By IAIN KING

ONE of the highlights of my football year always comes when we are still catching our breath after the holiday season - it's the United Soccer Coaches Convention...and Chicago 2025 has been no different.
Being a part of the North American Scottish Coaches Association (NASCA) is special. We recognised our Coach of the Year, the legendary Sandy Pollock from Tennessee Soccer Club and our Speakers Panel and Big Interview reflected the achievements of the adventurous football people our country produces.
Ashley Burnett Cordeiro - originally from Carnoustie - is the Head Coach at Xavier College in Louisiana and one of the top emerging coaches in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.
Kevin Gowrie from Perth is now the MLS Next Director at Bavarian United in Wisconsin and at the helm of a top project.
Former Ayr United player Paul Templeton, a self-deprecating and humble native of Ardrossan, holds one of the leading jobs in Major League Soccer as the Manager of Coach Education and Performance.
Our 2025 Panel reflected the NASCA membership, brave people who had the guts to step out of their comfort zones and craft careers and lives in the States.
The Big Interview with Eric McAleer this year was DC United General Manager Ally Mackay from the isle of Lewis who spoke so eloquently about his journey into the challenge of reviving a storied MLS franchise.
Ally, like all of our Panel guests, was terrific and we had a full room in the Convention Centre with so many coaches who are doing Scotland proud in jobs across the USA, Canada and even the Bahamas!
Can't imagine why Rory McInnes left Clydebank and decided to settle there...

* Our picture shows (Left to right) Kevin Gowrie, Paul Templeton, Ally Mackay, Eric McAleer, Iain King, Ashley Burnett Cordeiro.