New Framingham soccer program offers advanced training to youth of all incomes

FRAMINGHAM — When Gabriele Brambilla first saw his children get invested in soccer, he was blown away by the costs associated with playing the game at an elite level in Greater Boston.

"It's supposed to be this sport that everybody can play, and we were looking at $3,000 or $4,000 a year to play for the competitive team," he said. "How could anybody afford that? A sport that was supposed to be for everyone had become just for rich people."

Brambilla, CEO of Framingham-based Alira Health , sits on the board of directors at the South Middlesex Opportunity Council , a local nonprofit that serves disadvantage residents through programs ranging from housing to behavioral health care. In regards to soccer, he believes all players should be able to receive high-level, professional coaching and play the game in a competitive environment, regardless of income level.

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In his role at SMOC, he saw firsthand both the desire and the need for an affordable soccer program in MetroWest.

"You see kids who play at the park every day, they have great technical skills, but they don't have the money to go and play," said Brambilla. "I remember during COVID, how many food tickets we had to give out to kids (through SMOC) because these kids were not going to school, and not going to school meant not eating for them.

"We have a lot of those kids who love soccer."

Brambilla works with European soccer power to help develop nonprofit

Brambilla had an ambitious plan to start a nonprofit that would function as an elite club soccer team, providing professional level coaching to youth players at a discounted rate, as well providing scholarships for roughly half of the players in the program.

In order to pull this off, the Italian native reached back to his hometown club, European soccer power Internazionale (often referred to as "Inter Milan" or just "Inter") and struck an agreement with the club to use Inter's globally recognized branding and organizational skills to provide a backbone for his program.

In 2022, Inter Academy MetroWest Boston was born.

"I talked to their (Inter Milan's) vice president of marketing, and told them they had 14 academies around the world, but nothing in the United States," Brambilla said. "And they had never worked with a nonprofit before. I said, 'Just give me a good deal to be able to carry your brand here, and we will build it as a nonprofit.'"

The Framingham program has expanded rapidly, now containing 170 players of various ages on competitive teams, with an additional 100 players training in a less competitive intramural environment. Inter Academy also runs summer camps that are open to different players.

This fall, the club will launch three teams for girls.

Inter Academy wants to build two turf soccer fields in Framingham

In February, Brambilla met with Inter executives in Milan and is introducing a three-year expansion plan, which will see additional Inter Academies created in Cambridge and Worcester. The club is also seeking to expand its reach in MetroWest, with Brambilla saying he's currently working with Framingham officials to find a piece of land to construct two full-size turf fields.

"We are discussing with Framingham for land where we would build two, 11-on-11 side fields and I think it's a win-win — we just need to find the location," Brambilla said.

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Juan Erazo met Brambilla by happenstance. A veteran soccer coach who played professionally in Colombia, Erazo lives in Westborough and spent years coaching youth soccer for various clubs.

One day, while volunteering as a coach in Natick's KinderKicks program, Erazo was instructing Brambilla's twin boys, Ale and Leo.

"It was being in the right place at the right time," Erazo said. "That day there were six fields where kids were playing, and I just happened to be in the field where Gabriele's (sons) were playing. We have the same vision, we have the same mentality about sports, as a thing that can change people's lives."

Erazo is now director of coaching at Inter Academy MetroWest Boston. While he's a veteran of the competitive, expensive club soccer coaching model, he enjoys teaching children of all ages and creating opportunities to learn and grow.

"We had a dream to create the best club in Massachusetts — not only for player development, but also to give the same opportunity to every child, no matter the income," Erazo said of himself and Brambilla. "We won't ever follow an approach that is just based around getting the best players that can pay the most money. We want people to know that if you can't pay to get a good education in soccer, you can be a part of us."

Michele Forapan, another coach in the program, played at the youth level for professional Italian club Chievo Verona , before moving on to play at the University of Northwestern Ohio . He said the coaching model at Inter Academy is different than what he received as a youth in Italy.

"Sometimes you have to understand that you're seeing different kids from all sorts of different cultures, where they play a different style of soccer," Forapan said. "You have your difficulties at times, coaching everyone as opposed to just kids in special clubs, but I like it better. In Italy, our academies are very much based around teaching everyone around tactics and telling everyone how to move and what to do — here it's much more about telling players the exercise, but you have much more freedom. The player needs to figure it out by themselves."

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: New Framingham soccer program offers advanced training to youth of all incomes