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

June 22, 2010 – Today we were back at practice and had Salt Lake Community College come down and play us in a scrimmage. I think we played for 90 seconds before Brady laid off a ball to Toni that he put in back of the net on the far post. That was the beginning to the barrage of goals to come over the next 90 minutes. It was good for our starters to get some good “game like” practice and excellent for our reserves to play and step on the field. We played a full 90-minute scrimmage…and that was practice. We’ll practice tomorrow afternoon and then get on a bus late tomorrow night to drive to Fresno by bus. We’re all SO excited to be on a bus for ten hours and really get to bond as a team.

Tomorrow morning the U.S. takes on Algeria to secure a spot in the round of 16. They’ll win. I know they will. Most of us will gather at Britt’s house to watch the game. It’s activities like that that are just fun and laid back. We all love soccer and for some reason we like watching the world cup. Weird, I know.  We have two games this weekend, Thursday and Saturday. Both of which we can walk away with 3 points and be proud of our effort.

We’ll have a great weekend. On another note I’d like to get some responses to the following question. I love to be inspired and inspire others. As an athlete you play in some big games, some that aren’t as big, you motivate yourself to be better and exceed expectations. So, to every reader: What has someone shared with you that has inspired you? What have you shared with someone to motivate them? Coaches and captains, what are some things you’ve done to inspire your team? If you have stories, poems, quotes, or anything please share! You can comment directly on this entry or respond to joshpatino@yahoo.com and in the subject area put “Inspiration.” Can’t wait to hear from you!Tweet