hosoi!" "Hosoi!" "We were already in the ramp, riding, ready to go, and all psyched to see if he was coming." ""Look, there he comes. "" "We got to share the session, and ride with him." "Skaters like Ueda, Mineiro, those that like to go high, were a few that had the opportunity to skate with Hosoi, when they were only 14 years old." "They were able to see how he was, how his skate was, how was his technique, how did he gain speed." "When he got to Brazil, the kids went nut." "I tried to use all the English I had to try to talk to him" "What a fool!" "I was right there when he yelled that someone had stolen his skate." "I have a picture, from back them, of him doing a trick." "He was doing a disaster de back on the tri banks, as high as his face." "He came up, started to fly real high, with a chick's short, long hair, very stylish." "He did a few huge rock slide." "Hosoi was a bit different from the other skaters, because he wasn't just a skate performer." "He was practically a Rock Star idol, which was something that we had never seen in Brazil." "I invited him to go out clubbing, and I took him to Rose Bom Bom." "He loved it, and we became friends." "We used to go out all the time." "Every time he came over, we would go out." "Hosoi was another one of skate's revolution." "To build a Tony Hawk shape." "You can't even say that the fool did not know that he was exploiting someone else's strategy." "Tony Hawk came here, and saw one of his shoes:" "Tony Hawk." "He never launched that, but he had a Tony Hawk shoes in Brazil." "Tony Hawk surfboard." "It is ridiculous to have a Tony Hawk surfboard." "Tony Hawk and Christian Hosoi were the Vert gods." "So, people started to create a culture that didn't exist, that nobody wanted it for to exist, "To make quick, they copied it. "" "That's just not the right way of doing things." "It was just so..." "Easy, that even I got a cross design from Alba and added a Mustabi." "A tennis shoe company that copied the design of an American brand, but that used the trademark of an American shorts." "It was a whole mess!" "MAD RATS TENNIS SHOES" "There were people that used to go to the US, and then they would mention" ""Man, I visit California, and there was this company that makes shoes just like the ones from Mad Rats." "It's called Vans. "" "Mad Rats was the name of a company of shorts at about 1900, that no longer existed." "There is no doubt that it was just like Vans, a design that had been stolen, just like Alba also was." "But what could we do?" "They were the companies that sponsored the scene in Brazil, and all you care about is skating." "To me, Mad Rats, in my mind, it's a Brazilian brand." "But Mad Rats outside of Brazil..." "Well, I don't know, but I think Mad Rats..." "Mad Rats is ok." "Now, for the skaters, Mad Rats Freestyle shoes." " How much is it, Turco Louco?" " 9,90." "It's pure madness!" "And the last one for the Mob, hot OP's T-shirts, in awesome colors for 20,00!" "When one of our skaters went abroad, they took a Brazilian brand, with an American name." "The gringos would see it, and say:" ""Nope, you're not on my team." "So, how are you wearing my brand?"" "I was sponsored by "Bones", and I had a skull sticker just like the one that was on Hawk's and Lance's skates." "I had the same sticker on my skate, but my sticker belonged to the company that sponsored me." "I think the retaliation was even worse from those that had the American brand that had been copied by the Brazilian companies." "They really wanted to cause a scene." "It was really tough time." "Ueda had to go through it in 89, during the World Cup in Germany, where he did really well." "So, we were the Brazilian team, and the other teams were the ones with the real brands." "Santa Cruz's team, along with Spit Fire, and Powell Peralta, along with some other one, and we were the Brazilian team that nobody heard about, that nobody had ever heard about, while they all heard about" "the copied brands, which certainly jeopardized our practice time, on both 2 days that we were there, we were always the last one up, and they always turned off the lights during our session." "The last practice session was ours, which was around 11:30 pm." "He would start riding, and they would turn of the lights." "So, they did really jeopardize our team with the lack of practice." "We were the first to drop in, and nobody had the chance to practice." "We didn't have time to practice, and without that there's no skate." "We came to compete and show what Brazil does on skate, not what the Brazilian copied brands do." "As they are the ones that ruin skate, defaming the skaters around the world." "We came all the way from Brazil to do the best we could." "At the finals, I remember that" "I thought, "What am I doing