USL Feature
Friday, January 27, 2012
BRADENTON, Fla. – After suffering an injury in 2010, Dillon Barna re-established his credentials as a professional prospect with the Ventura County Fusion in the USL PDL in 2011. An All-Western Conference selection, Barna is now hoping to move into the professional ranks with a good week at the USL PRO Combine presented by Umbro, although as he explains in the first of his conversations with USLPRO.com, he didn’t have the smoothest preparation coming in.
Dillon Barna -- A friend of mine asked me to play for his indoor team last week, and I thought, ‘hey, indoor, it’ll be a nice little tune-up, get my touch right for this thing,’ and 12 minutes into the elbow I get caught with an elbow [in my nose], and it’s just broken, bleeding like crazy. I go to the ER, guy pops it back into place, but I’m not going to let it get me down.
USL – What’s your first impression been of getting here, getting out on the field this afternoon?
Barna – Well first of all the pitch, the facilities are just great. That always puts a smile on your face and the guys all seem really energetic and trying to get signed. It’s good to see so many people so hungry to get to the next level.
USL – You came in as a guy who excelled at the PDL level, do you think because of that there are people here looking at you, focusing in on you because of last summer?
Barna – I hope so. I was signed the year before with AC St. Louis and got an injury and had to make my way back through the PDL. I hope I proved that I’m back from injury and fine and ready to play and I hope I do have some extra attention here.
USL – What’s your overall thought process going into an event like this?
Barna – It just has to be all confidence. The minute you start second-guessing yourself, you’re in trouble. You know you’ve put in the time and the effort to be ready for this, and stuff’s going to happen, things are going to go wrong, but at the end of the day you’ve got to be confident in your skill and just do your best, as corny as that sounds.
Dillon Barna is part of Team GT, which plays in the opening scrimmage at 8 a.m. on Saturday morning against Team Geometra. Check back for more tomorrow.