Team Chicago is thrilled to announced that we have hired Kevin Gowrie as our new 10U-19U Boys’ Director of Coaching effective July 31, 2017. Gowrie is original from Perth, Scotland, but has been coaching in the U.S. for the past seven years and the past two years he has been the Director of Coaching for Oregon Soccer Club in Wisconsin.

In that role he has been overseeing both the competitive and the recreational programs as well as creating a club coaching philosophy and a player curriculum. Gowrie has also created the curriculum for the OSC Academy (9U-10U) and Pre-Academy (8U) which has been certified by the Wisconsin Youth Soccer Association.

Gowrie played youth soccer for Athletico Blair, was selected for the Perth & Kinross Regional Teams at the Under-14, Under-16 and Under-18 age groups and represented Scotland at the Under-14 and Under-16 levels before starting his coaching career at St. Johnstone FC. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree with Distinction in Sport and Exercise Science/Sports Coaching Degree from the University of Edinburgh Napier and “C” coaching licenses from the Scottish Football Association and the U.S. Soccer Federation and will have completed his “B” license by early August, 2017.

At Team Chicago Gowrie will be the head coach for the 2004 Elite Boys, 2006 Elite Boys, 2007 Elite Boys, and the 2008 Elite Boys teams for the 2017-18 season while working to rejuvenate the entire Team Chicago Boys’ Program from the ground up. He will oversee the Boys’ High School aged teams where Steve Berry will continue as the coach for our oldest age groups.

Gowrie explains his passion for coaching and developing young players: “My work is my passion: When I first got involved in coaching at the age of 16 as a volunteer in the St. Johnstone Football Club community program it was not only a way of recycling information that I had learned from some great coaches growing up and giving something back to the next generation but also the start of a career. At that time I still had aspirations to make a career out of playing the game and had been selected to play for the U14 & U16 Regional teams and had also represented my country, Scotland, at U15 & U16. It wasn’t too long after that I realized my dream of playing at a professional level wasn’t going to happen and I would need to start thinking about a new career path.

16 Years later I could not be happier in the direction I chose. I cannot think of another job that would be so rewarding as working with young athletes. Teaching the game and seeing the results, not necessarily the wins and losses, but the technical execution of the skills, the decision making under pressure, the dedication and desire to improve and how everything comes together on the field after the hard work and preparation leading up to the performance is just an indescribable feeling of excitement and pride."

Team Chicago Technical Director – Phil Nielsen: “From the moment I met Kevin, watched him coach and talked to him about soccer and youth development, I knew I wanted him on my staff. His level of playing, coaching, and academic experience in soccer is outstanding, but even more than that Kevin is equally passionate about developing all his players and himself as a professional coach and director.

I am convinced that the Team Chicago Boys’ Program is being placed in the hands of a coach and director with the ideal combination of soccer knowledge, experience, vision, people skills, and work-ethic.

Education:

Bachelor of Science with Distinction in Sport and Exercise Science/Sports Coaching Degree (University of Edinburgh Napier)

SFA Level 1 Development Activities (Scottish Football Association)

SFA Level 2 Coaching Youth Footballers (Scottish Football Association)

SFA Level 3 Coaching In The Game (Scottish Football Association)

SFA Club Coach/C License (Scottish Football Association)

SFA Physical Preparation 12-18 Years (Scottish Football Association)

SFA Goalkeeping Level 1 (Scottish Football Association)

USSF E License (US Soccer Federation)

USSF D License (US Soccer Federation)

USSF C License (US Soccer Federation)

USSF B License (US Soccer Federation) completed August 11, 2017

National Youth License (US Youth Soccer)

NSCAA Director of Coaching Diploma (National Soccer Coaches Association of America)

NSCAA Futsal Level 1 Diploma (National Soccer Coaches Association of America)

NSCAA Advanced Youth Coaching Diploma (National Soccer Coaches Association of America)

