Reinaldo Ramos Suassuna also known as Mestre Suassuna, was born in Bahia, Brazil in 1938 in Ilhéus and raised in Itabuna, started to practice Capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian martial art developed initially by African slaves in Brazil, in the beginning of the 1950s, against his will. Due to a physical handicap in his legs, the doctor recommended that he involve himself in a sport that was not soccer. Under the influence of two friends that had begun Capoeira and his medications, Suassuna started to practice this Brazilian art.