06-09-2024 Capital Style - Flipbook - Page 52
Élton Lexandro de Oliveira Santosa’s wife Kait, and three children, Rue, River and Maddox, look on from the
stands during warm-ups before an Annapolis Blues FC soccer scrimmage, in Crownsville.
BY KATHERINE FOMINYKH Capital Style
PHOTOGRAPHY BY TERRANCE WILLIAMSN
ait de Oliveira Santos watched her
husband, Élton Lexandro de Oliveira
Santos, hurtle down the turf at NavyMarine Corps Memorial Stadium
when it began to rain.
More than 8,000 cheers buzzed in her ears. Flags
bearing the Annapolis Blues FC logo furled in
the muggy air. Her three children, Rue, 11, River,
8, and Maddox, 5, sat beside her, as well as her
sister-in-law, Izabelle, and father-in-law, Victor.
It was July 15, 2023, the day of the Mid-Atlantic
Conference Championship game between the
first-year semipro club and the Alexandria Reds
— the game was tied and headed to a shootout.
Izabelle, an accomplished athlete in her own
right, had flown up from Curitiba in southern
Brazil for her brother’s season. She’d already felt
emotional, seeing him play in front of thousands
of adoring fans. And then she heard the chants:
“Élton. Élton. Élton.”
“It was so beautiful,” she said. “He’s an amazing
dad, coach and person, and this is what he loves.
He deserves this.”
Oliveira Santos’ teammate, Jacob Murrell,
K
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lined the final shot, a slam to the left side that
the Reds’ goalkeeper couldn’t touch — and the
world erupted around Kait. Down on the field, the
Blues — her husband included — rushed Murrell
and hoisted him into the air.
“I got chills. I was crying. I’d fallen in love with
the sport by then, but to see him out there working
so hard and win? I was so proud,” Kait said. “It’s
so good to see him happy like that.”
Oliveira Santos is returning for his second
season as defender and captain. Until he joined
the Annapolis Blues for its inaugural season in the
National Premier Soccer League, happiness was a
quality that Oliveira Santos hadn’t fully realized
had dulled within him since he’d left indoor soccer,
a low fire in waterlogged wood.
After spending his youth competing in his
home country Brazil, Oliveira Santos played seven
years professionally in Romania until he received
a call from a former teammate, a current player
for the Baltimore Blast indoor soccer team. “It
was a great life opportunity,” his friend told him,
which Oliveira Santos would soon come to agree
with. But only for six months a year.
Oliveira Santosa, above, runs back
on defense during a scrimmage.
Players on the Annapolis Blues
celebrate winning the National
Premier Soccer League Mid-Atlantic
Conference Championship match
against the Alexandria Reds on July
15, 2023, in Annapolis.
