Hopkins Ready To Boost Ljungskile

“I kind of decided that I wanted to see how good of a soccer player I could become,” Hopkins said. “I decided I’m going to focus on my academics and stuff and make sure my grades are good, but I wanted to spend the extra hours, putting in time, working on my technique and all that stuff.

“It kind of forced me to realize that if I wanted to make the next step, as a professional, I needed to be doing a lot of work on my own and not just relying on the regular training sessions that you get in college.”

The work outside of practice paid off, as the Barrington, Ill., native made a move to Australia that paid dividends for the club and the player.

Last season, the Brisbane Wolves won the Brisbane Premier League with Hopkins a contributor to the success. He tallied 17 goals in 14 appearances, including one in the playoff quarterfinals, as he finished tied-fourth in the league in total goals.

“It was definitely a very good year for me,” he said. “I had a lot of opportunities off of set pieces and corners, and I was encouraged to get forward as much as I possibly could. Any set piece, any corner like that they were looking to find my head. That certainly gives me more opportunities to find the back of the net.”

Following his year at Brisbane, Hopkins was given the opportunity to trial with Ljungskile SK.

The trial came about through a connection between the sporting director of the team, Lennart Göransson, and Brett Hull, director of a program called Bridges FC, after the team decided it needed a center back. Hopkins is a current member of Bridges FC.

Read more at http://yanks-abroad.com/get.php?mode=content&id=8787