The same goal

Shane Mettlen / Culpeper Star Exponent
Published: July 31, 2007

Technically it was a soccer match being played at Yowell Meadow Park Tuesday night, but really it was more like a meet and greet.

Players from the Brazilian Soccer Partnership took on Culpeper United in an exhibition organized by the Shiloh Baptist Association. Competitive spirit was in the air, but for the players the game and the Brazilians' trip to the United States were about more than just soccer.

"We came here to spread God's words between the soccer," said Helton Stais, a member of the Brazilian Soccer Partnership.

"We try to help kids learn the game and show how good the Brazilian play is."

The Brazilians have traveled throughout the South putting on clinics and exhibition matches. When the Brazilian Soccer Partnership arrived in Virginia Beach last week it split into three smaller groups, one of which is in Culpeper this week. The Brazilians put on a clinic in the Park during the morning before taking on Culpeper United in a friendly match that evening.
Today the group will repeat the process in Rappahannock and tomorrow in Madison.

"We like it here very much," Stais said. "Everyone is welcoming us here very much."

With their group split into three parts the Brazilians didn't quite have enough players to form a whole team. That meant picking up a few locals to round out the roster. One person that joined up with the Brazilian Soccer Partnership this week is Paulo Fittipaldi Jr. Fittipaldi is also Brazilian, but wasn't part of the traveling group.

"No we had never met before," he said. "I played with them, but I'm not with them. We're from different cities."

Fittipaldi was a foreign exchange student at Culpeper County High School in 2005 and is back in town visiting some of the friends he met. Fittipaldi played for the Blue Devils when he attended CCHS and couldn't resist the opportunity to get on the pitch with some of his countrymen.

"My host family here are Christians too and they had heard that they were going to come," Fittipaldi said. "So I came to talk to them to see if I could get an opportunity to play with them. I was glad that they are here."

Shane Mettlen can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 127 or