Pele Soccer Essay Research Paper Athletic Genius

Pele Soccer Essay, Research Paper

Athletic Genius, Soccer Legend, Master of Offense, Pel.. All are names for Edson Arantes do Nascimento, undoubtedly one of the greatest soccer players of all time. This report is to inform you about the things Pel. accomplished throughout his life and career, and also about what he did that effected the world so much.

Pel. was born on October 23rd, 1940, in the Brazilian town of Tres Coracoes, which means Three Hearts. Pel. was the first child to Dondinho and Celeste. Dondinho, his father, was a professional soccer player, and started Pel. in the sport.

Pel. started playing soccer with his friends in the street, using a sock filled with rags as a soccer ball. They.d use the sidewalks as sidelines, and buckets or barrels as goalposts. .I became pretty good at being able to dribble the sock around and even learned how to hit it with my head,. Pel. says. He would sometimes cut school with his friends just to play soccer in open fields. In fact, he was discovered by a soccer scout while playing with some fellow workers.

Pel.s first job was a cobbler.s apprentice, which paid just over $2 a month. A cobbler is one who repairs shoes, a skill which Pel. continued to use throughout his soccer career. He would repair his and his teammates shoes because very few soccer teams had people to do it for them. About the time he took that job, he was given the nickname of Pel.. The word, which has no literal translation in Portuguese, was given to him by the boys he used to play soccer with. Pel. didn.t like it at the time, because he thought they were making fun of him. He sometimes got into fights with his friends over it, and asked them to call him Edson, his real name. They continued to call him Pel. though. Pel. says .Even today, my real friends call me Edson..

There was a time, earlier in his life, when Pel., smaller than most people he played against, would get into fights often during soccer games. Often times when he.d outclass the older boys he was playing against, they.d become cynical, and start fights with him. .He would come right back and take a swing at the kid who hit him. The games would be cut off when everybody got into a fight,. recalls Pel.s younger brother, Zoca. Pel. would often watch older workers play street games, and try to pick up moves from them. He and his friends would share their dreams of playing on a well-known team. Who would.ve thought. .Often when I got home from my job and from the games we played I was very tired and would skip my dinner. But to me playing soccer was even more important than eating,. Pel. says, reminiscing of his younger years.

The chance Pel. had hoped for most of his life, a spot on a soccer team, came to him when he was 12 years old. A former Brazilian soccer player, Valdemar de Brito, who was also a talent scout, had heard a lot about Pel.. As it turned out, Valdemar had been looking to start a junior soccer team, and had already begun to find kids from 12-15. Intelligently enough, he.d been scouting around schoolyards and sandlots to find players. Then one day, he happened upon Pel. playing at a construction site, and upon watching him, Valdemar deemed Pel. .pure genius..

.I couldn.t believe that such a young boy was able to perform some of the moves and tricks with the ball that Pel. was doing. He was making the older men look silly and in an effort to stop him, they kept fouling him. He would wind up on the ground but be up a second later doing it again,. remembers de Brito. De Brito asked Pel. to join the team, and Pel. accepted. Valdemar began to train Pel., and even started him on physical conditioning. It wasn.t until then, when Pel. was 12 years old, that he got the chance to play in a regulation game with kids his own age.

Pel. was already starting what would later be known as his signature right footed and head goals. After 3 years of junior soccer, he was starting to be watched by many professional clubs. Valdemar de Brito set up a meeting with Pel. and his parents to discuss starting Pel. in the professional ranks. At first Pel.s mother was reluctant to have him leave home, but eventually both his parents gave the okay. Pel. was to try out for the famous Santos team. So it happened in June of 1956, 15 year-old Edson Arantes do Nascimento boarded a train. He recalls it as a humorous experience now, but hated it at the time.

.It was terrible, I got sick almost as soon as the train left, and I felt worse as we went on. I was really scared I wouldn.t be able to take it anymore. But finally the train got to Santos and I felt a little better as we got off,. Pel. explains of his journey on the train. On June 8th he met with the Santos officials, and the Santos team, many of whom were skeptical. Pel. was nervous going onto the field, but gained confidence as he played, showing his amazing skills. The officials explained to him that he.d start out on the Santos juvenile team. By September, he was already playing for the regular team. In his first professional game, he started the second half, and scored his first professional goal just a few minutes into the half. This was to be the first of his 1,200 professional goals.

Pel.s next step was to try for the national team. The selection of the national team is very complex process, and involves going through sheets of every professional soccer player. The sheets include