spot and skating there. Here in the city, you
can skate everywhere, so I got more of a feel
of what being a skateboarder was. From then
on, skating with John and going out to the
warehouse at three in the morning-I knew
to just be ready to skate at any time. That's
when I started to realize that, "Hey, I really like
this. This is it."
When you entered the Vancouver
Contest 3 years ago or so, what was
that like?
It was the first time I had traveled with the
It works like that every contest. But today I'm
more comfortable with all those guys so I'm
not intimidated anymore, unless it's Tony
Hawk. Back then, I came from Brazil, I didn't
know anyone, no one knew me. I was just
stoked to be there. I didn't even think I was
going to make it to the finals or anything. I just
wanted to skate. Then I made it to the finals
and was like, "Great, whatever comes, at least
I'm going to be in the top 10."
But you ended up taking first place.
I had no idea. I thought I was fourth maybe.
cool to be a part of that-make people stoked
on skating again when it was kind of dying out.
All the skaters like Lincoln, Digo, and
Cristiano started skating again because they
knew it was possible.
How did things with Anti Hero come about?
I met Julien and John in Brazil, so I knew
those guys. After the Vancouver contest I went
back to Brazil and then came back here. That's
when Julien approached me, and told me he
was going to start a company, and asked if I
wanted to be a part of it. At that time I only
Sequence: Drop in at the 9 de Juhlo monument in São Paulo.
Opposite: Tall tailgrab transfer at the Taubaté capsules.
DLX guys, and it was the first time I had actu-
ally felt what a team was. You have the team
manager. We're all going to a contest, taking
care of all of us, going to a hotel. That was a
rad experience in itself. Just feeling what pro-
fessional skating was. And skating the con-
test; that was just cool to be there. I remember
my knees were really hurt. I had water in them,
and I couldn't really skate, but I was just
psyched to be skating with Frazier and Max.
Just seeing everyone skate was overwhelming.
All the heavy hitters that you see in videos.
were there. It just made me want to skate
more and more. I actually fed off of all those
guys on the deck, like "Yes! I can't believe it!"
Seeing Frazier skate was incredible, I didn't
care about my skating. I didn't think I did
good. When they said "Bob Burnquist first
place," I couldn't believe it. Frazier was stand-
ing right there. He got second place, and
slapped me five, and I was just wondering,
"What's going on?"
After Vancouver, how did things start
changing for you?
Since I did good, I went back to Brazil and
later I could come back here and skate pro-
fessionally and live-at least to try it out.
Skating in Brazil started picking up. It was on
TV because a Brazilian did good outside the
country. It was always a highlight, and it was
rode for Spitfire, and was getting flowed from
Real, but there were too many people on the
team and it would work better if something
else happened. So Julien started that, and I
told him it was an honor to be part of his team.
I was stoked to have John and Julien, and
we're here. Anti Hero is how it started, and
this is it.
I know you have a strong sense of family.
What was it like knowing that to pursue
skating 100% you would have to move
away from them?
At that time, I wanted to do something on
my own. I had always lived with them and had
to go by Mom's rules. Since Milena was here,
54 THRASHER