hard work soon paid off, for when he was
eleven Pelé played for his first soccer team, that of the town of Bauru, Brazil. He moved up in competition with outstanding play and soon was one of the best players on the team. At the age of fifteen his mentor (an advisor), former soccer star Waldemar de Brito, brought him to Sao Paulo to try out for the major league teams. Pelé was quickly rejected. De Brito then took Pelé to Santos where he earned a spot on the soccer team. There, Pelé earned nearly five thousand cruzeiros (about sixty dollars) per month to play soccer. He soon received broader exposure when he was loaned to the Vasco da Gama team in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.