here?"" "The final had four rounds, and Ueda rode extremely well." "I think he was the youngest finalist there." "He was the Brazilian revealing athlete, and the audience did like him." "Hawk placed in first, Magnusson in second," "Jeff Kendall in third, and Ueda in fourth." "The key is to do your best, and not worry about others." "And in the end, you will get the ranking that you deserve." ""In fourth, Lincoln Ueda. " Wow!" "Fourth place!" "I didn't know what to do, and not understanding a word of it..." "I got up to get my award." "Then, Titus started talking a bunch of things that I had no clue about." "So, he came to me and said:" ""Hey, raise your award... "" ""Turn that way so they can get a picture of you. "" "So, while he was talking, I turned my back, and left, as I was ignoring him, but the truth is that I didn't understand a word." "He went to get me again, and says, "No, no." "It's that way. "" "And they finally got to take a picture of me and my award." "I remembered that Miriam, in an interview for "Vitória", she asked, " Do you remember who is this Brazilian guy?" "She asked Hawk." "I just can't remember what was his answer." "People still thought that Brazil was far from getting there." "So, a fourth place was something impossible to get." "And what happened was that Ueda made the impossible come true." "Ueda opened the doors of possibilities, and that's just priceless." "We earned it, it's already under our belt, and it's ours." "So, from now on, you cannot make any mistakes." "We had built the foundation, and now is time to build on it, to edify it, to grow." "The foundation collapsed, and it was tough." "A lot of people gave up." "I'm not going to stop skating, now that I am working." "I can still skate on the weekends." "But, not with the same dedication as I did before, of keeping up with the crew, with the new ones, that I can't do." "We skate because that's what we do." "We like it, but I won't be competing, doing contests, and so on." "Those that had a savings of 50 thousand can still go to the bank on Monday to cash, if you want, that amount." "All sums above 50 thousands will uemain invested but handled by the Centual Bank." "As the savings were froze by the President, everybody was short in cash, and that's when the companies went a long and froze their investments as well." "In 3 months of Collor de Mello, I lost everything that I had saved during the 8 years that my company was a leading market." "The maintenance of hateful puivileges that benefit only some segments, the wau against poverty demand deteumination and pulse fuom the goveunment." "Fou the woukeus that saw theiu puuchase poweu wane every day, that saw theiu family going without food, the solutions could no longeu be delayed." "Now, we have to win ou win." "May God helps us all." "Total panic!" "People didn't even know where to run to, where to go..." "Nobody knew what to do." "Nobody had money anymore." "Everything had been kidnapped." "I tried to sell Paintball, but that didn't work either." "I packed my stuff, a mirror from Mustabi's store, a glass counter, and then I went to Maresias." "I set up a tent there, and started to sell sandwiches and caipirinhas." "A lot of skaters went broke." "A lot of people quit skating." "Even Mineirinho had stopped." "He just quit skating." "And Mineirinho was from Vert's toughest period." "When he started to embody it, when he started going higher, the market gave Mineirinho a low blow." "It even affected Ueda." "He had to pitch in at his father's shop to help raise money to support them." "The dream that the skaters had seemed to have ended." "Dinho de Santos..." "Nobody even know where he is today." "He disappeared." "He was a national champion, and he quit." "Back then, even Sergio Negão, who was on Brazil's spot light, that was the revealing athlete, that was the man..." "If you talked about Brazilian skate, you would talk about Sergio Negão." "Back then, even he had to stop skating." "The big names had lost their sponsors, the big sponsors stopped throwing events." "Urgh had stopped, Lifestyle, Mad Rats, everyone got out of the market." "Oveuall have taken the liberty to gatheu the companies to discuss, especially at a time like this, of an economical cuisis, it is important to discuss about what's going to happen to the sport, about what's going to happen to the companies that depend on it." "Overall felt that eventually those brands would disappeared, as they were not advertising, and without it, it would break. "" "During Plano Collor, Mr. Nelson lost a lot of money with the whole structure that he had built." "He wasn't making any money, and he had to pay for the whole thing out of love for his son, as he didn't want to destroy it, but he didn't have much options." "He had to