At first glance, Josiah Bruny Jr. looks like any other 11-year-old.
Soft-spoken. A little shy. More comfortable with a soccer ball at his feet than a microphone in his face.
But this summer, he’ll board a plane to Spain, one of just 22 players selected out of 150 to train overseas, carrying not just his cleats, but the hopes of his family and a growing list of supporters helping him get there.
“My name is Josiah,” he said quietly when asked to introduce himself.
He started playing soccer at 4 after watching a documentary about Cristiano Ronaldo.
“I heard about it on like TV … um, about Ronaldo,” Josiah said.
At first, it was just something fun to try. But at the beginning of 2025, something shifted and he decided to take the sport seriously.
That decision meant sacrifice.
He stopped playing for other teams. Gave up school soccer. Gave up afternoons at the park.
While his friends “get to hang out, like go to the park and play … play video games, ride their bike,” Josiah trains.
Is it worth it?
“Oh yes,” he said. “Because soccer is fun, you can get paid off of it.”
There have been setbacks. A leg injury once left him questioning everything. And when the opportunity to move up to EA2 first came, doubt crept in.
“I really didn’t think I could make it,” he said. “I had to cry for like two days … and then I decided to try it out.”
That resilience caught the attention of his coach, Leo Segundo, who has coached Josiah for less than a year.
“One of the characters that I like about Josiah is that he’s very fast. Very fast, very quick, and he’s very coachable,” Segundo said. “That’s something where I can really work with him and he can become better than what he is.”
Through Empire Club’s connection with Euro Academy in Spain, coaches from overseas host clinics and select a handful of players to train abroad. This year, two players from Segundo’s team were chosen.
“If you get looked at there … it’s like a dream come true,” Segundo said. “Europe is where the good soccer is.”
For Josiah, being selected is exciting — and heavy.
“It feels like fun, really fun … to bring back the trophies,” he said.
But at 11, he understands the pressure.
“I just have to take the pressure in and deal with it … put it in the game. To play harder.”
His father, Josiah Bruny Sr., has approached the journey differently than most parents. A longtime advocate for ownership and intellectual property through his foundation, Music Changing Lives, he has applied those same principles to his son’s athletic path, teaching him about goals, discipline and long-term vision.
“My ultimate hope is that parents learn to listen to their children,” Bruny Sr. said. “Whatever they tell me they want to try … we just did it.”
He said the journey is bigger than sports.
“You have to be a good human first,” he said. “And then you have to have the responsibility of being that athlete and the star.”
Now, as Josiah prepares for two weeks of training in Spain, there’s another reality: international travel, training fees and related expenses add up.
Family members and community supporters have launched fundraising efforts to help cover the costs of the trip. Donations are helping ensure that talent and hard work, not financial barriers, determine whether he steps onto that field overseas.
For an 11-year-old who still dreams of “a big house … a dog … and a backyard pool,” the moment feels surreal.
When he told his friends he was going to Spain, their reaction was simple.
“They said, ‘How did I do that so fast?’” he said, smiling.
His answer?
“Thanks to my dad.”
And in a few months, thanks to a community rallying behind him, Josiah Bruny Jr. will take his next step, not just playing for steak, as he jokes, but playing for something much bigger.
