User:Melojonatas/sandbox

Jonatas Soldi Melo, better known by "Melo", is a professional soccer player for the Baltimore Blast. He was born in Sao Paulo, Brasil where he grew up playing soccer since he was 3 years old. From the early ages Melo showed good skills and loved the game. His first soccer appearance was for his middle school team where they competed in a lot of tournaments and leagues. At age 9, he got called to play for some of the best academy clubs in the city: Nacional Atletico Club, Portuguesa, Guapira, and the one of the best academies in the country, Corinthians Sport Club. At age 15, Melo was called to represent the state of Sao Paulo. At age 17, Melo was playing for the Corinthians U20 and received an offer to go play professional in Italy.

It was a big decision to leave home and go play professional overseas. Melo's parents gave him all their support and encouraged him to go. In 2006, at age 18, he transferred to Italy to play for Reggio Calabria Calcio A5, a professional Futsal team in Seria A1. While in Italy, Melo played for some great teams: Montesilvano Calcio A5, Pesaro Calcio A5 and Belluno Calcio A5. He won many titles and learned a lot throughout his career in Italy. Melo arrived in Baltimore in 2014 after his teammate, William Vanzela (they both played together at Pesaro in 2010), called him to join the Baltimore Blast. In 5 seasons, Melo and his teammates won 3 championships together. The ‘3 peat’ which represents the three titles won in 2016, 2017 and 2018 helped the Blast have a total of 10 Championships. He has also won 3 National's Futsal Championships, playing for the Elite Utah futsal team. In 2018 they represented the USA at the Concacaf World club of teams in Bangkok, Thailand playing against the best teams in the world.

Melo does a lot of community work visiting kids at hospitals, going to schools to talk about perseverance, team work, confidence. He loves to work with kids and youth soccer. He does a lot of coaching in the off season, helping players get better and transmitting his passion of the game to the kids.