Surrounded by the concrete, with few resources and at risk of eviction by the city, social projects help to rebuild homeless people, drug users, former convicts and minors. Between concrete beams, improvised cars and equipment, amateur boxers gather to train and learn the lessons that boxing provides: discipline, resilience and overcoming. The routine, which seemed threatened, gains breathtaking with the return of a space under a viaduct in the east of São Paulo.
The social project conceived by former publicist Nilson Garrido became closed two years. Under threat of eviction and with the expiration term (TPU) overdue, the space was disputed: a recycling cooperative claimed the use of the area, and part of it was eventually provided by the city to a private company.
Now gradually the boxing returns to the scene. A volunteer cleaning for more than two weeks has paved the way for the gym to work again. Official permission has not yet arrived, but Fábio Garrido, son of Nilson and current project coordinator, maintains activities with the help of those who found a shelter and a new opportunity.
“In 2004, I had an accident in a fight. I ended up in the hospital between life and death. My father was in prayer when, according to him, God said to him, ‘I will take care of your son; in return, you will take care of my children.’ Thus came the idea of setting up a gym to welcome excluded, rescue people from the street through sports, “says Garrido.
Without regularized documentation, the academy depends on the goodwill of the authorities and political articulations. “When they renovated the viaduct, they exchanged shock absorbers, reinforced beams, but did not properly seal. The infiltration spoiled our equipment. We have been here since 2007, but no one comes to help,” he says. He has now been asking for bodybuilding networks to donate stopped equipment.
“Here I recovered my dignity”
Founded in 1999, the project has already welcomed homeless people, drug users, former convicts and minor offenders. In addition to boxing classes and currently Jiu-Jitsu, it is also a ceiling for some students.
Nilson, the founder, died in 2022 after surgery, but the initiative is still alive in the hands of the family and alumni as Fernando Mencello.
Former homeless, Fernando became amateur boxing champion and today coordinates his own gym. “This place is like a church, a refuge. I remember everything: taking lunch box at the door so as not to starve, pulling wagon, selling old iron. Here I recovered my dignity,” he recalls.
At 44, outside the ring, Fernando tries to repay what he received by bringing the sport to children and adolescents, both at the Academy and the State Boxing Federation. “I found myself. I like to see the kid taking the first steps, taking a medal, going to the selection,” he says.
Use of public space is based on “precarious contracts”
Projects like Garrido depend on the so -called TPU: concessions that allow the use of public spaces by Paulistanos, with specific rules and deadlines. The problem is that these permissions are fragile.
“The TPU is what we call a precarious contract. There is no legal certainty, it can be revoked at any time,” explains lawyer Mariana Levy, expert in urban law.
Sao Paulo has 185 bridges and viaducts. According to the city, less than 25 houses initiatives such as samba schools, courts and popular gyms.
In a statement, the City Hall states that “it conducts the project Baixos de Viaduct, a public call that allows civil society to use these spaces, since it offers activities aimed at the population”, such as “kiosks, playgrounds, landscaping areas”. The management is up to the Municipal Secretariat of Subprefectures.
Experts say that public policies are lacking that encourage and formalize the use of these spaces. “I don’t know any municipal policy aimed at this today. What exists is done on a case -by -case basis, no standard, no structured program,” says architect and urban planner Hannah Arcuschin.
The Municipal Secretariat of Sports and Leisure in SP sent a note to DW saying that “the use of viaduct downs in São Paulo follows criteria provided for in the municipal legislation for requalification and use of these spaces.” The agency clarified that interested parties must present projects after publication of a notice.
Sport near home
The academy of former champion João Ferreira was one of the projects evaluated “case by case”. He set up a space in the neighborhood where he was born, Perus, on the northern outskirts of São Paulo —54th in the ranking of 96 districts evaluated in 2023 by the map of the inequality of the metropolis, published annually by the Civil Organization Rede Nossa São Paulo.
As a young man, Ferreira needed to leave the neighborhood and pay to train. Now you try to prevent others from facing the same obstacle.
“I wanted to train, but here in Perus I didn’t have it. I was going to Lapa and paid to train. Today I take care of the young man who arrives here. It’s a heart job, I have no support from state or city hall,” he says. 22 years ago, it survives with the help of friends and partners. About 20 people train there three times a week, including concrete concrete, rails, stream and a samba school.
Ferreira improvised his gym to welcome athletes of all ages. “I fought professional until 42. One day I passed and saw a boy who gave the space. Here nobody pays anything. Sometimes we help those who need: buy gas, gives a force. It does what it can,” he says.
Today, João Ferreira is proud of the champions he formed and sees in the new generations the hope of multiplying the lessons of humility and simplicity he has learned. “My dream is to be a professional fighter,” says Antonio Soares, 12. “Boxing brought me happiness, focus and friendships. It improved my notes and got rid of bullying.”
