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

Jul 16^th, 2010 – Over the past two weeks the majority of my time has been spent on the soccer field. With cub camps, the overnight academy camps, and coaching two youth teams I literally live on the field. I love coaching and having soccer being such a huge part of my life. As I watch players develop over the 4 day camp it’s remarkable how much they improve and become friends with someone they didn’t even know existed four days earlier. On Tuesday night my training team left me driving home in awe…

My training team consisted of 10 players from the U14 Ranger Boys, a player from Utah FC, and a young man who had never played competitively, we’ll call him Bryce. On the first day of camps I could tell that this team would be one of the most skilled teams that I would ever coach at camps. You could tell they all knew each other and they adapted well to each other’s style of play. The level of respect on and off the field impressed me, aside from teammates, they were friends, and as such, they pushed each other to be better all week long. Clearly, Bryce never playing at a competitive level and not playing with the boys he was by far the weakest player of the team. Tuesday night we were having our daily scrimmage and as the game progressed Bryce scored his first goal…what happened after is what left me in awe. Bryce was ecstatic. I looked up to see his reaction and celebration and I saw all 11 players surround him and congratulate him. They all celebrated as if he scored the winning goal in the World Cup Finals. The 11 others were almost more excited for him than he was himself. Here are 11 young men that for the most part play and understand each other and when the unknown 12^th guy scores they embraced him as one of their own. If I were an onlooker I wouldn’t have guessed that Bryce wasn’t part of their team.

This led me to think of the team I play for and represent. I believe it was two games ago that Pedro suffered a knee injury towards the end of the game. His injury didn’t look that bad from the sideline and most of us thought he was just trying to get a call from the ref. When he wasn’t getting up Deniece, our trainer, ran to his aid. She’s great. The next thing I saw was three of his teammates lift him up in their arms and start to carry him off the field. Cam was sitting out due to his ankle injury, and he ran onto the field to relieve the field players and take over carrying Pedro, his teammate. I, then, rushed on the field to help Cam. Pedro covered his face with his hands and you could hear the sobs he was trying to hold back. Here are two examples of teammates lifting each other. Literally.

This is what makes our team unique and special. Watch what happens when the team comes together for a cheer, EVERYONE is involved and in the inner circle. When the starting line-up is called the guys on the bench almost cheer more loudly for the their teammates than the fans in the stands. During the game the guys not playing are always offering encouraging words to their teammates on the field. When a substitution is made almost every single player gives the player coming off a high five, a short man embrace, but most of all he is welcomed to sit with a “Well done.” I’m often asked by younger players or fellow students about how I like playing for BYU, and my response has been the same since the first day I put on the blue and white jersey. It’s a dream come true. I wouldn’t exchange this experience for anything, this experience is one that I could only have here.Tweet

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

July 7, 2010 – The game is tied 1-1 to start the second half, both teams are playing for three very valuable points, the fans are hopeful that the Cougars will get a long awaited win…and most of all the players are trying to change their unfortunate luck this season. That was the feeling in the air as we fought to a well-earned 3-1 victory over the Ogden Outlaws. After being down 1-0 for the majority of the first half we once again proved a rare team characteristic to come back and win. Finally, we were able to finish our scoring opportunities and not just out play the opponent, but also win.

With only three home games remaining each game becomes that much more important. Tomorrow night we take on the division champs, Hollywood Hitmen, and then two days later, Saturday, we face the national champions, Ventura County. Tough weekend? Indeed. Are both great teams? Yes. Can we win? Without a doubt. We fell to Hollywood and tied Ventura at their home. On our last trip to California the team, only the players – no coaches, came together for a short meeting. We talked about what we can do better, where we can improve, what we want out of the remaining games. There is a lot that we can improve on and be better at, but there always will be. One mindset of the team as that we are better at the end of our final game July 17^th than we were when we started the season.

