For three years, Santiago Hopkins has worn the Blue & Gold of the California men's soccer team. If all goes well, he could someday wear the blue, white and red of the Philippines.
 
The Cal defender is exploring the possibility of playing for the Philippines national team – known as the Azkals – by earning citizenship of the Asian nation.
 
A product of West Hills in Southern California, the junior has started nine of 15 games in 2023, including the last three straight, and is emerging as one of the better right backs in the Pac-12 Conference.
 
"It's great to see how he's grown as a soccer player from the time I got here," said second-year Cal head coach Leonard Griffin. "The contribution he's making on the field now is tremendous. He's one of the hardest defenders to get around I've seen in a long time. He's a very good one v. one defender, wins a lot of balls for us and can get forward into the attack and get his cross off. His contributions this year are big time, and he's earned every minute of the time he's been getting through the work that he's put in."
 
You might not be able to tell that the imposing, 6-foot Hopkins is of Filipino descent. He's half African American on his father's side and half Filipino on his mother's side. Hopkins towers over his mother, Kim Antonio, who's 5-1, and also over his father, Allen Hopkins, who's 5-6.
 

Hopkins says when some people meet him and hear his name for the first time, they are confused about his ethnic background.
 
"I've had questions about whether I'm Latino or not because of my name," he said. "Santiago kind of points to my Filipino side. I'm proud of it."
 
The first names of Hopkins and his siblings – older sister Sydney, who played soccer at the University of San Diego, and younger sister Siena, who plays club ball – are all city names that start with the letter S. In the case of Santiago, he also shares his name with his mother's lolo, or grandfather.
 
Santiago – or 'Ago, as family and friends call him – enjoys both of his family's cultures.
 
"My dad's side is a standard African American family, with both grandparents from the Deep South," he said. "They made it to Denver, and one generation later I'm in Los Angeles. It's similar to the Filipino side – they both have strong familial connections. Family is what most things are centered around."
 
His mother was born in the San Francisco Bay Area and grew up in San Jose.
 
"It's a very Filipino area, and going there as a kid was a treat," Hopkins said. "Having family there was great."
 
He was inspired to learn even more about the Filipino culture when his family visited the Philippines in 2017. They spent time with Kim's dad, his lolo, and other family. It's through his lolo, who was born in the Philippines, that 'Ago is seeking the opportunity to play for the Azkals.
 
"I think playing for a national team is the greatest honor any player could achieve," he said. "I would have to get citizenship in the Philippines to be able to represent the national team. It's definitely a process that would take quite a bit of time."

Hopkins was exposed to the Beautiful Game by his father, who played soccer at Westmont College and has worked for several soccer organizations, including Major League Soccer. Allen Hopkins has also worked as a TV broadcaster for the Los Angeles Galaxy and the Pac-12 Networks. He is currently the Executive Director of Black Players for Change, an organization consisting of over 170 MLS players, coaches and staff committed to tackling racial injustice in the game and in society.
 
"His passion kind of became mine," said 'Ago, whose dad coached him when he was younger. "I liked soccer because it was the only thing I knew. But as I got older, I developed my own passion for the game that was separate from his but still because of him."
 
"Soccer is the family business," Allen Hopkins said. "We have a great relationship, and I've learned when he wants to talk shop and when he doesn't. I don't ask him much about it now. I just ask how the process is going. I think about my own experience playing at Westmont. I don't remember the games; I remember the people. He knows you have to make your own path and take your own opportunities.
 
"He's a great grandson, great friend, great teammate, great son, and no other decision than going to Cal would've brought all that out of him. He's a Berkeley kid now."
 
Griffin's arrival at Cal has only improved 'Ago's time in Berkeley.
 
"It was very important he was a Black coach," he said. "You don't see that that much in collegiate soccer and having that connection with him has been super cool for me. He's a great coach, and he always expects more from you. He knows the game very well."
 
Griffin has known the Hopkins family for a while.
 
"I've known 'Ago since he was growing up," said Griffin, who met Kim Antonio when he played at UCLA, where she was an athletic trainer. "He's grown to learn two different cultures growing up, and I think Berkeley is a perfect fit for him in terms of being used to the diversity that our school has and the belonging that our school creates for our students and our student-athletes. He feels very comfortable here and very much at home."
 
Hopkins has made the most of the opportunities he's found at Cal, including attending the Black Student-Athlete Summit last May at USC and attending campus events put on by HAUPIAA, the AAPI employee-engagement group in Cal Athletics.
 
"He's been a fantastic contributor to everything that we want our University and program to represent," Griffin said. "His academic performance is also indicative of that, with 'Ago most recently being named the Athletic Study Center Scholar-Athlete of the Week. He's excelled in the classroom his whole time in Berkeley."
 
A member of the 2022 Pac-12 Fall Academic Honor Roll, Hopkins enjoys his studies and one day wants to pursue a career in the field of mechanical engineering, his major.
 
Professional soccer could also be an option, particularly if he winds up playing for the Philippines.
 
Whatever he chooses to do in the future, Santiago Hopkins will continue to make his parents proud.
 
"When I see him at the Black Student-Athlete Summit, and I have my friend hitting me up saying, 'I just met your son – what an incredible guy,' that gives me goosebumps," Allen Hopkins said. "I see him being so thoughtful and intentional, it's amazing. That's a tribute to him. As a biracial kid, we can't always understand what he's going through. But he's always embraced both cultures equally. He's embraced who he is as a Black man and embraced who he is as a Filipino man, and he sees nothing but pride because of his actions."

   
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