John Barry Nusum is committing to scoring goals for his country for years to come ? and believes indoor football can help him do that.

The recently crowned Male Athlete of the Year will return to action tonight in Chicago for the Philadelphia KiXX, delighted that his prowess as a striker has been recognised and determined to keep banging in the goals, for clun and country.

?It was a great honour to receive that award,? said the affable Nusum, who is still on the books of A-league side Toronto Lynx and sits in third place in the CONCACAF World Cup qualifying scoring charts with seven goals.

?It is important for me to be recognised in Bermuda, and it is playing football for Bermuda when I have my most enjoyable moments.

?The goals I scored in the World Cup were the definite highs for me. It is always an honour to represent your country and scoring in the World Cup, whoever the opponent, is always special.

?I am really enjoying my football, particularly for Bermuda. I think Kyle (Lightbourne) is doing a great job and I enjoyed playing under him.

?And I want to keep playing for my country until they don?t want me anymore ? but hopefully that won?t be for a few years.?

After a frustrating season with the under-performing Toronto Lynx, Nusum followed in the footsteps of David Bascome and moved to the indoor version of the game, signing with the Philadelphia outfit and KiXX-starting a new lease of footballing life.

?I enjoyed my time in Toronto, but I think we didn?t play to our ability and didn?t have the best season,? continued Nusum, who beat off Tyler Butterfield and Peter Bromby for the top award in Bermuda sport at the Hamilton Princess ceremony last week.

?It is a good league, but the standard isn?t brilliant ? the good teams are very good but some of the other teams are very average.?

It was a team-mate at the Lynx who persuaded Nusum that a move indoors for the Toronto off-season might be a good move, and before he knew it he was having trials.

?Playing football for a living is just the best thing because you are basically being paid to have fun but I was going through a stage where I was getting a little tired, having played non-stop football for a few years.

?But this indoor game gave me a new lease of life.?

The transition to the smaller format took a little work for Nusum, who had to adjust to the tighter conditions and resulting closer control, shorter runs and the on-off substitutions a la ice hockey.

In his role as ?target forward?, basically playing with his back to goal and looking for team-mates, he has had no trouble adjusting, shooting up the league scoring charts for both goals and assists.

?The positional side of things was not too tough to adjust to because I played a lot like that outdoors anyway,? continued Nusum, whose 32 points put him in the top five in the league.

?The whole substitution thing was a bit strange at first. I didn?t really know when best to stay on the pitch and would find myself running on empty in the fourth quarters of games because I had stayed on too long in the earlier periods.

?You have to get used to the stop-start nature of the game but more than that it is just football.?

And Nusum believes the move has added another quiver to this footballing bow, honing different skills that are benefiting his ?outside? game.

?I think my touch has improved a lot,? he continued.

?You need closer control and have used to working more closely with the ball because you see a lot more of it and have less time and less space to work with.

?Fortunately Kyle doesn?t have a problem with indoor players which means I can still get to play for the national side even though my bread and butter at the moment is a different format of football.

?I admit it took me about 15 to 20 minutes of my first Digicel Cup game to get back into the swing of things, making longer runs and longer passes, but once I was back into it, I had no problems.

?Indoor football is helping my game and hopefully Bermuda can reap the benefits over the next few years.?

All things remaining equal, Nusum, who has had a lot of help from Baltimore Blast?s David Bascome in the adjustments to life in the Major Indoor Soccer League, will return to the Lynx at the end of the season, to resume outdoor football for the summer.

But before then, there is the small matter of the championship, won last year by Bascome?s Blast.

?We are top of the league and there is a lot of talk of us winning the championship,? he added.

?There are still quite a few games left but we are playing well and we probably have a good chance, we just have to wait and see.?