NSCAA Technical Development of the Competitive Player Diploma (National Soccer Coaches Association of America)

NSCAA Attacking Principles of Play Diploma (National Soccer Coaches Association of America)

Coerver Youth Diploma 1 (Coerver Coaching)

Coaching Experience:

2015 – Present: Director of Coaching, Oregon Soccer Club, WI
2010 – 2015: Head Coach, Oregon Soccer Club, WI
2001 – 2009: Youth Coach, St. Johnstone FC, Perth, Scotland

The Boys 2007-2011 & Girls 2003-2011 Tryouts for the 2017-18 Team Chicago season will be hosted this Saturday, May 20th at the WAA Sports Center, 2323 Liberty St., Aurora, IL 60502.

Boys & Girls 2009-2011 tryouts are Noon-1:30pm

Boys & Girls 2007-2008 tryouts are 2pm-3:30pm

Girls 2005-2006 tryouts are 4pm-5:30pm

Girls 2003-2004 tryouts are 6pm-7:30pm

To register for tryouts and read more information about the Team Chicago programming and fees, please visit https://clubs.bluesombrero.com/Default.aspx?tabid=315222

The coaching slate for the 2017-18 season is being finalized. Here are the current assignments:

2003 Elite Girls: Matt Chura, A License
2003 Premier Girls: To be announced next week due to coach’s current club tryouts
2004 Elite Girls: Dave Lovercheck, B License (completing A License by August, 2017)
2004 Premier Girls: Anny Bierman, D License
2005 Elite Girls: Dave Lovercheck, B License (completing A License by August, 2017)
2005 Premier Girls: Greg Frederick, D License
2005 Select Girls: Magno Barreto, D License
2006 Elite Girls: Dave Lovercheck, B License (completing A License by August, 2017)
2006 Premier Girls: Magno Barreto, D License
2007 Elite Boys: Kevin Gowrie, C License (completing B License by August, 2017)
2007 Premier Boys: Magno Barreto, D License
2007 Elite Girls: Steve Berry, A License
2007 Premier Girls: John Rizzo, D License
2008 Elite Boys: Kevin Gowrie, C License (completing B License by August, 2017)
2008 Premier Boys: TBD
2008 Elite Girls: Magno Barreto, D License
2008 Premier Girls: TBD
2009-2011 Boys & Girls: Brian Bierman, C License

Team Chicago hosted a very successful first round of tryouts this past weekend. The 16U (2002) through 19U (1999) girls age groups kicked off tryout season and 140+ players tried out for our 7 teams.

Next up in the tryout sequence is the boys’ 12U (2006) through 15U (2003) tryouts on Tuesday, May 16th followed by the same age groups for the girls and all the younger boys and girls on Saturday, May 20th. The tryout season finishes with the boys’ H.S. aged teams on Tuesday, May 30th.

We will announce the coaching assignments prior to each round of tryouts.

Please, pre-register at https://clubs.bluesombrero.com/Default.aspx?tabid=315222

You may have seen it. It was the the Highlight of the Year at the State of Sport Awards in Utah. It was the Play of the Year at the Crimson Carpet Awards put on by Utah Athletics. It was possibly the biggest goal in the 22-year history of the Utah Women’s Soccer program.

There we were in Los Angeles facing NCAA giants, Florida State University, in the 2nd Round of the NCAA Tournament this past November. The Seminoles had been to an incredible 5 NCAA College Cups in a row and had another strong team. The game was tied 1-1 with under 3 minutes remaining…and “The PLAY” happened…

That’s Freshman midfielder, Haylee Cacciacarne, scoring on an incredible 18-yard header to give us the 2-1 win. It helped our team advance to the SWEET 16 for the first time in program history…a play and moment to remember. Amazingly, Haylee first entered this intense game with 18 minutes left and the score 1-1 (no pressure!). We were trying to slow down FSU’s play in the midfield and she did that fantastically. And, she topped it off by scoring the winning goal!

