Felipe Hideki plays to win
Reading has produced some great offensive players over the years. Alumni like Deshorn Brown and C.J. Sapong and have set a high bar for the newer players to meet and Felipe Hideki is making a name for himself with his excellent play this season. As the club heads into the postseason, Hideki is one of the top goal scorers on the team and looks to parlay his excellent form into a deep playoff run.
Felipe was born in Brazil and began playing soccer at a young age. By the time he was 14 years old, he had made his way into the Red Bull Academy Brazil and played most of his soccer there. As he got older, Reading’s midfield maestro continued to play soccer while attending school regularly. Felipe regularly attended English classes and it was an instructor named Ricardo who helped to keep him on track with his school work.
By the time Felipe was 19 he was second guessing whether or not he could have a professional soccer career in Brazil. “I didn’t see much of professional career for myself in Brazil,” Hideki said. “I actually stopped playing for a short amount of time,” he continued.
It was Ricardo who helped introduce Felipe to a company that helps players with an opportunity to play in America on scholarship. The company found Hideki a place to play at the junior college level and he claims that was the perfect spot for him. Felipe recalled, “The school was located near New York City which is somewhere I wanted to go my whole life growing up.”
After a short stint at the junior college level Hideki transferred over to Seton Hall University, but eligibility issues from his playing days in Brazil kept him off the pitch. His time at Seton Hall ultimately brought him to Reading.
Reading United Head Coach Alan McCann first saw Hideki when the young Brazilian tried out for a college team where McCann was an assistant coach.
Along with catching Coach McCann’s attention, Felipe’s Seton Hall teammate, Spencer Burkhardt, helped to recruit him to our team. Burkhardt spent the 2017 PDL season with United and told Felipe about how things were done down here. “He {Spencer} helped me to understand how things worked down in Reading. Knowing someone on the team that lived so close to the area would help to make the transition much easier.”
Playing for Reading isn’t the first bit of summer ball that Felipe has played. In the summer of 2017, he had the opportunity to play soccer for Beaches FC, an NPSL based in Jupiter, Florida. He noted that things work differently here than they did in Florida. “There’s a different mentality here,” Felipe said. “The goals here are winning while still developing players. There wasn’t really a winning attitude at Beaches and here it feels like more of a professional environment.” He likes that he’s now in the position to play for a championship, saying, “Everyone plays to win so playing here has me excited”.
Like so man of our other players this season Felipe has gotten the incredible opportunity to practice with both the Bethlehem Steel and the Philadelphia Union. Felipe says playing with the pros has boosted his confidence, “Without playing any previous Division One soccer, I was unsure if I could compete at the professional level and playing with the Steel has shown me that if I keep working I am capable of playing at that level.”
Training with the Philadelphia Union has also given Felipe the chance to play alongside some of the player he’s watched all his life. Players like Ilsinho, a fellow Brazilian native, is someone that he was very excited to get to train with. “He got to play in the Champions League and on our National Team so playing with him was a really cool experience.” Through all these practices, Felipe now knows that he has what it takes to get to the level of the Major League Soccer players.
Playing with Reading also means getting to play in front of a dedicated fan base that appreciates hustle and skill. Felipe is appreciative of the support from United fans and is eager to thank them with a PDL Championship. “The fans here are a really nice experience. It was impressive to see all the people who come out to our games. It’s nice to see that so many people care and they work so hard for us and we want to win as a thank you to them.”
