The sun shone brightly from the blue sky overhead, burning off the last of the morning’s dew. It was a perfect August morning, a rare occurrence to take advantage of.
Suddenly, the peacefulness of the morning broke.
A group of young 20-somethings were rushing down the soccer field at Patton Park, triumphantly shouting “goal,” followed by a few words that might make your mother blush.
It was apparent, the Jacksonville Armada FC is a boys club and Mark Lowry is the new acting president.
“We get a little rowdy sometimes at practice,” Lowry said of the team. “But they are great group of guys.”
At the ripe age of 31, Lowry blends seamlessly with the young team, exchanging high fives and handshakes after the morning practice.
The team rallied around the interim head coach, feeding off his youthful energy just as much he feeds off theirs.
These days, Lowry can use all the energy he can get.
“I commute from Orlando about 50 percent of the time,” said Lowry, who has two daughters, ages 2 and 4. “So getting home is important.”
Since signing on with the Armada in September 2015, Lowry has made the two-hour drive from his home in Orlando to Jacksonville so often that the Birmingham, England, native knows the route — and backroads — better than most native Floridians.
It was never in Lowry’s plan to have the long commute be part of his daily routine, but not much about his life in the United States was part of his original plan.
When Lowry first made the move from England to Orlando, he had no intention of making it permanent.
“I was just going to give it a try for a few months,” he said. “But the more people you meet, the more settled you become. Before I knew it, I had starting putting my roots down.”
Just as the rhyme says “first comes love, then comes marriage,” that alone will make a man change his mind.
Add in a coaching job at a fast-rising soccer club and Lowry’s original plan was all but forgotten.
He spent four years coaching for Orlando City. Joining the program in 2012 as a youth assistant director, he worked his way up to coach.
His efforts in Orlando didn’t go unnoticed.
When the Armada approached him about a coaching position, the family man did not take the decision lightly.
“It wasn’t an easy decision, I spent a lot of time thinking about it,” said Lowry. “I just felt in Jacksonville, there was more opportunity.”
With the Armada, opportunity came knocking much sooner than Lowry expected.
In less than a year with the team, Lowry has climbed the ranks from the youth development program to assistant coach to interim head coach as of a month ago today.
Lowry’s newest title makes him North American Soccer League’s youngest coach, a designation of which he is very aware.
“Even though I’m considered a young coach at 31, I’ve been coaching at a high level for almost 10 years,” he said. “I feel prepared to do this and these guys make it easy.”
Becoming a head coach didn’t happen overnight.
Growing up in England ingrained a love of soccer into Lowry from an early age, kicking a ball around in the backyard as soon as he could walk.
“We’re like a normal English family,” joked Lowry when discussing his childhood. “If you’re a boy, you play soccer.”
But when Lowry began losing interest for the sport in his early teens, he turned to coaching youth leagues. He quit playing soccer in his mid-20s and focused solely on coaching.
“I started to enjoy the coaching side more than I enjoyed playing,” he said. “I like being able to get the best out of people.”
Making the decision to pursue coaching has taken Lowry from his home in England to Armada interim head coach in a timespan just shy of a decade.
Although his parents and brother still live in England, they remain supportive of the rising Englishman, sending their well wishes through Facebook posts on the Armada page.
“We are all proud of you Mark with everything you are doing,” began one post from younger brother, Richard Lowry. “Massive support from back home.”
As the recent morning practice was wrapping, the team huddled around Lowry much like his family does with support from back home.
A few words and a quick chant signaled the end of the day’s meeting of the rowdy boys’ club, but for Lowry his day was only beginning.
“My focus 100 percent of the time is this team,” stated Lowry. “As a coach, every day I need to get better. Our success relies on it.”