Leo Vieira talks about Brasa and the new ChackMat

Brasa was started in 2004 by the brothers Leo and Ricardo Vieira, Chico (Francisco Mendes) and Comprido, (Rodrigo Medeiros.) The four were equal part members. Brasa’s name was a little inside joke. Brasa are the coals used for the barbeques or Churrascarias that populate much of Rio. The word Brasa appears everywhere. Because of this, there is no color red in the Brasa logo.

From time to time, the four members would have differences. Some members would teach and some would train for competitions.

Also because there were four members in order to do or change anything all four members would have to vote and a unanimous vote was required for action. This was very aggravating because it was hard to get all four together and harder still to get all four to agree. Leo describes his position as “in-the-center” trying to reconciliate the
Brasa Team.

In June 2008, Leo welcomed his new son Daniel into the world. This prevented him from traveling to the US to participate in the 2008 World Championship. He said that during the competition his phone was ringing off the hook; students needing to register, students needing help with weigh-ins, students needing coaching, etc. The situation was ridiculous. Of all the partners in Brasa, he was the one who could help least because he was in BRAZIL and not LA.