Pelé

PELE

Edson Arantes do Nascimento or better known as Pelé was born in Três Corações on Oct 23, 1940. He was declared as the greatest soccer player of all times and began his career as a teenager. Due to his excellent kicking and game strategies he made his first debut with the major league Santos club in 1956 at the age of 15. Only a year later he was selected to play for the Brazilian national team, and in 1958 he led his new team to victory in the World Cup, Brazil's first international championship. Brazil again won in 1962 and 1970 with Pelé on

the team. In his long career he was never seriously injured and played 1,363 games scoring a total of 1,281 goals. After a long career the Brazilian star retired in 1974, but soon returned when offered a multi-million dollar contract. Known as "The Artist" his skills are yet to be matched. He is remembered for his unimaginable ball control, his consistent ability to score spectacular goals, and being the first player to attempt the "bicycle kick".

Have you ever heard of Edson Arantes do Nascimento? Probably not, because people new him by "The Artist" or "Pele". Pele' was very well known because of his unique talent in the sport of soccer. The skinny little fifteen year old boy would wait throughout the years watching his father work hard at his soccer career. It all started with Pele' playing "futebol" in the lot behind his house at his young age. He and his friends would play with Coca-Cola cans that were serving the purpose of goal posts, side walks for side lines and a ball that was a round bundle of rags that were held together by strings, since the rubber ball was a luxury. Growing up in Brazil many clubs offered to sign him up for the minor teams like his father started. Playing for the Brazilian team, Edson was given the name Pele' perhaps because he revealed his expertise in pick-up games in vacant lots (peladas). Soon before Pele' began his career as a professional" soccer player, his father ended his career because of a major knee accident that occurred during a slide-tackle and unable him to go on with his career therefore the great abilities of Dondinho (Pele's father) were passed on down to his young son, Pele. As Pele' became more and more famous receiving more and more cruzeiros (money), he would travel around the world showing his talents in many countries and becoming very well known. As he traveled around the world, to his many destinations (some which even he did not know he was going) he would carry a gym bag literally every where he went which people of course would think that it was his soccer equipment, which they were proved wrong. What he really carried in his gym bag was all one single thing, money, which he called cruzeiros (back then, people that lived in the United States were not very familiar with the word "cruzeiros" meaning money). I think that Pele' had one of the most successful soccer careers in the history of the sport. He was not just a great soccer player but he also was a team player, was aggressive and was very competitive. While growing up in the modern part of Brazil, Pele' learned about the importance of religion and self-confidence. He always kept his standards high, but was also never disappointed, just worked harder at it. As a soccer player myself (although not quite as good as him...yet) I believe that for those reasons, is why Pele' was as successful as he was, and I hope that some day I could be as good as he was.