Sean Burns already has the motto down.
The Holy Spirit High School senior will attend the United States Coast Guard Academy next year, where he will quarterback the cadets’ football team. The Coast Guard’s official motto is “Semper Paratus,” meaning “always ready.”
Burns seems always ready no matter what’s thrown his way, including when he received a letter in the mail about the U.S. Coast Guard.
“I started looking into it, and I saw all the benefits. And once I got in, it was game time,” Burns said.
Burns admitted that he didn’t know at first about the Coast Guard’s football program in New London, Connecticut. But he was ready to do the research. He found exactly what he wanted, knowing he was interested in studying engineering.
Burns’ ability to dive in has helped him become one of the most talented high school athletes in South Jersey. A star quarterback in the fall, Burns doubles as a lethal face-off man who can score plenty of goals for the Spartans’ lacrosse team in the spring. He was also a high school swimmer for three years before switching to basketball for his senior year, when the hoops squad needed to fill holes on the roster.
“I played [basketball] in eighth grade and then didn’t play until my senior year of high school,” Burns said. “But basketball is a lot like lacrosse, defensively at least … so I picked it up quickly.”
It’s the same way he learned to take face-offs in lacrosse — out of necessity.
“I’ve been doing it for a while, but I never really had any training,” Burns said. “I kind of just picked it up … when I was in fourth grade … and had a lot of fun with it.”
And he excelled. Through May 13, Burns had won 58 percent of his draws this season, which is actually a bit lower than his career average of roughly 70 percent.
“He was the first actual face-off guy we really had,” coach Charles Walkley said. “His leadership and the way he battles for the ball is all you can ask for in a player. He’s an extreme competitor, and usually he brings up everyone else’s game to another level.”
And he can score, too. Burns is third on the Spartans in goals with 18 this season and has scored 61 in his career.
The Spartans have been doing a good job this season, despite being heavily outnumbered in most games, partly due to a rash of injuries this season, which has led to a 6-7 record through May 13. Football was another story, as the Spartans were one of the surprise teams of the 2022 fall season. Burns threw for 3,125 yards and 29 touchdowns while leading Holy Spirit to a 9-2 record.
“This year’s football season was the best time of my life,” Burns said. “Going into that year, no one thought we were going to be too good of a football team because we lost such a strong senior class. To be able to come together with the coaches and get a game plan for every game and have a great season was awesome.”
In the summer season, Burns is a lifeguard for the Atlantic City Beach Patrol, which may help prepare him for the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. “[Lifeguarding] is the best job. I was a pool lifeguard before that,” he said, adding that being a beach lifeguard is more fulfilling because there is more action “and a lot of stories to tell.”
Over the next four years, he’s going to have plenty stories of his own.
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