Discipline, Courage, and Faith: How Kotaro Umeda Built a Life Beyond the Soccer Field

Kotaro Umeda’s journey, from a high school freshman setting an “unrealistic” goal to becoming a professional soccer player, published author, and motivational speaker, is a powerful lesson in commitment. His life and career, spanning from top collegiate programs like Louisville and Akron to professional leagues in Brazil and Hong Kong, have been guided by three core values instilled in him since childhood: discipline, courage, and faith.

As a high school freshman, Umeda wrote a goal that stated he would become a Division I soccer player at a top ten program. His teacher, looking over his shoulder, laughed and told him his goal was unrealistic, suggesting he needed to change it. Umeda, a first generation immigrant whose family knew little about the American college sports system, understood the teacher’s skepticism. His family, led by his father, a former surgeon, and his mother, a dentist, had forfeited their licenses to move to the United States to ensure Kotaro and his brother, Yuta, had better educational opportunities. His father restarted medical school at forty, and the family endured financial hardship, living in seven apartments before settling in Cleveland.

Umeda’s parents showed their love through strict discipline, ensuring their sons focused on their athletic and academic goals. His mother consistently cooked nutritious Japanese dinners to fuel their athletic endeavors. Umeda credits the support and structure provided by his parents and the path paved by his older brother for showing him the way he should take.

When Umeda was twelve, his mother was diagnosed with cancer. The resulting medical bills made the already dire financial situation worse, forcing the family to cut expenses, including Umeda’s spot on a club travel soccer team. This experience led him into a “really dark place,” but it solidified his discipline. Every day after school, Umeda would check on his mother, grab his soccer ball, and head to the backyard. He led himself through footwork drills, getting repetition after repetition. When the weather was poor, he simply layered his clothing or moved to the garage to practice. He notes that his motivation was not always present, but his discipline “helped me maintain consistency in my work.” During these solitary practices, he found focus and began to dream of his future. He refused invitations from friends to party, dedicated to his self imposed regimen while his mother was fighting for her life.

His discipline paid off. As his mother recovered and the family stabilized financially, Umeda joined an academy soccer team and began getting scouted. By his senior year, the goal the teacher had laughed at came true. Umeda was the number one recruit in the state of Ohio for his position and signed with Louisville, then the number six ranked program in the country. Years later, that same teacher had to read Umeda’s National Letter of Intent, a memory Umeda is grateful for, seeing it as proof of how life can work.

College soccer was a profound test of courage for Umeda. At Louisville, the level of competition was a shock. Accustomed to being the best in high school, he found himself surrounded by equally committed and talented players. He redshirted his freshman year and played in only two games his second season, leading him to question his path. He recalled waiting in the lobby at four fifty a.m. for a six a.m. practice, pitch black outside, questioning, “What am I doing with my life?” Yet, he understood he had “no other options but to put one foot after the other.” He decided to transfer to Akron, where the coaching style was drastically different. While Louisville’s coaches offered feedback “out of love,” Akron’s program held impossibly high standards and criticized heavily if those standards were not met, forcing him to be “mentally tough to be able to perform under that pressure.”

In the middle of his first season at Akron, Umeda received a life altering call: a scout offered him a three week tryout for a professional soccer team in Brazil, starting in five days. The opportunity was terrifying. As he packed his apartment that night, putting everything into two suitcases, his father asked him at the airport if he was alright. When Umeda confessed he was terrified, his father offered crucial wisdom: “Son, it’s OK to be afraid. Sometimes the fear doesn’t go away. You just have to do it afraid.”

Umeda took that courage with him and earned a two year professional contract in Brazil, accomplishing his lifelong goal by age twenty. His professional career continued for seven years, but it was marked by a devastating hamstring tear at age twenty two that left him without a contract or a roster spot. That night, Umeda contemplated suicide. It was his brother, Yuta, who stayed on the phone with him all night, talking him through the crisis. For eight months, Umeda resisted therapy, believing only weak people needed help. He finally walked into a psychologist’s office, and she “changed my life,” helping him shift his identity away from solely being an athlete.

Umeda’s shift focused on his faith. Introduced to Christianity by his teammates at Louisville, he had grown up Buddhist but embraced his new faith. His identity shifted from being an athlete to being a Christian, prioritizing his relationship with God over his performance. He is thankful that his faith “saved and changed my life.”

After recovering, Umeda continued his professional career with stints in Portugal, the Michigan Stars, South Georgia Tormenta FC in the United Soccer League, and eventually the Hong Kong Premier League, where he won a championship in January 2024. As his career progressed, he realized he needed to fulfill his parents’ lifelong value of education. Umeda reached out to his former academic advisor at Louisville, who suggested he apply for the NCAA Division I Degree Completion Award Program, which provides funding for student-athletes to finish their started degrees.

Umeda completed his degree in organizational leadership and learning while playing professionally in Hong Kong. He would log onto classes at ten p.m., but he didn’t mind. He embraced his education, viewing it as an “opportunity of a lifetime,” feeling thankful rather than obligated.

Now a college graduate, Umeda works as a consultant in New York, shares his story as a motivational speaker, serves as an ambassador for suicide prevention, and has authored a book, “I’m With You.” Reflecting on his unorthodox career, Umeda feels “so fulfilled,” acknowledging that none of his success would have been possible without the lessons of discipline, courage, and faith learned during his soccer journey, lessons he knows are transferable to all fields of career and life.