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Kotaro Umeda sat at his small desk as a high school freshman and decided to dream big. He was in a goal-setting class, after all.
On a blank sheet of paper, he wrote, “I will become a Division I soccer player at a top 10 program.”
The teacher looked over Umeda’s shoulder and read his goal. He laughed at him.
“Your goal is unrealistic. You need to change it,” the teacher said, walking away.
Reflecting back, Umeda said he understood his teacher’s doubts.
“I don’t hate him,” Umeda said. “At that time, he’s right. I’m a first-generation immigrant. My family doesn’t know anything. I was getting in trouble a lot.”
This is the story of Umeda, a former collegiate and professional soccer player, a college graduate, a speaker and an author. Yet this is also a story of a dreamer, fueled by core values he has held since around 6 years old: discipline, courage and faith.
Discipline
In Japan, his mother, Julie, was a dentist, and his father, Yuji, was a surgeon. They decided to come to the United States so Kotaro and his brother, Yuta, would have more educational choice. They knew they would have to forfeit their licenses and start with a blank slate.
Yuji would restart medical school at 40. The Umedas struggled financially, living in seven apartments in five cities, landing permanently in Cleveland.
“They did such a good job of hiding the reality,” Kotaro said. “They lied to me, but in a way to protect me and my brother. When they told me the truth a couple years ago, I got very emotional. But I think that’s what love is sometimes.”
In Japan, Kotaro Umeda’s father trained professional soccer players. Umeda feels he was destined to become a soccer player. (Photos courtesy of Kotaro Umeda)
While Umeda was on the Louisville soccer team for only two seasons, the university impacted his life for years to come.
Umeda’s parents showed love through discipline, enacting a strict curfew. Every night, his mother cooked balanced Japanese dinners with a protein, miso soup, rice and veggies to fuel the boys’ athletic endeavors.
“I had two loving parents that were willing to do anything for me. I had an older
brother who went through the obstacles before me. … It all helped me and worked out in a way for me to see the path that I should take,” he said.
Then, when he was 12, Umeda’s mother got cancer. As the medical bills added another layer of stress to an already-dire situation, the family couldn’t afford to have Umeda play on the club travel team.
“It took me into a really dark place,” Umeda admitted.
Every day after school, Umeda would come home, check on his mom and grab his soccer ball, heading out to the backyard. He would lead himself through drills, getting repetition after repetition of his footwork. When it snowed or rained, Umeda would just layer clothing and head to the garage to practice.
“My motivation wasn’t there. It was just my discipline. My discipline helped me maintain consistency in my work,” he said.
During those daily practices, Umeda said it was just him and God in the backyard. He refused his friends’ invitations to party.
“My mom was fighting for her life, and I had to do things on my own,” he said. “That’s when I started dreaming.”
Eventually his mother began to recover from cancer, making the family more financially stable. Umeda joined an academy soccer team in high school, allowing him to get scouted for college. By his senior year, the goal he set in class as a freshman came to fruition.
“Years later (that same teacher) had to read my National Letter of Intent when I was going to Louisville, which was (ranked as the) No. 6 program in the country. I was the No. 1 recruit in the state of Ohio for my position.” He smiles, recalling the tale, though it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “I’m very grateful for how life works.”
Courage
Umeda said college soccer turned him from a boy to a man. When he began his college career at Louisville, the level of competition shocked him.
In high school, he grew accustomed to being the best. At Louisville, he was surrounded by other great players.
“Everyone has the same amount of talent, discipline, commitment as you,” he said.
This change made Umeda question everything. He remembers a moment before a 6 a.m. practice in particular.
“I’m literally waiting in the lobby at 4:50 a.m.,” he said. “Nothing is open, everyone’s asleep and it’s pitch dark out and I’m not playing well. I’m just like, ‘What am I doing with my life?’ ‘What is this?’
“But, you know, I have no other options but to put one foot after the other. You show up, you go to your locker and you go to practice.”
So that’s what he did. But after redshirting his freshman year, he played in only two games the next season. He decided to transfer to Akron.
From the beginning, the differences between the soccer programs were obvious.