Our hopes of going to the playoffs faded quickly after our final games in California. However that doesn’t mean we don’t have something to prove. We play two of the best teams in the nation over the next three days and we definitely have plenty to play for. We’ve spent a lot of time together lately. We awoke extremely early on Monday, July 5^th, to be in the pre-parade. Quite a few of us are coaching the cub camps together that started yesterday. We’ve watched the World Cup Semifinals together…GO SPAIN! And, of course, we practice together everyday. I think more and more of the guys are becoming comfortable with one another and it’s beginning to show on the field. More confidence in one’s self and trust in our teammate.

The past two days we’ve focused on attacking with creativity and speed, actually getting to the goal and creating opportunities quickly. We had a little tournament yesterday, we had 4 teams of 7 and the team with the most overall points after pool play won. The winners received Jamba Juice after practice. Thanks Coach. Unfortunately, Cameron Lamb and Drew VanWagenen are on our injured list and most likely will not play tomorrow. Cam is our starting right back and hasn’t missed a game all season. He’s out with an ankle injury from the last game. Drew is our center back and is out with a left should injury. Both are recovering well and we all hope they’ll be back for Saturday.

Drew Van Wagenen (above) and Cameron Lamb are questionable this weekend with injuries. (BYU Photo)

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

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

After tying the 2009 PDL Champs, Ventura County, at their home we had a nice week long break. It’s an important week; it’s usually the only break we have from training. We had our first overnight Academy camps last week so for those who were in town helped out and got a good week of work in. I personally have so much fun at camps…soccer literally all day long. But really, is there anything better? We have a break from camps until the 5th of July and then we’ll go throughout the rest of the month running camps. July might be my favorite month of the year.

It’s been about 10 days since my surgery and I’m feeling pretty good, a little sore but for the most part I’m feeling better. That still means that I watch practice from the sideline and watch my teammates work for two straight hours. We have three of our freshmen that have joined us and all of them are looking good. Matt Kurtz, Junior Lartey, and Nate Stoven are all enjoying their first week of the practice with the team. Monday’s practice was intense and after having a week off the team came back together pretty well. Tactically speaking it wasn’t the team’s best, but that was to be expected. Tuesday’s practice focused on creating scoring opportunities from tight spaces and then finishing. A quick comment about our three goalkeepers, Bryan Black, Cory Cosgrave, and Nate Stoven, all three of these individuals is an outstanding goalie. I have no idea how they are able to get on the ground as fast as they do or fly across the goal and stop some of the shots they do. They are a huge part of our defense and I am always impressed with their athletic ability and courage to stand in front of that net. I think our team needed a practice like that; we have to be more creative individually and as a team in the offensive third. It is an absolute necessity that we’re taking advantage of every opportunity on net, we have to score goals. It really doesn’t matter how good we are defensively if we aren’t winning games.

We have the individual talent and depth on the roster to WIN games. I feel that we need to be playing with a little more confidence. We just tied the PDL champs at their home; we can play against the best despite what our current record says. I’m optimistic about the rest of our season. Things are looking up. We have two home games this weekend, and I think the team is anxious to play on South Field once again.

Last night we had our annual barbecue at Coach Watkins’ house. The food was good, the company great, but I think what I liked best is just being with the guys in a setting that doesn’t include a soccer field. Sometimes we get so caught up in being teammates on the field that we forget to be people and friends off the field. It’s interesting how relationships off the field can directly influence a team. Our team could use a few more gatherings that aren’t soccer related. Next week we’ll leave late Wednesday night on a long bus ride to Fresno, CA. Everyone on the team will travel and we’ll be spending a lot of time together as we play and then travel to Lancaster for our final out of state game, and then back home to P-town. That’s Provo, for those of you unfamiliar with P-town. It’ll be a good team bonding experience.Tweet

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

Mid-morning on Monday I underwent surgery for my sports hernia…I’m a bit sore two days later. This week is our week off for the summer. It comes at a good time while we have several players trying to recover from nagging injuries or just a little banged up from the past two weekend trips to California. This week is the first week of overnight camps so many of the players are involved with that this week. The team has been great and I’ve received phone calls, emails, and had visits from my teammates to make sure I’m doing well. I asked about the game against Ventura and the responses are optimistic. It does something for our team to tie the best team in the league in their home. After talking with Toni Niccoli, he said, “We just need to be consistent.” I think what he’s alluding to is the fact that we are a good team, we can tie the U21 Mexican National Team at home and the best team in the league at their home and somehow we need to find that rhythm in every game, not only in the big games.

