Junior midfielder, Josh Patino gives his weekly thoughts about the team on the blog known as “On the Pitch”.

May 26, 2010 – It’s been a short week. We only practiced yesterday and today, today being a shorter practice due to tomorrow’s game. We’re looking to bounce back from our disappointing weekend at home this last weekend. We play the Legends again tomorrow at their home and then Saturday we play Southern California. Both will be tough opponents to beat on the road. However, definitely neither team is unbeatable. Wish us luck!

I’d like to focus this entry on a more personal view. I’ve mentioned in the past few blogs about a nagging injury that hasn’t healed yet. I have what is called athletic pubalgia, the English translation of that is a “sports hernia.” It’s a medical condition of the groin that obviously directly affects athletes. It occurs as a result of repeated trauma or overuse of your groin area. Until recently this term was completely unknown to me. I’ve played soccer my whole life without any major injuries, of course, I’ve had a sprained ankle here and there, along with a couple of bruised thighs and shins but nothing that would sideline me. It was almost a month ago when we played Weber State as a practice scrimmage when it happened. I had worked out earlier and felt fine. I played a 90-minute game and felt fine. The second we started our warm up run across the field the pain became very apparent. I didn’t think much of it and played through it even though just passing a slow rolling ball on the ground hurt like no other. I ignored it the next week as we prepared to play our first season game and our match against Mexico. There was no way I was missing out on that.

It’s almost four weeks later and I’m sitting out, shagging balls for my teammates because I’m unable to practice. I’m out indefinitely. I had to get an MRI done, not a cheap medical examination. Most likely I will have to have surgery and then 6-8 weeks of recovery time. I know…exciting huh? No. Not at all. The reason I decided to write about this and why I think it’s so important is because I don’t want this to happen to you! Take it from me, It’s almost depressing watching your teammates play while you can barely kick a ball. I encourage you to take care of your body. Eat right, sleep well, and keep your exercise program/practice at a manageable level. Injuries are no fun. Sometimes we think our bodies can handle all the exercise that we put on it, we’re young right? Wrong. Don’t over do it. I’m a prime example of doing too much and now I’m paying the price for it. My body will heal again and I’ll return to the playing field when this is all over, I’m not worried about that. The fact is, when one takes care of their body and exercises appropriately then things like this don’t happen and no one suffers.

To all soccer players out there – take care of your bodies. As an athlete, it is your greatest asset. Coaches and trainers have a responsibility to bring out the players’ maximum potential but outside of practice the sole responsibility of your health lies on you. Soccer is a sport that requires a very high demand of your body physically. Your body needs to be ready at any time to give maximum effort and no less. Being foolish in caring for your body will increase your chances of injury and decrease your opportunity to play. I’m sure you’re all doing great, I just wanted to reinforce the importance of the physical care of your body. The boys leave tomorrow morning for what will be a GREAT weekend in CA. I’m confident we can come home with a few victories. Although we lost our games at home this weekend, I think it’s evident that we can play with anyone. We’ll finish our chances this weekend. We made the mistake once and early on the season. We’ll be sure it doesn’t happen again.Tweet