More importantly, “The Play” was a reflection of the character that Haylee had displayed through the course of the season. She had grown into a new team, a new position and a new role. The fact that she was ready to make the play is the most remarkable thing about it.

Haylee was in a place where many players would pout, doubt and check out. Why do I say this?

She had not played in the previous four games. We had switched formations after our game with Stanford. Haylee had been playing as a 2nd defensive midfielder and doing a good job. We went from playing with 2 holding midfielders to just 1. She was aced out of her time with the switch. We faced USC, UCLA, Colorado and Texas Tech (NCAA Round 1) in the new setup.

She had not started all year. Haylee had played in 11 of our first 20 games, all coming in as a substitute. Like many college players, Haylee was a standout and starter on all of her teams growing up. This was a big change.

She was playing a new position. Haylee played center back most of her youth career. She is an excellent defender. She heads the ball well and is a good communicator and passer. We had some other players that had been playing very well in the back during the season. We asked Haylee if she would be willing to play in the midfield. She enthusiastically agreed to do it.

She was dealing with her own expectations. Haylee was voted Ms. Soccer in the state of Utah by the Deseret News after leading her Davis High School team to back to back state championships (and a NATIONAL Championship). She was a key player on a very good LaRoca club team. She expected to come in and start and play a lot. Some of her roommates, also Freshmen, were starting. She was frustrated. Among other things, she was fighting feelings she had let us down.

Why this is SO great!

Haylee stayed ready under difficult circumstances for herself. The team was doing well and, yet, she was not reaching some of her personal goals. I’ve seen many, many players over the years get so frustrated in these situations, that they didn’t play well. And, they weren’t ready when their opportunity presented itself.
She kept working hard every day at practice. She spent extra time before practice working on her skills. She watched video and met with staff to learn a new position. She stayed ready. She kept a POSITIVE ATTITUDE

HOW DID SHE DO IT?!

Here are Haylee’s own thoughts on it:

“Staying focused and being ready was something that was key for me throughout the season. I knew that I had to just be ready when my time came and even if it wasn’t exactly what I wanted, I still knew I needed to just be prepared for anything.

“During games I would just be locked in. I didn’t know when my time would come. The only thing I knew I could control though was being ready and being excited to get my chance. I think the coming in and playing well part followed with my attitude and preparation to just being alert and ready to go in when I was needed.

“Because when you’re ready and excited about going in no matter what time of the game it is, I think, at least for me, you’ll have fun, and things will go your way.

I’ll always remember the fact that one person’s positive attitude – when it would have been easy to check out – played a HUGE part in this moment. It’s a great lesson for us all.

Rich Manning
Head Women’s Soccer Coach
University of Utah

Team Chicago is excited to announce that Chris “Brownie” Brown will expand his role with the organization and take on the head coaching job for the Team Chicago Academy-2000 Elite girls team for the 2017-18 season. Brownie will work closely with 1999 Elite head coach, and Girls’ Director of Coaching, Dave Lovercheck as the 18U & 19U Elite teams will continue to train together to maximize quality of the training environment. Brownie will continue his duties as a special technical advisor to our Technical Director Phil Nielsen and working with the older Academy teams.

We always strive to announce our coaching assignments for the upcoming season prior to each team’s tryouts. This Saturday and Sunday we will be hosting the tryouts for the 16U (2002) through 19U (1999) Girls. The current teams we have in these groups are listed below with the head coaching assignment for 2017-18:

19U 1999 Elite: Dave Lovercheck
19U 1999/2000 Premier: Greg Frederick
18U 2000 Elite: Chris “Brownie” Brown
18U 2000/2001 Premier: Joe Moreau
17U 2001 Elite: Phil Nielsen
16U 2002 Elite: Phil Nielsen
16U 2002 Premier: Ben Tatham

If more teams materialize based on the tryouts we will assign head coaches for these teams afterwards.

To register for tryouts please go to http://www.waasports.org/Default.aspx?tabid=315222