DRIVE starring Mike Vallely: Brazil Part 1 (2008) - YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQ0s_wEUpvY Transcript: (00:05) [Music] skateboarding has taken me all over the world and connected me to the global community opening my eyes my mind  and my heart along the way everyone has a purpose a calling and so i continue to go out into the world reaching out looking within and striving to live a meaningful life every moment and every mile but i am not a gypsy a rambler or a wanderer i am a family man a family man the hardest thing i ever do is when i say goodbye to my family to my girls love you guys all right i'll call you tonight sometime (01:06) but i'd only be half a man if i didn't eat my coffee thank you lucy and so i go out into the world away from my own family to spend time with other families and other young people in sometimes very far away places my extended family it's hard to be away yet every journey inspires me to keep going the amazing places i visit and the inspirational people i meet fuel my faith in skateboarding and in humanity and so i go knowing that i'm connected to something bigger through skateboarding [Music] in the skateboard world brazil is known (02:02) as a hotbed for raw skateboarding talent and since the mid-1990s there has been a steady stream of brazilian skaters who have come to the united states and have made a great impact on the international and competitive skate scenes but life within this developing nation of sprawling cities and poverty-stricken population can be hard and for many it seems there is limited opportunity to improve one's situation in countries like this skateboarding is an answer you know skateboarding is a way out maybe not out of the actual environment (02:40) you live in but in a sense it's a way to rise above the environment you live in skateboarding enables you [Music] to see your world differently and to approach your world differently i think that's why so many great skaters have come out of brazil because they have learned through the process of riding their skateboard how to rise above their environment [Music] [Music] sandro santos grew up in the town of poa located on the outskirts of sao paulo the world's second largest city in what would be considered a lower (03:42) class neighborhood back here in the states sandro found skateboarding and as a result he's calling to be proactive and pass on all the possible things skateboarding yeah here let me try let me try it [Music] [Music] oh yeah (04:55) [Music] [Music] hey [Music] wow [Music] hey [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] that's my sister (06:00) my mother and that's my brother nice to meet you all your neighborhood is a real neighborhood it's not like where i live where i live there's no personality there's no character it's just houses and people drive up in their cars and park in their garages and disappear this is your little girl right here right now what's her name brandon brendan brenda brenda's a big mike z fan is that right she loves the attitude that you have there she does yeah she really does tell her i said thank you and i'll always (06:38) remember [Music] as is commonplace in most metropolitan areas sao paulo has a central skate spot where skaters from all over the region gather the vale do and hangabot such meeting places are important for any skate scene as they provide a place for skaters to come together share skateboarding and forge new friendships i started skating when i was a kid first close to my home around my street then around the schools close to my house and all the place in my neighborhood that were known by the local skaters friends that still skating friends that (07:43) doesn't skate anymore friends that died this place turned out to be a special place for us and as i was a part of the first generation that skated here it was really hard not to come back so at least two or three times a week i come here and i consider it my second one [Music] why skateboarding why did you why did you decide to start skateboarding ten years ago my father was working in a butcher shop and they used to give gifts to the kids for christmas back then it was just me and my older brother at home and so two gifts came (08:23) one skateboard and one toy car i opened the packages i saw the skateboard was for him and the toys for me i changed the name tags i pulled this trick to get the skateboard it was a toy skateboard you know a cheaper skateboard but to me at that time it was the best skateboard in the world okay so you switched the names you got the skateboard you discovered this place you fell in love with skateboarding what motivated you to start participating in skateboarding and sharing skateboarding and teaching skateboarding and really you know (08:59) helping the skate scene here in brazil grow like most other kids i started skateboarding just for fun simply to have fun with my skateboard then one day a group of skaters that i used to hang out with invited me to go to this juvenile institution where kids that committed a crime had to stay we did a presentation a skate demo for them we all got to go home afterwards but the kids had to stay there when i got back to my house which is in a poor area i realized that a lot of kids in my own neighborhood would end up in that world (09:48) that is when i got the idea to help in some way and what i had to offer at that time was to go there and teach them how to skate and teach them some life lessons through skateboarding what makes skateboarding so special that you feel the need to go there and share that you feel the need to reach out to other people and try and turn them on to it [Music] i see and i believe that both in life and skateboarding we fall and wipe out it's skating we searched to find where the mistake was correct the position and (10:21) try it again until we do it the right way but a lot of times in life it's not like that fall for the first time and give up so i started to teach these kids that when you fall they need to do just like a skateboarding see what the mistake was correct the mistake try it again but this time get it right that's what i'm teaching them i don't care if they'll be champion skateboarders all i care about is that they turn out to be champion citizens yeah you're right you're right but not everybody not everybody can (10:59) articulate that not everybody can communicate that not everybody sees that even the hardcore skaters they don't all see that they don't all understand that why you why are you the guy because kate borden did this to me and helped me to see this at one point i was going down the wrong path the life of drugs very close to the crime if it wasn't for skateboarding i would have stayed on that path so if it worked for me i believe it can work with other kids that have the same origin that i have i understand (11:41) i understand i i don't think i was ever close to crime or i didn't do drugs or [Music] but i was empty you know i was i needed something something real you know something to be productive something that i could put my energy into and express myself through and i was lucky i found skateboarding you're lucky you found skateboarding and i guess it's guys like us like you and me who don't forget that and know how important it is to you know pass it on share it it's just who we are as skaters it's like it's our calling it's what we (12:26) have to do [Music] the foundation for the well-being of miners also known as febem or casa is an institution for kids under the age of 18 who commit a crime sentenced from six months to three years it is here that they pay a social educational penalty to society studying receiving vocational training participating in cultural and sporting activities like music theater and skateboarding [Music] because some of these kids have committed serious crimes i had my doubts about skateboarding in a youth prison but they were soon laid to rest by an (13:21) energetic passionate group of young men boys who had been lost but now on the path to self-discovery through skateboarding [Music] so [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] (14:45) the first time you went to the for them to teach to share what goals did you have in mind were you actually trying to teach just tricks or is it just the lifestyle what are you trying to communicate to to the kids initially i went over there to teach some tricks but i know that in the learning of any trick you need to use power determination strength [Music] you can teach a way of living a different way of living so i think it's both things teach a trick and a life lesson together okay but you started going there on your (15:32) own for a long time before they actually hired you to come in and teach so you were doing it just to do it and then suddenly it turned into a program now right it's true in the beginning it was hard because of the background of those kids and myself they have four kids they don't have support to study no support for food for living in health and for me it was like this too when i decided to get involved the only difference between us was that i rode the street and i understood that skateboarding could help my life (16:08) so the beginning was hard when it was all voluntary work i didn't have money i had to jump train station walls to get the train it took a lot of hours to get there and i barely ate anything it took a lot to make it happen but i was not tired or sad because what fed me and gave me strength and power through skateboarding i could give a life lesson and get a smile out of a kid that comes from a sad place and did something sad in his life we're connected we're all connected now because we ride skateboards without the skateboard (16:52) you know they're just here and i'm just out there but with the skateboard we're all together the fed is very tiring he said they're all happy that you're here oh thank you it's good to be here i want to know how many of these guys are going to keep skateboarding after i want to know how many guys are going to come back in here [Music] [Music] what kind of relationships have you formed with these kids no means actually all of them get out of there at some point a lot of them i never see again (17:37) and some i see around and it seems like they didn't learn their lessons they're still making the same mistakes and some get back to work back to their social life not connected to skateboarding and some keep skating that's what makes me happy so most of times the only motivation you can find i guess is just looking for that smile that sense of happiness even if it's only for that moment maybe it doesn't last then but maybe somewhere in the future they remember i have a hope for this and what i tell them (18:15) is that if they never step on a skateboard again they should apply this strength this determination discouraged to fall and get up at the end that they learned from skateboarding to their everyday life be it study family loving relationships or even on the job i think that everything that the skateboard can teach when you apply to your life to your day-to-day you can use all this and all the occasions that i mentioned love family and work [Music] despite the disc distance despite the different countries we live in and the different cultures (19:02) skateboarding unites us make us speak the same language thinking has to be the same and what bits inside here fits inside there too [Music] and everything we talked about now i think the mission is that we don't stop the mission continues there is a lot of work to be done and until that's done you can be sure that i will keep at it [Music] [Applause] [Music] you're crazy [Music] what's really amazing about sandro is that (20:05) he's given back he's given back to the skate scene he's given back to the skaters in his community and at the fabe but it's not like sandro is a pro skater and accomplished all these great things and now has all this money and abilities to give back he's given back out of his own heart and soul his time his energy he's dedicating to these kids without really anything in return i think the return is is that he feels like he's a part of something and he's learned so many great things (20:47) from skateboarding he's gained so much from skateboarding where it counts you know the real stuff and he feels there's no other choice but to give him back what i saw reflected back at me and sandra makes me feel good about my participation in skateboard he referenced me as an influence and an inspiration to him and if that is the result of the work i've done and all of my time out on the road is worthwhile and i can truly say that i am proud of what i have accomplished you