Junior midfielder, Josh Patino will have a weekly blog entry on Wednesday’s about his thoughts on the team from a player’s perspective.  Here’s Josh’s first blog called “On the Pitch”.

April 28, 2010 – Hey everyone! Every week I’ll be updating the blog with what’s new and happening with the team. First off, I’ll tell you a little bit about myself. My name is Joshua Patino, and I play center midfield for the Cougars…but let me tell you how I got here. I’m from a small town in rural Minnesota called Glencoe. Look it up on Google maps and you’ll see where I spent most of my life, I know, it’s tiny. Soccer wasn’t big there, but it was enough for me to play competitively. When I was 16 I joined a premier team in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. At around that same time I heard about BYU’s move to the Premier Development League, a semi-professional league. BYU wasn’t my first choice for soccer and I had a few offers in the Midwest, which were much closer to home, but playing at a semi-professional level at BYU and wearing the blue and white jersey was my dream.

I graduated, left ma and pa, and came southwest to the motherland. I attended the February ’05 tryouts, and apparently the coaches weren’t aware of my dream. In Minnesota we play in heated domes during the winter, so it came as a shock that part of tryouts were held outside when it was practically freezing. I mean seriously…well that didn’t stop me, I tried out again in the fall but to no avail. Coach didn’t pick up any new players. I went and served my mission in the Nevada, Las Vegas Mission, and while I was there I met a Sister Bindrup who turned out to be the mother of Richie and James Bindrup, two BYU soccer standouts. This only increased my desire to play for the Cougars. I’ve now played with both of the Bindrup brothers, who were both very physical players. You’re lucky if you can get past a Bindrup, but of course I can…with ease.

I returned home with an “I will make the team” attitude. I ran every day, I played during any spare time I had, I started going to and watching more games than ever in my life. In November of 2008 I started playing with the team during their free play. I had to start going to bed earlier so that I’d be awake for soccer. I started training with the team at the start of the 2009 year. It took a lot of work to get myself back into shape and improve my ball control. February of ’09 couldn’t come any quicker and before I knew it tryouts were here, my whole family, all my friends, and everyone I had ever played with knew that I was trying out and were behind me, supporting me every step of the way. All my hard work, everything I had given up became worth it when Coach Watkins read my name as part of the 2009 Roster. My dream, or the beginning of it, had been realized.

So here I am, in my second season with the team; our preseason training is about to come to a close. School’s out and its summer time! We had a 2-0 victory in our scrimmage against Weber State last Saturday. Yesterday we had our first afternoon practice, also our first outside. It was a very physically demanding and competitive practice. I’m sure a lot of the guys left with a few bumps and bruises.  I know I did. Even though the intensity is picking up and frustration levels are high, we’re all having fun. We’re excited to travel for our first season game against the Orange County Blue Star. This is everything we’ve been training for. We are so stoked to play against the U-21 Mexican National Team May 12^th.  It’s crazy to think that in four years these players could represent Mexico in the World Cup. I have to jet to practice, but don’t worry I’ll keep you posted!Tweet