My story

Kakas whole name is Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite. He is brazilian soccer player, which belongs to the best players of the world. Whith Brazil he won in 2002 World Cup and in 2007 he won Golden Ball for best player in the world.

When I was eight, I moved to Sao Paulo, Brazil where I began to play soccer.

I played on the Junior Team for Sao Paulo in 2000. We were in the middle of the Paulista Junior Championships when I received a yellow card.

I was suspended for the following game, so I took advantage of the free weekend to visit my grandparents, who lived in Caldas Novas at the time. My brother, my parents, my grandparents and I went to a water park. As I was coming down one of the slides into the pool, I hit my head on the bottom of the pool and my neck snapped.

I fractured the sixt vertebra in my neck. At the time, I had no Idea what happend.

I repeat, I fractured the sixt vertebra in my neck. I almost became paralysed and lost my ability to walk and even play football.

I returned to Sao Paulo to train on Monday. On Tuesday, I called the coach and told him that I couldnot bear the pain any longer. He sent me to see a doctor at the hospital. It was in that x- ray that the fracture was shown. The doctors told me I was very lucky that that nothing more serious happened. I believe it was not a luck. I believe God was protecting me during that time from anything.

Many people think that I became a Christian after the accident, but that is not true. My parents are Christians and they raised me with biblical values. The accident happened in October of 2000. Throught November and December, I could not play.

I began to play again in January of 2001, and after about 2 weeks, I was called to play for the Sao Paulo professional team. Because of this, I believe God had a purpose in that accident.

It is somethig that happened just before i had the great blessing of starting as a professional in Sao Paulo and initiating my career as a professional soccer player.

As I said before my parents alwasy taught met he Bible and its values, and also about Jesus Christ and faith.

I did not have a specific conversion experience, but little by little, I stopped sipmly hearing people talk about the Jesus my parents taught me about and there came time when I wanted to live my own experieces with God. I need Jesus every day of my life. Jesus tells me in the Bible that without Him I cant do anything. I have the gift and capacity today to play soccer because God gave it to me.

The day He wants me to do something else, I will do it and this is why I need Jesus in my life every day. I am successfull in my financial and my professional life, but all this has come from God and is a gift of grace from Him for my life.

All that I have, I thank Him for.

The difference Jesus makes im my life is that I know I will always have victory, I will always have joy, and I will always have success. This is independent of the situations I face or will face. This brings me great peace.

I usually tell the people who ask, that the Bible is like the users manual to life. It has everything we need in it. It makes me happy to read the Bible every day, to study it and to be in fellowship with God and learn more nad more about Jesus.

I will win many matches and I will lose many matches, but I know that in all of them, God has a plan. This is why I try to understad the plan of God for me in each moment so that I can have peace during times of pressure.

Everone wants to be a winner, but for me, the true meaning of winning is having Jesus in my life. It is a life of prayer, a life of intimacy and a lifelong friendship, knowing that God is our Father. I can say that Im victorious because Jesus lives in me.