Nearly 40 miles from Boston in a building from the outside that might look like a small office or a car garage, some of the best players in the region gather in the offseason to stay fit and improve their craft with Bryan Segat, owner of BS Futebol Academy.
Segat was born to Brazilian parents in Framingham, Massachusetts. He grew up in Worcester and at age 12 moved to Brazil to play for a club in the state of Goais and stayed in the country for two years.
After moving back to Massachusetts, Segat ended up eventually playing collegiately at Franklin Pierce and won a national championship in his freshman year. In the summer, he began training players in his backyard.
Thanks to social media, Segat began to get a following. He credits former Revs II player Brandonn Bueno for first posting about Segat's training sessions and getting his name out there.
"It was natural," Segat told The Blazing Musket. "All the guys that I've trained, I've never messaged them before. They are all guys that have heard about me through different people."
After beginning to seriously train people in 2023, it was only two years before he started working at a dedicated property for his sessions. Located on Water Street in Milford, the location features a small turf field and dedicated rooms for recovery and film review.
This past offseason, numerous players from professional soccer clubs in New England came to Milford to train with Segat and participate in training sessions with other pros. He noted that Jack Panayotou was one of the first pro players he got to train. In 2025, the likes of USMNT and New England Revolution goalkeeper Matt Turner could be seen playing in the field, while the likes of Peyton Miller and Maxi Rodriguez were battling for possession.
Segat said it was gratifying that these pros would trust him and his staff.
"It shows that if you just take care of people, treat them the right way and you give them a professional environment, they'll come back," he said. "Nothing that we do is forced. We've never asked for jerseys, for example or for cleats, these are all things that people just give to us, just because they like who we are. I think that just represents us as people."
The opportunity also allowed for Segat to see that even players at the highest level are human, just like everyone else.
"We got to know them on a on a personal basis," he said. "What goes on their day to day life? Siblings, wife, kids, they have all these other aspects of their life that you don't really look at when you're watching soccer. You kind of just take them at face value, and you say, 'Oh, you missed the pass' but really, you don't really know all the stuff that's going on behind the scenes. So I think us and my staff, I think we really just learned that it's much more than soccer."
Segat highlighted the humility of Turner and the humbleness of Panayotou. Even though they have played at a high level, they don't have the egos that can be acquired when you are a top-tier athlete.
With all the players that Segat trained, he got an up-close look at what makes these players special. While it is one thing to watch your favorite player from the stands, imagine being a couple of feet away from them.
"I think it was probably our first session where we had three teams, and it was like, 15 guys, and we were looking at each other, and we're like, 'Wow, these guys are so good," he said. "You watch on TV, but when you're so close and you see the small details, the first touch, the anticipation, the turn, the skill, and you're like, 'Wow, these guys are a different level.'"
BS Futebol Academy recently signed a partnership with CAA Stellar, a global sports agency that was recently named the most valuable sports agency in the world. The partnership will see the academy scout, evaluate, and train the next generation of soccer stars.
Segat believes that the partnership will take the academy to the next level. Additionally, he added that the growth and progress that the academy has made is still hard to comprehend.
Now that Segat has some time to assess how far he has come, he hopes to get a bigger facility that can allow for full 11 vs 11 training. Also, while the pro players might attract the spotlight and followers, Segat highlighted how the academy is for all ages. He hopes to help the next generation of New England soccer stars reach their potential.
"We have, you know, little kids from four or five years old to Andrew Farrell, so we have all ages," Segat said. "We want to develop everyone that wants to play. We want to provide a platform and want to provide an environment where people can come in here they can listen to good music, because we're Brazilian, we love music, and they can have a good session and improve and develop, and if that leads to professional that's great, but that's not our goal, because we know how hard it is. It's just a 1% of the 1%. We have so many different ethnicities. We have Brazilian, we have Hispanic, we have Arabic, we have all these different countries that combine and they have love for one sport. So I think we just want to provide the platform where everyone can play, develop, and have fun at the end of the day."
