Daniel Carbonatto-Bowkett - Team Wellington youth player / Phoenix Academy seems set to take up a scholarship at Princeton University in the States to play football and study aeronautical engineering:
"My aim is to be a professional football player - that's what I want to do."
It has already been a big year for Bowkett, who was named the MVP of the national secondary schools side and did enough on the northern hemisphere tour to earn a trial with Reading.
He spent 10 days with Reading and though it did not lead to any offers, he was thrilled by the opportunity. "It was an unbelievable experience and I really enjoyed it. I thought I played well too, which meant a lot to me."
In the longer term, Bowkett is aiming to make the New Zealand team that will contest the under-20 World Cup on home turf in 2015.
Let's see them fit that name on his shirt!
He wants to be a professional football player but is studying aeronautical engineering, at Princeton, no less! Good plan B; though there is a school of thought (excuse pun) that even having a plan B makes plan A less likely.