rent it." "We're going to have to rent the shed, and take the ramp down." "What was I going to say?" "What your father says, rules." "When Ultra closed, I thought that Vert had ended." "And that hurt, because Vertical was something important to me." "So, I said, " I am not going to stop skating, and so" "I will frequent ZN often. "" "Vert gave me an awesome base for street skate." "Cristiano and Bob started to ride street." "They didn't stop." ""No, we are going to ride street, because this is the time." "Let's go because is street is the new deal. "" "We started seeing them riding street, and everybody started to ride street." "So, yeah, let's ride street." "We don't have a half, but we can do street." "After Ultra, we had Prestige." "Prestige was responsible for keeping our dream alive." "After Ultra closed, Digo kept on skating at Prestige, and it was during this time that Digo really improved, and leveled up." "Nobody could beat him." "Digo defended Vert during that time." "All of a sudden, he started to take an interest in Vertical, when there was no Vertical ramps, and so there weren't a lot of riders." "We really do need some ramps." "We need ramps, sponsors." "There is no incentive for the Brazilian athletes." "Digo is another skater that I found to be very special, because of the way that he rides, and he came from the Downhill." "That's what's crazy about it." "Digo, opening fou the Zona Norte's contest." "Street was taking over, and Digo said, "What?" "We have a half." "Let's skate here." "Let's learn it. " We used to watch the American videos, and say, " Look at what they are doing in the Vert. "" "He used to take the bus to come to our office in Jacarei." ""Hey, Jorge." "I'm at the bus station. " And I'd say, "So, walk. "" "He used to walk all the way to the office, poor guy." "When he came to us, he was still a bit puny." "He wasn't as tall..." "He was just a teenager." """ " So, did you think about it?" " Yes, I did. "" "You could join Urgh, but I am not going to send you anywhere else." "No, please don't do that." "Look at what you have done." "You come and go, come and go." "I am not going to tolerate this anymore." "On this last time, I was fed up." "Because he was..." "I couldn't understand why he acted that way." "And it was exactly on this last time, that he had a contest in Canada to go." "It's up to Jorge." " What Jorge?" " Jorge Kuge." "Haven't you heard of him?" " Why?" " Because he is my sponsor." " Is he a stingy person?" " No, that's not what I said." "He doesn't want to pay you?" "No, I didn't say that..." "He said that he will pay me." " He said that he'll pay for my ticket." " Oh, that's good." "Good?" "That's great." "I called the agency, "Book the ticket. " And he said," " Oh, man." "Thanks!" " Thanks?" "Don't thank me!" "There is no reason to thank me, as you are going to pay for it." "You will pay for it in 10 installments, and you are going to pay me back." "So, he went a week before the contest." "On Sunday night, I got a call from him." ""Jorge, we just finished the contest. "" " So, how did it go?" " I won!" "Oh, my God!" "You won?" " Yeah, I won." " How did that happen?" "I won!" "I was so happy, man." "I said, "Man!"" "I had a few contacts there, so I told him to look for Richard from whatnot company..." "No, man." "The guys from Deluxe..." "Man!" "They said that I was in!" "I said, " Oh, really?" "Way to go, kid!" "Way to go!" "I didn't even wanted to take him back in Urgh." "I told him to stick with the gringos, because that's where he would grow." "When Bob took the title in Canada, it was the first time that we felt that Brazil had finally gotten there." "So, later on that same year, Digo won in Germany." "And we said, "We got there, and we're here to stay. "" "I can't believe it!" "I don't even know what to think of it." "I don't know..." "I came, I skated..." "I don't know what to say." "It was the first time that a Brazilian skater won with a switchstance line." "So, it was something totally new." "He reinvented Vert." "Bob doesn't share Hosoi or Tony Hawk's style." "He had his own style." "It was his special way of riding." "He was the one that showed the pro world how you should skate in the 21st Century." "He showed us that, " Look, you can also do this. "" "You had to ride a whole lot." "So, get on board with the whole lot of skate, and come on over. "" "And a lot of people started doing that." "They followed Bob, and the path that he chose." "I became interested once again, and I started to ride more often at Prestige." "So, I started to..." "I had my own car, so it was easier to get to Prestige." "Jorge Rotatori used to have a half pipe, that had been forgotten in Jorge's shed, so I said:" ""Jorge, let's put this half together for us to skate on. "" "My