“I want to play professional football for Liverpool,” Kowalski said. So far, the Moree junior is on the right track. 

Kowalski was among five players from the Northern Inland Football (NIF) representative zone who travelled to the Victorian capital with the Northern NSW Football’s (NNSWF) under 12s country development squad.

In three frenetic days from October 17-19 the boys flew to Melbourne for a skill acquisition program gala day, played six games against some of the best clubs in Victoria and Tasmania, then flew out again. Their opponents, like hosts Hume City FC, were National Premier League clubs, which underpin the A-League and from which Australia’s professional teams look to recruit young talent. 

NIF technical director and coach of the NNSWF under 12s Howard Stubbs said his boys, who had only trained together for one weekend, “exceeded expectations” with two wins, two losses and a pair of draws. And, in a tournament designed not only to develop but to spot future stars, Kowalski scored a goal and captured attention.

“Tomasz  was excellent, for me he was a standout player. Most of the coaches on the teams we played against spoke about Tomasz after the game. They were really excited about him — and they were the opposition coaches.”

Playing in the number seven guernsey, Stubbs said his young charge was a go-to player up front.   

“He’s got good technique, he’s very quick, he can strike a ball with both feet and he’s always a potential goal scorer.”

But Kowalski’s achievements are not all down to natural ability and he’s not the only one putting in long hours so he can score his goals.  

“Being based in Moree the distance Tomasz travels is huge. He goes in to Tamworth and Armidale regularly to train for the Northern Inland rep side, and to Coffs for games,” Stubbs said. “He’s well supported by his mum Cheree and dad Tomasz Sr.”

For his parents too it is a labour of love. Cheree said, for her son, soccer was “in the blood”.

“It is a big commitment for us but it is a big commitment for him too,” she said. “He spends his Sundays travelling three to six hours just for a training session. It is a big commitment but the payoff is to seeing the joy he gets out of it.

“Both his dad and myself are very proud of him and when you see the excitement on his face when he plays and you see the commitment that he puts in on a day to day basis, it makes it all worthwhile. I love to watch him play.”

Kowalski and the rest of his teammates in the country development squad will next travel to Newcastle’s Speers Point Park in January for a chance to be picked in the under 13s NNSWF state squad in 2015. The boys will be among the first to train on the state-of-the-art  $11-million facility, which is to be the regional headquarters of soccer in northern NSW. 

From there Kowalski is quietly confident of his chances of making the national team and playing in the highest level of soccer available to boys his age.

“I think I’ve got a 60 in 100 chance,” he said. “Making the national team would give me more of a chance to get noticed.” 

While the young Moree player is fixated on every young soccer player’s dream of going pro, mum Cheree just hopes he realises the importance of what he’s already achieved. 

“His dream is to grow up to be like Ronaldo,” she said. “But I think he is living a great dream at the moment, a dream that he loves. I just want him to grow up to be happy and healthy.”