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Pounding the pavement has taken on a whole new meaning for Elliot Collier.
The All Whites striker, on the books of Chicago Fire in the MLS, is in lockdown with the city under a stay-home order.
"When this started getting serious, they shut down the parks, the lakefront, basically everything,"says Collier.
"We have a workout sent to us (by the club) and I do it right in front of my house on the footpath. I just run up and down doing sprints, long-distance running, that kind of stuff.
"We're not allowed to use the club's facilities, we're not allowed to go to any parks, so we basically just have to run on the street.
"There's no grass available so I just kick a ball around in my house. We have a car park out the back where me and my roommate can play soccer-tennis. That's pretty much the extent of what we can do with the ball at the moment.
"We have video team workouts – the club dropped off some dumbbells, kettle-bells and bands – so we do all of that together. We have yoga and nutrition sessions, but most of the time it's just running outside on the footpath and doing what we can to stay fit."
The 2020 MLS season was only two games old when it was suspended last month. Collier and his teammates were about to board a flight for Orlando when they were told the competition was coming to a temporary halt.
Having sat out the previous game against New England Revolution, Collier was set to start against Orlando.
"I was playing and training really well," he says.
"Whenever we return to play, I want to put myself in the best position for that to happen again. The biggest challenge is staying motivated and keeping your mind focused. My mindset right now is to make sure that when we're allowed to play, I'm as fit and sharp as I can be."
The towering 25-year-old grew up in Rotorua before moving to Hamilton as a teenager and then the famous Ole Football Academy in Porirua.
Elliot Collier. Photo / Photosport
His association with the Windy City began in 2013 when he took up a four-year scholarship at Loyola University, where he was coached by former All White Neil Jones. During that time, he featured for Chicago Fire's under-23 side and in 2018 was drafted by the MLS club. Collier spent 2019 on loan with Memphis before returning to Chicago Fire ahead of the 2020 campaign.
He also earned his first call-up to the New Zealand national team in November, debuting off the bench against the Republic of Ireland and making his first All Whites start three days later against Lithuania.
"It was an unreal experience being with the likes of Chris Wood and Ryan Thomas who are killing it at the highest level," says Collier.
"When I first got to Ole, Ryan was there. Every time you play with him, he makes you better."
Also in that All Whites squad were fellow Ole graduates Callum McCowatt, Elijah Just and Nando Pijnaker.
"I used to drive them to school every morning," remembers Collier.
"I was done with school and was doing odd jobs around Ole to help them out and that was one of my jobs. They were always scared to come and wake me up. They'd stand at the foot of my bed and say, 'Hey Elliot, can you take us to school?'
"To end up in the All Whites camp with them was awesome."
For now, Collier says it's a waiting game to get back into MLS action.
"We haven't been told a return-to-play date with the situation being so volatile."
"We're hoping we'll be able to do some sort of return to training in June, but with the United States being so big and different places experiencing this virus at different rates, we can't do anything until the law permits us to train and then the MLS and the club approve it.
"We've been told to hang in there, sit tight and keep doing what we're doing".
Which for Collier means a return to the footpath outside his apartment.
