Philadelphia, PA – David Carvalho knew how to play soccer. What he did not know was how to turn that talent into a college opportunity in the United States.

When his family left Brazil in the 1990s, Carvalho was a teenager entering a new country, school system and culture. Soccer became the one thing that felt familiar. Years later, after building a career in education and spending nearly two decades coaching college soccer, he realized the confusion his family once faced had not disappeared. For many student-athletes and parents, information is everywhere but knowing what to do with it remains the challenge.

That realization became the foundation for InterED Soccer Connection, a business Carvalho created to help student-athletes and their families navigate college recruitment with greater clarity.

Carvalho said his family’s circumstances changed dramatically in Brazil after his mother lost her job and his father, a former professional soccer player, had retired. An aunt in the United States invited his father to visit, opening the door for a new life. By 1997, they were living in New Jersey.

The transition was significant, but soccer quickly gave Carvalho and his brother Daniel a place within their new community. In his first year of high school, the team won a state championship. By his senior year, Carvalho said the team went undefeated and he scored 28 goals, setting a school record.

More important than the numbers was the community around them. When his family was considering moving away, Carvalho said one of his coaches helped connect them with housing so they could remain in town. That experience shaped how he sees sports today: not simply as competition, but as a way people build relationships, belonging and opportunity.

Soccer eventually helped Carvalho reach Eastern University. He later combined education and soccer through a coaching career that included Eastern University, Penn State Brandywine, Rutgers–Camden, Rosemont College and Villanova University.

The more experience he gained on the college side of the game, the more he recognized how differently his own journey could have unfolded with better guidance.

“When I moved here, I felt like I was a pretty good soccer player with no guidance,” Carvalho said.

There was no college soccer system in Brazil that prepared him for what he encountered in the United States. He did not understand recruiting, how colleges evaluated athletes or how families were supposed to navigate the process. After years on the other side of recruitment, Carvalho began to see an opportunity to become what he describes as a bridge.

One of the biggest misconceptions, he said, is believing talented players will simply be discovered. At major recruiting events, coaches may be evaluating players across dozens of fields while sorting through hundreds of emails. Talent matters but being good enough does not guarantee the right coach will see you.

Carvalho also encourages families to look beyond soccer when evaluating colleges. Academic programs, cost, location, campus environment, playing level and long-term goals all matter. A school may offer a soccer opportunity, he said, but that does not automatically make it the right four-year decision.

“You have to want to go to the school,” Carvalho said.

For immigrant and Latino families, the learning curve can be steeper. Carvalho pointed to college applications, academic requirements, financial aid and documentation as areas families may have to understand while learning how recruitment works.

He knows that uncertainty personally. His own family entered the American education system without a clear pathway, and affordability was a major factor in his college decision. That experience now shapes how he works with parents, trying to create opportunities for their children without placing unnecessary financial pressure on the family.

Family is also central to Carvalho’s entrepreneurial journey. He credits his wife, his partner of more than two decades, with supporting years of coaching, long hours and what he jokingly calls his “crazy ideas.”

For Carvalho, the goal is larger than helping an athlete earn a college roster spot. It is about giving families the information he once needed himself.

Carvalho arrived in the United States as a teenager trying to understand a new country with soccer as one of his few constants. Nearly three decades later, he is using the same game to make an unfamiliar system feel less intimidating for families coming behind him.

He once had the talent without the roadmap. Now, he is building the pathways for someone else.

To learn more about David Carvalho and InterED Soccer Connection, visit interedsc.com.