By Christopher Tremblay

In the eighth grade, Kerlleson Oliveira was introduced to football as a kicker. He had never really thought about the sport or participating in it but his middle school coach saw something special in him and invited him to give it a shot. Oliveira found a position on the team, and although he has only played the sport for three years, he has already recorded a personal best field goal of 65 yards. 

Although the now sophomore at Norwood High School (NHS) would eventually like to attend college while also playing football, he wouldn’t be too upset if he were offered a scholarship in his new sport, track and field.

During his freshman year at NHS, a good friend of his, Mikel Dujour, brought him to the track tryouts and soon after a passion for the sport grew. 

“Mikel is someone that I looked up to and inspired me,” Oliveira said. “We both push each other to get better. Knowing that I was fast, I started looking at the springing events; long distance doesn’t interest me and I don’t have the stamina for it.”

Although having never run track before, Oliveira went into the tryout with the utmost confidence in his ability. He noted that is just the type of person that he is, always looking to give it his all no matter what he does. His first ever varsity race was the 55-meter dash.

“I did alright, but it was just my first race and I knew that I would get better and over the years,” Oliveira said. “I have improved, but that first race was a very humbling experience. So now I try to go the gym as much as I can, gained some weight, and have gotten stronger which have all helped me.”

Oliveira also takes part in the 300 as well as the long jump, an event that has really intrigued the young athlete. 

“The 55 is more of a competitive race for me, no pacing, just an all-out sprint,” Oliveira said. “The long jump is my best event as it is the one that is best suited for me. I never knew that the event had existed; jumping into a sandpit excited me with each time that I took part in it.”

The first time that the Norwood sophomore participated in the event, he jumped 15 feet and didn’t really know if that was good or not but he was still excited about his performance.

“I had no idea if 15 feet was good or not until I started seeing the other kids jumping further and further,” Oliveria said. “At that moment, I knew that I had to get better and to do that I was going to have to hit the board as much as I could. I went on to work hard to improve my jumping so that I could earn points for my team.”

While that first jump was only 15 feet, the Norwood athlete has since improved upon that distance. Last year, he broke the Norwood freshman record by jumping 16’10,” and then in the spring he broke his own freshman record with an astonishing jump of 18’ 10 ¼,” placing him as the 11th best jumper in Norwood history. In addition to his record-breaking jump, Oliveira is second in both the 55-meter with a time of 7.21 seconds and in the 300 posting a time of 40.29 seconds.

“He has improved a lot this year and is our top long jumper on the team,” Norwood Coach Jeff Loja said. “He is an energetic individual who loves sports and athletics. He is very uplifting and a positive competitor and has placed in every meet for us this year.” 

Coming into his second year as a track and field athlete, Oliveira has put three goals on his list: 1) he would like to run the 55-meter with a sub 7 second time; 2) post a 19 foot long jump; and 3) make the State Tournament in the 300 (he is currently 3 seconds off the qualifying time). 

“Coaches are surprised at me at times,” Oliveira said. “I don’t like taking no for an answer and love proving people wrong.”

Over the next two and a half season on the winter and spring track teams, Oliveira has one big goal on his bucket list – he wants to break the schools long jump record of 21’ 11 1//4”.

“I believe that it is in my range, but never in my life did I think about accomplishing something like this,” Oliveira said. “I’m going to have to work hard to achieve that accomplishment – jumping 22’, which is basically what I’ll need to do for the record, would be absolutely crazy!”

Coach Loja noted that if Oliveira continues to develop he will become one of the high school’s top sprinters as well as one of the best jumpers in the Tri-Valley League. He went onto say that he should definitely be competing in the Division Meet later in the year, and if things go as planned, he may be able to find himself in the State Tournament.