This is an important time in our season. We’ve almost played half of all our games and we have a single win, 4 losses, and 2 ties. Now the teams we’ve lost to have been good teams but, in my opinion, we shouldn’t have lost at home. I look at our roster and we definitely have the manpower and depth to be the better team in almost every game. We get our opportunities to put the ball in the back of the net, we possess decently well and we’re probably the “most-fit” team in the league. I’m excited to have this week off and have the guys get a little break from all the traveling and spend some time at home recovering. The second half of our season is going to be exciting! We have a few games next week at home and it’ll be nice to play in OUR stadium, with OUR fans, at OUR home. Here come the cougars!

Just a recap: The surgery was quick and went extremely well. I’m in bed for most of this week and have a follow up with the doc next Friday. I hope to be back on the field asap! Deneice Oates, the most amazing trainer ever, said she’ll have me working back into things slowly…I can’t even wait! I can’t believe I haven’t played soccer in this long. I’m glad that it’s just recovery now.Tweet

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

Soccer, soccer, and more soccer! It was another short week of practice due to Memorial Day and our weekend games Thursday and Saturday. The team came together Tuesday and Wednesday for practice and then early Thursday morning the team was off to California again, only this time James Bindrup would return to Provo a married man. Congrats my man.

This week has been full of one thing…soccer. Our soccer camps started this week and so we, as BYU soccer players, have the opportunity to coach and be a part of the program in a different way. I personally love doing camps. For me, being with the kids and teaching them to play the sport I love is so fun! I hope it’s fun for the kids too. This week we had camps in the morning and then cub camps in the afternoon. The camp coaches are players from both the men and women’s soccer teams. It’s exciting to see the turnout each year as kids come for the first time or return year after year. In just four days the campers improve so much. The camps consist of topics such as dribbling, passing, shooting, and heading. Each day a specific topic is focused on, taught, and practiced. The individual player has the opportunity to work in small groups (their camp team) to improve their ability on the soccer field. The program is designed to help first time players as well as the more experienced players develop at their own pace. After a warm up intended to improve ball control and skill practice, the campers are exposed to higher levels of soccer through a more visual outtake…video. Players mature and enhance their skill by watching others do it, “others” being the professionals. To finish the day scrimmages are always a must, it gives the player an opportunity to implement and practice the skills they’ve just learned. Overall, the camps are just fun. We play and have several games and competitions that provide the youth with a competitive, yet fun, environment.

In addition to the two camps that were being held we still had a responsibility to be at practice. Also, a few of us coach for the Utah Rangers Academy that started this week and went Tuesday through Friday. So basically, my life revolved around soccer. However, my mom would always and still does tell me that I eat, drink, and sleep soccer. It’s true mom…I do. I love it!

It’s definitely been a stellar week.  Below is a picture of the team I coached at cub camp this past week. All the kids were great; I think my team was the best. I’m not being biased either…well maybe. Anyway, I think it’s awesome to see all the talent at this young age and keeps one optimistic about the future of soccer. We still have more camps coming up. Honestly, if you’re debating about coming and not sure-COME! It’s so worth it! I never had the opportunity to come as a youth or teenager to attend BYU soccer camps but I definitely wish I could have. You’ll love it! Tonight we go up against the reigning PDL champions, Ventura County, and I only have one thing to say. GO COUGARS!

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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

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

May 19, 2010 – So…it’s midway through May and I’m still waiting for the weather to be about 80° and be sunny! Don’t get me wrong I love the overcast, rainy, dismal days…or not. We actually have the day off today, no practice, we’ll have a light practice tomorrow in preparation for our weekend games.