“At Louisville, everything was out of love. The way they gave feedback, the way they criticized, it was out of love. The head coach there did a fantastic job, and it felt like he was more than just a coach, he felt like a fatherly presence,” he said.
“Whereas at Akron, they didn’t care about how you felt. Feedback, criticism, they held the standards so high, and if you didn’t meet it, you were going to get criticized. (I) had to be mentally tough to be able to perform under that pressure.”
In the middle of his first season at Akron, Umeda got a call that changed his life.
A scout told him there was an opportunity for him to play professional
soccer in Brazil. Umeda needed to be there in five days for a three-week tryout to potentially make the team.
“It’s a dream-come-true moment, but in reality it wasn’t beautiful at all,” Umeda reflected.
The two most difficult conversations were telling his coach and teammates he was leaving to pursue a professional career. He packed up his apartment that night, putting everything into two suitcases.
In the airport before he left for Brazil, Umeda’s father asked him if he was OK. Yeah, Umeda said. But his father asked again. This time Umeda responded with the truth: He was terrified. He didn’t know anyone in this foreign country and didn’t speak the language.
“Son, it’s OK to be afraid,” his father told him. “Sometimes the fear doesn’t go away. You just have to do it afraid.”
Faith
After the three-week tryout in Brazil, the professional team signed Umeda to a two-year contract, marking the beginning of his seven-year career. By age 20, Umeda accomplished his lifelong goal.
Then, at 22, Umeda tore his hamstring, an injury that left him without a contract or a roster spot. That same night, Umeda contemplated suicide. His brother, Yuta, stayed with him on the phone all night, talking him out of it.
After that night, Umeda would walk by a psychologist’s office every day. Only weak people needed therapy, he thought.
“It took me eight months until I got to the point where I knew this wasn’t me anymore,” he said. “I needed help. I walked in, and she changed my life.”
His psychologist helped him shift his identity. Together, they dissected his routines, focusing on habits that made him feel fulfilled.
Umeda thought back to Louisville when his teammates introduced him to Christianity. Umeda grew up Buddhist, but when he learned about Christianity, he said he fell in love.
“We shifted my identity from being an athlete to being a Christian,” Umeda said. “It changed my life. I got to a point where my performance isn’t the most important thing. My performance with God is the most important thing.”
“I’m thankful for faith. It kind of saved and changed my life. Not kind of. Very.”
In January 2024, Umeda began playing in the Hong Kong Premier League. Here he holds the league championship trophy.
In 2019, Umeda published his first book, “I’m With You.” Now Umeda serves as a motivational speaker.
Umeda recovered from his injury and continued his professional career in Portugal. He had stints with the independent Michigan Stars and South Georgia Tormenta FC in the United Soccer League before heading to a team in Hong Kong. He also started to think about his long-term goals.
“(Professional soccer was) the only thing I wanted in life. That’s my ‘it’ goal. And then you actually get it … and you’re like, ‘OK, what’s next?'”
Umeda said his parents, coming from an Asian background, strongly valued education. He knew that once soccer was finished, he needed a college degree.
Umeda reached out to his former academic advisor at Louisville for advice. She suggested he apply to the NCAA Division I Degree Completion Award Program, a fully funded academic education for NCAA student-athletes to finish the degrees they started.
“That’s where it all began and changed my life. It changed my life,” he said.
In his professional residency in Hong Kong, Umeda began his degree in organizational leadership and learning. He would log onto class at 10 p.m. He didn’t mind. Writing papers, talking with his professors or competing in a biology lab, Umeda had fun with his education.
“This is an opportunity of a lifetime, so I went to every class,” he said. “I was so excited, so thankful rather than feeling like an obligation.”
Now Umeda shares his story to help others. He serves as an ambassador for suicide prevention, gives motivational speeches and writes books. After graduating from Louisville, he landed a consultant job in New York.
Reflecting on his career, Umeda knows his journey has been unorthodox, but he would not change a thing.
“I feel so fulfilled with my career,” he said. “None of this would have been possible without soccer. These lessons are transferable to all fields of career and life, and I know my soccer journey has prepared me for the future.”
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