When you’re 6’7”, it’s an obvious question. Even from a stranger. Especially in the United States.
“Every time, even just randoms just ask me, like, ‘You play basketball? You definitely play basketball, right?’ All the time,” Neil Pierre, the Philadelphia Union’s 18-year-old rising star center back, told Backheeled.
And he did indeed hoop.
But that ended when he was younger – about 11 – when Neil was inspired by his older brother Nelson’s path and chose to prioritize playing soccer in the Philadelphia Union academy.
Pretty soon his brother, now a professional soccer player just like Neil, was being coached by a former Union draft pick from a suburb north of Philadelphia named Ryan Richter. Richter, who transitioned to coaching when he was 28, would later also coach Neil in the academy and the second team. And now, Pierre is the latest homegrown piece to the Union’s puzzle, a pivotal part of the team’s resurgence under Richter, Philadelphia’s interim head coach, following the World Cup break.
Pierre could be a pivotal piece for the U.S. men’s national team, its next Hershey, Pennsylvania native who, like Christian Pulisic, is destined for the big stage.
A smooth rise, then a new challenge
With an older sibling passionate about soccer and his dad having played the sport in college, Neil Pierre inherited the game and had his development enhanced by its place in his family’s culture. Neil mostly practiced with his brother and would sometimes tag along with Nelson and his friends, being around their size. He benefited from the extra, more intense practice Nelson could provide, and the motivation.
“I was usually the more relaxed, chill one. But then [Nelson] would always get on me like all the time. Then my dad was like, “You’re going to let him outwork you?’ knowing that would get me to do way more. And so they pushed me to be where I’m at now,” he said.
Both of Neil’s parents were born in Haiti and moved to Westbury, New York when they were in high school. They moved to Hershey when his older sister was born, and the Pierres eventually relocated to Blue Bell to be closer to the Union academy when Nelson joined. Neil followed his brother’s footsteps, leaving his only youth club, Super Nova FC, to begin a fairly smooth ascent through the academy where he was usually the youngest player on his team by at least a year.