Let’s rewind to a week ago, did you watch the game?! Oh my, it was the most exciting game! If you didn’t see it you can still watch it on www.byu.tv under byu sports – May 12^th PM showing. First of all, the opportunity to play against a professional national team was phenomenal. I don’t know if I’ll ever get another chance like that.

We arrived an hour early for our pregame meeting and the stands were already filling up with fans supporting our opposition. They had all these instruments that made lots of noise. After our meeting and during our warm up we jogged across the field and it was my first experience being “booed” at home. When we turned around to run the other way someone yelled in a Hispanic accent “GO HOME!” “Uh…we ARE home.” It was pretty funny. Just preparing and warming up for a game at this level was exciting. The atmosphere was electrifying. Once the Mexico team stepped on the field it seemed as if all the fans in the stands were supporting them. It was SO loud. That proved to be the story throughout the entire game, I don’t ever remember it being quiet. I love how passionate their fans were and appreciate their support for their team. I have to tip my hat to our fans in the stands who had to compete with that kind of noise.

It was an intense game and once we scored we went crazy! The whole bench starting jumping up and down and giving each other high fives. I’m not quite sure Brady could believe he had just scored such a phenomenal goal. The fans went wild and the guys on the field gained a confidence that became evident as the game went on. Tony would double the score and put one in off a volley to himself. After that the whole stadium erupted, I literally jumped off the bench and started hugging my teammates there with me, I’m sure the Mexico fans and players were in a state of disbelief. I probably started yelling and screaming, yea…I was pretty excited. I doubt that there were many people that thought we would go up on Mexico’s U21 National team by two goals in the first half. The feeling of being on the field is absolutely indescribable. Seeing the stands completely full and people standing around the corner of the field gave a sense of hype that was completely satisfying. To sum it up in a single word: PHENOMENAL! The game was absolutely phenomenal. I was ecstatic the whole night. Well done boys!

We have a few injuries we’re dealing with right now. Zack DeFrancis has a fracture in his fibula. Trevor Henderson has a fractured vertebrae and I may have a sports hernia. It is by far the worst injury I have ever had and it’s a pain that I just can’t play through so I am currently watching from the sideline the team practice. The team looks good. Really good. It’s a special team from player 1 to player 26. There is so much talent on that field I think as a player I forget that I’m playing with such high quality, talented guys. The speed, footwork, passing ability and vision of these players is just flat out good. Our goalies are extremely fun to watch, they save some of the most ridiculous shots!

Dustin Graham just returned home and has joined us, his first day of practice was running 30 min. straight at your maximum heart rate…welcome back!Tweet

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

May 12, 2010 – Today’s the day. Tonight when the sun begins to dim and the stadium lights flicker on, we’ll take the field. Standing across from us will be the U21 Mexican National Team. For the majority of us, this game will be the highest level of soccer we will ever play in our lives. I, personally, have a lot of respect for the opponent tonight. Soccer is their life and to be able to represent your country on the field is not an easy feat. I’m extremely excited to see how they play the game. However, more than that I’m excited to see how we, BYU, play the game. We may not be professionals, we may not be the best soccer players the US has to offer, but we are a unique and special team. I highly doubt you’ll find 25 players quite like us anywhere in the country. Each individual player plays a special role on our team.

We had our first game this last Saturday and going down 2-0 in the first 7 minutes isn’t quite what we had in mind to start off the season. However, I think the next 83 minutes is proof of the caliber of character of our team. We weren’t playing very confidently, we were losing the ball, passing to the other team, and kept giving them opportunities to shoot on Brian. In a single moment that all changed…Kip (he also goes by “Kipling” – he likes that better than his real name) recovered a loose ball on our defensive half looked up, played BJ the outlet pass, Brady took off on a dead sprint as BJ put the ball in front of Brady and on his left foot aka a perfect ball for Brady. Brady finished the play with a traditional left-footed goal. The play itself took no more than a 45 seconds. Those 45 seconds ignited a fire within the team and it was a completely different BYU team on the field for the rest of the game. We continued to battle for every ball and attack with confidence. At times we completely outplayed Orange County. Britt’s goal to tie it at 2 came with no surprise; it was only a matter of time that we would score. It was an awesome sight to see everyone step up and come together as a single unit, a team. I take my hat off to my teammates.

