Vaz was a member of the
Goan Institute in
Nairobi,
Kenya, and later in
Mombasa, described as "most celebrated social and sports club within the East African Goan community." He was a member of their
field hockey team as a
right full back as early as 1955. Vaz learned under
Anthony D'Souza, considered "one of the greatest hockey coaches in Kenya." He also played
cricket and
football, being described as an "all-around sportsman." Vaz was called up to the
Kenya national field hockey team for the first time in 1956–to represent his country at the
1956 Summer Olympics in
Melbourne,
Australia. The Kenya team placed 10th out of 12 teams in field hockey with a record of . Vaz continued playing for the national team and in 1959 represented them at the
East and Central African Championships, being an important piece of their tournament-winning squad. At the 1960 Olympics, Vaz was interviewed by American journalist
Al Abrams of the
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, who noted that he was a "dark, handsome lad of 27 who comes from Kenya, an English province in East Africa, some thousands of miles away from Rome" and that he "spoke perfect English." He was selected for his third and final Olympic appearance at the
1964 Summer Olympics in
Tokyo,
Japan, helping Kenya place sixth with a 4–1–3 record. A modern source about Kenyan field hockey noted that Vaz was one of the players who "easily" could have been considered the best Goan at the Olympics at the time.
Cyprian Fernandes described him as "Always rated among the greats of the game. A gentleman, with an eternal smile." ==Personal life and death==