father had a shed, and I asked him if we could put it there." "He allowed it, and we set the half up, and I rode every single day." "Mineiro, this is interesting, went at it from a different way." "He went to Europe, and from there he became noticed." "He got some good sponsors in Europe." "And then, he's technique improved so much that blew our minds." "Because it happened so fast." "He just sits down." "He sits on the skate." "That's Sao Bernardo's style." "It's carving." "That came from the defects on the ramp." "Because the rowdy ones don't fall." "He sits, but he doesn't fall." "This is the last contest of the year, the Vert's finals." "I think that Sandro Dias is number one in the world's rank." "This is the day." "Sandro Dias' day." "I think that all the Brazilian skaters, except Bob, had a hard time to adjust, to fit in, because of their nationality, the language..." "It wasn't the most natural thing in the world." "I used to stay there for a month, then I would come back to Brazil." "I would then skate in Brazil, while working at the shop." "I would organize and set everything in the shop." "My father was the one that took care of it, and then I would go back for another month." "So, I did go back and forth for quite some time." "So I said, " Dad, here's the deal." "I am going for good this time." "I'm gonna go, and see what happens. "" "The same idea that had motivated Ueda to move to the US, had also motivated other skaters." "So, when Cris saw that Ueda moved, he said: " Our dream is not dead." "It is still alive, and I want to be a part of it. "" ""I have to go to the US, man." "There's where the real deal is." "I was just wasting time here." "I have to go. " And I tagged along." "There was this contest at Soul Bowl, in Hermosa Beach, and they started to announce those that qualified." "I had finished my rounds." "They started calling out the names, but not mine." "So, Anjinho said:" ""Zoio, you won, Zoio. "" " I won?" "!" " You won." "The others missed it." ""You won, fool!", and I said, "How did I win?"" "When I saw that I had won, I just couldn't believe it." "4 thousand dollars..." "I got a car, a laptop..." "I went home psyched out." "He was one of the Half Championship's leaders." "All three of them were." "And he could even beat Ueda," "Mureta, Bob." "They were the number ones." "Zoinho, you are really flying, bro!" "And he used to crack it up." "He would turn here, there, and there, very varial and even some, He was killing it!" "And back then, he was competing against Sandro, holding the same level." "He really had a shot of being World Champion." "I was a killing it, no doubt." "I wouldn't miss a single trick." "Back then, I didn't even use the equipments." "I didn't miss anything." "And then, there was the accident." "I got in a car accident in Porto Alegre." "Maybe it was meant to happen." "It was around 10:30, and someone mentioned a party at someone's house or a club." "So, Lécio and I said that we weren't going to go, because we had to wake up early to ride, or we would be wasted." "But as Cris was used to go out clubbing, to the night scene in São Paulo, he said, " No, I'll go." "I'll go if you have room in the car. "" "The girl that was driving crashed." "I passed out, when I tried to move." "When I woke up, my whole body was sore and my leg felt like it had been crushed, like it had been ripped off." "I couldn't feel anything." "And I blacked out again." "I just had a few glimpses..." "They took me to the hospital, I had surgery." "They put a plate, pin, screw." "I went back to São Paulo, and the doctor told me to find something else to do, because I wouldn't skate anymore." "I can't say that the accident put a final end on his skating career, but it held him back." "It separated him, his dream, not permanently, but from the level that his friends were." "No, it was just because it was hot." "But is it forbidden to walk around wearing trunks?" "Doesn't everybody walk around wearing trunks in Rio de Janeiro?" "And so it happen, that on the the next day, on the newspaper..." "Guess who made the cover?" "Cris wearing trunks." "Everybody was talking about Cris' trunks, and he was the big hit." "I stepped on it, and said:" ""Oh, my God!" It's hard." "I hadn't skated on the ramp, and I didn't know what transition it was." "But then, there was a pause, and they were all waiting for me to drop in." "I didn't know they'd all stop." "I was awaiting a turn to drop on my knees." "But it was too late, and I had to drop in, as everyone was staring at me." "I tried it for the first time, but it didn't work." "On the second try, everything was ready, but I chickened out." "On the third try, I heard the cleaning lady, saying:" ""Have faith, fool!"" "(KBpM)" ""KBytes pra Mula"" "LIFE ON WHEELS"