Local soccer star shines overseas, hones game back home

On the eve of the biggest season of his professional career, Colin Burns is still counting on resources here at home to help him prepare.

For the last month, Burns has been put through the paces in the gym by local trainers Rudy Rudowski and Jim Hashimoto and on the field by goalkeeping coach Keith Duncan.

Just weeks away from training camp with his new club, Sarpsborg '08, which plays in Norway's top league, Burns' trip home has been anything but a vacation.

"I definitely work harder in the off-season than I do during the season," Burns said. "I'm [at the Hockessin Soccer Club] working for three hours, five days a week and then I'm at the gym in the evening."

After stints with several clubs throughout Europe (he's writing a book about his toils playing in Moldova), Burns, 27, has a huge opportunity at his fingertips as the clear-cut number one goalkeeper on a quality side and he wants to be sure he's ready.

"We've been working a lot on back passes and playing the ball with my feet, because my new club likes to involve the goalkeeper," he said. "But a lot of it is just staying sharp or staying fit, making sure I'm ready to go."

A successful campaign could lead to even bigger things, as Europe's biggest leagues and even the United States National Team will be watching.

"The key will be getting a full season of first-team play," Duncan says of his prized-student, who he's convinced is on the verge of big things. "A lot of the best strikers in the world, by the time they're 27, they're on a downturn and if they haven't made it, they're not going to. Goalkeepers honestly just start to reach their top level as they reach their thirties. Two, three, four years from now, he's going to be the focal point for some of the best clubs in the world."

With a hulking 6'3" frame and impressive wingspan, Burns is brilliant in the air, a major asset for a goalkeeper constantly trying to contend with the tall, aerial Swedes and Norwegians he faces on a regular basis. But to Duncan, it's Burns' work ethic that sets him apart, allowing him to thrive in a soccer climate where Americans must be head and shoulders better than their European counterparts to justify taking their jobs.

"He was willing to work as hard during a training session as he was in a game, and you don't always find that," Duncan said.

But for Burns, hard work has always set him apart. As a youth goalkeeper coming up through Delaware's Olympic Development Program, he was never the most talented player, yet he practiced longer and harder than everyone else. At the University of Massachusetts, he wasn't even a full-time starter until his senior year and at his former Swedish first division club Ljungskile SK, it took a red card to the club's top keeper for Burns to earn a start.

All he did was lead his team to a 2-1 upset over defending league champions IFK Gothenborg and earn star of the game honors.

"I became kind of like of folk hero after that," Burns conceded.

And who knows, as the U.S. Soccer readies for the 2014 World Cup cycle after this summer's tournament in South Africa, perhaps Burns will become known as a hero here at home as well.