Reaching New Heights DeAlmeida Will Continue Soccer Career at UMass/Boston

Joshua DeAlmeida, the leading scorer on the Revere High boys soccer team the past two seasons, has announced that he will be attending UMass/Boston in the fall.

Revere High School Director of Athletics Frank Shea held a Letter-of-Intent signing ceremony Monday for DeAlmeida that was attended by his father, Ricardo DeAlmeida, mother, Alle DeAlmeida, and sister, Melanie DeAlmeida, a student at the Hill School.

A 6-foot, 160-pound senior forward, DeAlmeida considered five colleges before deciding on UMass/Boston, an NCAA Division III program that competes in the Little East Conference.

“I am absolutely excited to have the opportunity to play college soccer,” said DeAlmedia. “It’s a dream. Without my teammates and coaches (Manny Lopes and Geraldo Rodriguez) and the support of my family, I wouldn’t be in this position I am, because they motivated me to be who I am today as a player.”

He is especially grateful to Lopes for his guidance and mentoring in the RHS soccer program.

“Mr. Lopes is the one who brought me up to varsity soccer and he saw the potential in me as a player,” said DeAlmeida. “It was a great honor to be on his team and contribute as a player.”

DeAlmeida said he will be a resident student at UMass and intends to study engineering. He credited the teachers at Revere High for motivating him and setting a strong academic foundation for college.

“My grades have improved so much,” said DeAlmeida, who attended the Garfield and Susan B. Anthony schools prior to enrolling at RHS. “I’ve had a positive experience academically in the Revere schools and I’ve enjoyed my interactions with the other students.”

RHS mathematics teacher Melissa Hamilton (“She really inspired me,” he said) and civics teacher Christopher Hingston (“He motived me a lot,”) drew special commendation from DeAlmeida.

From Brazil to Revere

Ricardo DeAlmeida said he played a lot of soccer in Brazil, where the sport is king and players like Pele and Ronaldinho are world-wide legends. He is proud that his son will be competing at UMass and pursuing a college degree.

“I hope that he can have a great soccer career at UMass/Boston and play soccer well like he does for his club teams,” said Mr. DeAlmeida. “I’m very happy with the experience he’s had at Revere High.”

Joshua DeAlmeida began playing soccer at the age of 7 in the Revere Youth Soccer program. He also played club soccer for the Belmont Cosmos and the ST Blazers before joining Valeo Academy which is based in Newton.

“I loved soccer my whole life,” said DeAlmeida. “I was born to a Brazilian family and my father was a soccer player. It’s a huge sport in Brazil. The U.S. team was not in the World Cup (in 2018) so I was rooting for Brazil all the way.”

Come this September, Ricardo and Alle DeAlmeida won’t have to travel far from Revere to see their son achieving his dream of playing collegiate soccer.