He grew up playing down the local park in Burrelton.
Now a Perthshire football coach is living the American dream and enjoying plenty of success along the way.
And recently, Kevin Gowrie (37), a former Perth Academy pupil, proudly watched his Chicago United Soccer Club under-16s lift the National Academy Championship.
That was made possible thanks to a 3-1 win in the final against Indiana Fire.
“The National Academy Championship is a new event for MLS Next clubs to compete for a National Championship at the highest level of youth soccer in the country,” Kevin explained to the PA.
“The difference between this event and MLS Next Cup is that the pro-academy clubs are not involved in this one. We will see them in June.
“We came into the event not playing a game since December and training indoors due to the Chicago climate.
“Our first two opponents were from Florida who were already a month into their season and used to the heat. We lost 1-0 and drew 2-2 before winning 5-1 to get out of the group.
“We then went on to win 1-0 in the quarter-final and 2-0 in the semi-final to make the final.”
On the showdown success, Kevin continued: “It wasn’t actually a nervy affair at all.
“We were 3-0 up after 20 minutes and should really have won by six or seven. Their goal was a late consolation at best.
“Indiana Fire play in our conference so we know them well. Our styles of play are polar opposites.
“I was really pleased with how composed the lads were, how they kept the ball moving and didn’t allow them to turn it into a battle.”
Kevin, a big St Johnstone supporter, reflected on the achievement as one of the best moments of his coaching career so far.
“We had a goal setting meeting at the start of January and the team decided that was one of their three goals for the season so we tick that one off and move on to the next two,” he said.
“There wasn’t much time to celebrate in the moment as we had to catch flights back to Chicago.
“I’m sure we will look back and reflect on the moment fondly once the season is over in June but for now it’s back to work.”
Having first jetted out to the States in 2010 to work at summer camps, Kevin was then offered a position as a coach at Oregon SC in Madison, Wisconsin.
He stayed there for seven years then moved to Team Chicago for three years before onto his most recent success with Chicago FC United.
Kevin said: “When I first took on the team two-and-a-half years ago we lost 6-0, 6-0 and 4-1 in the first three games.
“The boys have worked incredibly hard to turn that around. We have stuck to our principles throughout and are now playing some fantastic football.
“Back In December we beat Atlanta United in California to move up to the number one ranked team in the nation at U16.”
