William Vanzela stood in the back of a news conference in late November 2022 as the television cameras were trained on another soccer player signing a professional contract.
Vanzela, the veteran goalkeeper for the Baltimore Blast, gained a new teammate that day. Josh Diaz, a 10-year-old Towson resident and star striker for the Sporting Baltimore youth soccer team, signed a contract with the Blast ahead of the 2022-23 season.
“It’s very special to me. It’s going to be awesome because I never thought I was going to play really on that field,” Josh told news reporters as his parents Orlando and Soledad sat next to him. The smile on his face looked like it would never wear off.
He dressed for the first game of the season against Utica City FC and scored a goal, resulting in a resounding roar from the home crowd. The moment was a culmination of Josh’s lifelong dream of becoming a professional soccer player.
Less than a year after the news conference, Vanzela recalled a mix of “happy and sad tears” that day.
“It was a dream come true,” he said, “but it was the end of the road.”
When the Baltimore Blast took the field for its Major Arena Soccer League home opener on Dec. 2, it was without Josh’s No. 99 in the lineup. He died on Oct. 18, less than two months shy of his 11th birthday, after a three-year battle with bone cancer.
His death left a hole in the Baltimore soccer community that had rallied around him and his family since his diagnosis. Vanzela, who is known for his philanthropy with children in the Baltimore region, said the last few months have been extremely difficult as Josh’s family faces life without their son.
Josh started playing soccer as soon as he could kick, his parents recalled. At age 3, he joined Old Line Soccer Academy, which later became Sporting Baltimore.
“He was a sports lover. A church lover. And school lover. He loved math,” his mother Soledad Rivera said.
By the time Vanzela met Josh in 2022, the elementary school student had been battling pediatric osteosarcoma, an aggressive form of bone cancer, for two years. Doctors found the disease after Josh broke his femur playing soccer in 2020. He appeared to beat the cancer in 2021, but it returned in March 2022, and doctors amputated his left leg to stop the spread.
While he underwent treatment, Josh played video games with Vanzela and attended Blast practices. Their lockers were next to each other and Josh often offered critiques to Vanzela, a five-time indoor soccer champion.
“One of the most important things of being a pro athlete is to inspire a lot of people,” said Vanzela, an assistant soccer coach at Johns Hopkins University who also runs his own youth goalkeeper camps.
Though his condition worsened, it didn’t stop Josh from doing what he loved, his father Orlando said. He continued practicing his soccer skills and attending his team’s games. After returning home from chemotherapy, he would kick a ball around the house on his crutches, resulting in a few broken picture frames, his dad said with a laugh. He also played wheelchair basketball and swam at Kennedy Krieger Institute, where he was receiving treatment.
“That boy was something,” Orlando said.
In his 11 seasons with the Blast, Vanzela didn’t often publicize his work with charities, opting to work quietly in the community. But in Josh’s case, he was more vocal in hopes of helping the family pay mounting medical bills.
Last season turned out to be Vanzela’s last with the Blast. He announced on social media on Nov. 29 that he would not be playing for the Blast this season after his contract was terminated, but he had no plans to retire. His philanthropic efforts will continue.
“They are trying to be who you are,” he said of the children he mentors. “It’s my way of showing good examples.”
In the fall of 2022, Vanzela, Josh’s family and members of the Baltimore soccer community began organizing fundraisers to help pay Josh’s medical costs.
“We spend more time with our soccer family than with our own family — three, four, five days a week,” said Amy MacFarlane, whose son played soccer for Sporting Baltimore with Josh’s younger brother Francesco.
MacFarlane, the team mom, helped start a GoFundMe, which had topped $22,000 by the end of November.
“When something happens to our soccer family you act right away,” MacFarlane said.
In addition to the GoFundMe, Vanzela used his connections to auction off high-ticket items such as a signed Cedric Mullins Baltimore Orioles jersey and a training session with Blast player Jonatas Melo.
Additional money was raised through the sale of bright green #JoshStrong soccer socks, which have become a mainstay on the Baltimore youth soccer circuit. The Blast also wore them during pregame warmups last season.
“It means a lot,” Orlando said of Vanzela’s relationship with his son. “The way he … it was like an older brother. He’s very kind.”
One of the last times Josh spoke with Vanzela, he told the keeper that 2022 was the best year of his life.
“That touches me,” Vanzela said. “That helps me find some peace. I am crying right now. This is hard. It’s not fair.”
Sporting Baltimore’s first game after Josh died took place a few days later. MacFarlane said she wasn’t sure if Josh’s family would show up. But sure enough, they were there. The team and opposing players wore stickers for Josh, held hands in the middle of the field and then played soccer. Just like Josh would have done.
Josh was buried at St. Joseph Fullerton Cemetery on Oct. 28. Hundreds of people turned out, including many youth soccer players dressed in their uniforms and #JoshStrong socks.
A few feet from the gravesite sits a soccer field, ensuring that Josh’s favorite sport will never be too far away.
Photo Credit: Mikayla Mellis
Issue 284: December 2023 / January 2024
Originally published Dec. 13, 2023