What did Kyle Adams know about Louisville City when the club acquired him in July, 2023?

Not a whole lot, really.

“My only memory was, honestly, they asked me when I got here, ‘what do you think about Louisville City?’” Adams told uslchampionship.com this week. “I remember being like, ‘I remember Brian Ownby, having to mark him, and he was really f***ing fast.’ It was my only real thought about Louisville. I just knew they were going to be a club that wanted to win things, win trophies.”

At the time, the USL Championship was in the middle of an evolution which saw interconference play ramping up between the Eastern and Western Conferences. A fixture in the West since he first landed at Rio Grande Valley FC as a prospect for the Houston Dynamo in 2018, Adams’ combined appearances against Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC and San Antonio amounted to more games (22) than the total number games he’d played against every Eastern Conference team he’d faced to that point of his career.

Adams’ only prior on-field encounter with Louisville – and where his regard for Ownby likely came from – was a 5-2 drubbing LouCity handed San Diego Loyal SC early in the 2022 season, when Ownby earned Player of the Game honors.

“It was a joy to watch him try to evolve,” said Cruz. “In a lot of those environments, it comes down to a battle. It comes down to set pieces. It comes down to being switched on in those moments. … When I looked at the desire of the individual, when I looked at his mentality on the field, on video and live, I felt he had all the attributes to be able to adapt to those type of environments, and I certainly feel he's done that.”

Almost two years on from his arrival in a transfer deal with SD Loyal, the 28-year-old center back is thriving.

Since his debut, he ranks second at the club to all-time Louisville City ironman and fellow center back Sean Totsch with 4,769 minutes played across the USL Championship regular season and playoffs and third to Totsch and Ray Serrano with 51 appearances.

What’s more, he’s taken on a major leadership role in the locker room. Following a preseason injury to Ownby in 2024, Adams took on the mantle of club captain, adding to his evolution as a player and veteran in the league.

“It’s something that me and Danny had a lot of long talks about,” said Adams. “It’s on the captain. You’re looked at to be the leader of the team, and there's extra responsibility put on you when things aren’t going the team’s way. So, you have to be able to deal with that, and you have to rally the guys. There are moments, when Danny speaks, that I have to get information to the team.

“It is a lot of pressure. I don’t know how many captains there’s been. Paolo [DelPiccolo was] captain for a long time, so probably three or four captains in the club’s 11 years. So, big responsibility, a lot of pressure, but it's something that I enjoy. I love being able to lead these guys out there.”

“I’ve seen his voice grow tremendously over the last year-and-a-half, which is a huge component of leadership,” added Cruz. “It’s a role that I think he took in stride. Not sure he would have thought at the start of preseason that I would name him that, but seeing how he went about preseason last year, seeing his leadership traits come to light, both on and off the field, I think it’s something that he took in stride.”

Adams is approaching 200 appearances in the USL Championship for his career. It’s part of the fulfilment of the aspirations he had when he first came to the United States a decade ago to compete at San Diego State University at a time when the pathways for soccer in New Zealand were more limited.

Part of the residency program at Olé Football Academy in Porirua on the outskirts of Wellington on the country’s North Island, he followed in the footsteps of his older brother to play collegiately in the United States. Three years ago, Adams’ parents followed suit, moving to San Diego as he played for SD Loyal.

Adams is now part of a contingent of New Zealanders who ply their trade in the United States, with players like Indy Eleven’s James Musa and Elliot Collier having been joined more recently by Loudoun United’s Riley Bidois and San Antonio FC’s Alex Greive.

Add the trio of players currently competing in Major League Soccer with veteran Minnesota United FC center back Michael Boxall, Charlotte FC’s Bill Tuiloma and the Portland Timbers’ Finn Surmann and there are ties that connect the group around the country.

“A lot of us have either played together growing up or with each other with the national team,” said Adams. “[Michael] Boxall was my roommate my first national team camp, and then I played with his brother [Nikko] that year [in San Diego]. Michael played with my brother growing up, so there’s a lot of connection between us. I played with Elliot Collier, and he's in [Indy]. We were in the same academy together. So, there’s a lot of us that have played with each other or against each other certain points of our career, in New Zealand and for New Zealand. So, it is exciting.”

Shortly before his move to Louisville, Adams got the ultimate honor as a player, making his debut for the New Zealand Men’s National Team at Wellington’s Sky Stadium in a friendly against China.

“It was probably the longest seven minutes of my life, you know?” said Adams “I wish I went a little bit longer, but playing in front of some family there and friends in a city that I wasn’t born in, wasn’t raised in, but that helped shape my football career going down there to the academy and stuff like that, it was pretty cool being out on my debut in that stadium.

“Fast forward that same year, my girlfriend [Racing Louisville and United States Women’s National Team player Savannah DeMelo] played on the World Cup game in that same stadium for the U.S. So, it's pretty cool, like a full-circle moment for us.”

Adams has yet to follow that debut with his second appearance for the All Whites, largely due to the makeup of the New Zealand squad that’s already earned its place at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. As a center back, he’s competing in one of the deepest areas of the squad’s depth chart with Boxall, Tuiloma, Surmann and recent Nottingham Forest signing Tyler Bindon the regulars for manager Darren Bazeley.

“Every time there’s a camp, he sends me a message and lets me know that I won't be making it,” said Adams. “But it’s nice that he thinks I’m in the selection consideration conversations. I know that’s the most competitive position right now.

“I’ve just got to keep doing well here, and if the team does well, then hopefully that means I’m doing well at the back, and we’ll see what happens. I know football is a crazy, crazy game, and injuries happen, suspensions happen, and if I get that opportunity, I’ve just got to go in there and hopefully do well and take it.”

From Cruz’s perspective, Adams’ growth in his two years at LouCity has him currently playing his best soccer since he joined the club. He’s part of a defensive unit that leads the USL Championship with only six goals conceded in an undefeated 11-game start to the season alongside Totsch, Arturo Ordóñez and goalkeeper Damian Las, with the growing chemistry between the quartet since they came together at the start of 2024 on full display.

“I certainly believe that Kyle is performing at the highest level that he’s played at since he’s been here, and that’s a testament again to the work that he's put in,” said Cruz. “I would hope that he would certainly get a look [for New Zealand]. At the same time, we speak a ton here about controlling what he can control and what he can control is continuing to perform at the level that he’s capable of, and then those decisions are out of his hands.”

That’s set Adams’ focus on leading Louisville to further success this year. While their 11-game undefeated start to the current campaign has set a club record, the focus remains on getting better every day so the club can win the Players’ Shield for a second consecutive season and then deliver in the postseason.

After the disappointment of falling short of the Eastern Conference Final for the first time in club history last year, Adams and LouCity are ready to do whatever it takes to walk away with victory in its final game of the campaign.

“We want to win no matter what, and I think it's been a little bit of, not a switch, but we don’t really care how the game is if we win,” said Adams. “Obviously, it’s a successful start, but we’ve just got to keep pushing forward, because ultimately the goal is three trophies – The Shield, the Eastern Conference, and the big trophy at the end.”