The weekend trip with the guys was fun. I roomed with Tony Niccoli and Britt Osbourne. It’s good to spend time and get to know the guys off the field. I also was able to see my brother, Mark, who’s in Miramar, CA. I experienced Cheesecake Factory for the first time and…it was amazing! I’m still battling the lower abdominal strain and it’s painful to play but I can’t stay off the field. Seriously, I can’t. I just play through it and I forget about it. In practice we’ve been focusing on high-pressure defense and wing play. We’re a very fit team and one of our strengths is winning the ball back by pressuring our opponent into making a mistake. Being able to win the ball in the middle of the field and play it out wide is something that needs to improve. We hold the ball well but as a team we need to know what we’re going to do before we have the ball at our feet. This Friday and Saturday we’ll have some time off and be able to relax for a few days and enjoy the weekend.

I hope to see you all tonight! If you’re not coming, then watch us on BYUTV! Look for me…my mom tells me I’m tall, dark, and handsome. Ha just kidding, no but seriously. I’m number 2. Paint your faces, cheer loud, and go cougars!Tweet

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

May 5, 2010 – It’s been a week and we’ve had some good training. Here’s the recap. Every Wednesday we have functional training by position (forwards, midfielders, and defenders) and instruction by our respective coach, then we scrimmage. Wednesday’s are good days. Last week we played for about 70 minutes giving all of us good minutes on the field. Six goals were scored in that time period and a lot of good progress was made. An area that we’re improving on is finishing. As a team, we hold the ball extremely well and we get good looks at the goal but we struggle finishing those looks.

Thursday we picked up right where we left off and divided into four groups, each with a different coach. Each coach had some sort of finishing drill whether it be one touch volleys with both feet, dog fights, or 1v1 with the keeper. I sat out Thursday and Friday due to a lower abdominal strain so I was able to get a good look at what was happening at each of the four finishing stations.  After each team had visited each station, the team progressed into 6v6 games on a shortened field. Now you have to understand that we are an extremely deep team, each player on this team is flat out good so that usually leads to intense, physical games. We have a winners and losers field. You can play well for most of the timed game but if in the last second you get an unlucky bounce and lose you stay on the losers’ field. Trust me, every one dislikes being on that field. The games were intense and during the games usually there’s one team that’ll step up as a team and all 6 players will give their best effort and for the most part stay on the winners’ field. On the other hand, there is usually a team that is unfortunate and for whatever reason doesn’t leave the losers’ field. When it gets heated, the frustration comes out and we are more prone to get on each other. Those that stay calm and keep their heads cool almost in every case win. Friday consisted of much of the same but included much enjoyed fitness at the end of practice. Coach had the program invest in these heart rate monitors that we wear at each practice that keeps track of our heart/work rate and somehow it calculates points for each player. The goal is to have half the team over 300 points by the end of practice. Unfortunately, I think two had barely reached the goal so the team stayed late and ran fitness until 11 players had reached the goal of 300. Tough love. It may have been the first day I was grateful for my injury.

We had the weekend off so in my spare time I decided to go frisbee golfing, coached a youth team, and I may have snuck in a few dates. We came back together yesterday with the same goal to reach 300 points before we left the field. The focus of practice was playing the ball to someone with vision and getting in a position to receive the ball so you have vision of the field. Since no one wanted to repeat Friday’s fitness experience there wasn’t a single player standing around yesterday. The teams that weren’t involved for the moment were running behind the goal, running short sprints, doing push-ups, or jogging to keep their heart rate up. It was amazing to look around the field and see every player in motion, moving, and staying completely active. That, for sure, will pay off. Well today we go back for functional training and then our long awaited weekly scrimmage between the starters and reserves. It’ll be a good game; the guys are great, we’re all pretty close with each other and can relate not only as teammates, but also as friends. Saturday is the long awaited game day. We’re ready. Orange County here we come! Enjoy Cinco de Mayo…go eat a burrito or something.Tweet