Sporting Kansas City loanee and Orlando City Midfielder Christian Duke has started in every match for the Lions since the 2013 USL PRO regular season kicked off a week ago and recently spoke with orlandocitysoccer.com to talk about life in Orlando and the growth he expects to get out of his time in Central Florida.

“It’s awesome, as a young player you always want to get the most minutes and develop your game and I feel right here, it’s going to benefit me in the long run,” said Duke. “The (Head Coach Adrian Heath) gaffer is brilliant and he knows what he’s talking about and just learning from him is going to be great.”

Since the regular season started for the Lions, Duke has played a total of 267 minutes and believes the hard work he has put on-and-off the pitch is starting to pay off on game day.

Orlandocitysoccer.com sat down with Orlando City Head Coach Adrian Heath to talk about the development of his players, especially Duke.

“I tell all my players to stay focused and nothing is given, but earned,” said Heath. “It’s great to see the young boys get playing time, they work hard in practice but in the end, it’s about earning a spot in the starting lineup.”

Besides soccer, Duke mentioned that life in Central Florida has been good and learning under Coach Adrian Heath has helped him develop into a better player.

“I think (Sporting KC Head Coach) Peter (Vermes) and Adrian (Heath) have the same style of coaching, they demand a lot and ask a lot of their players,” added Duke. “They get the respect they deserve and I think that’s a great player-coach connection.”

Orlando takes on the Los Angeles Blues this Friday, recently falling 1-0 against them on the road. Duke feels that the team must go into the game with the mentality to protect their home field.

“We have to come out with a positive attitude against LA this Friday and hopefully that gives us a needed three points.”