In Training

 Building Mental Strength: Winning the Game Within the Game

Soccer isn’t just physical.
It’s psychological.

You can have skill.
You can have speed.
You can have talent.

The Game Within the Game

Every match has two layers:

1. The visible game (passes, shots, defense, goals)

2. The invisible game (emotion, composure, focus, response)

Championship teams win the invisible game.

In high-intensity moments:

• Referees make tough calls.

• Opponents try to intimidate.

• Coaches get loud.

• The crowd gets emotional.

• Energy rises.

That’s when mental strength separates players.

What Is Mental Strength?

Mental strength is not about being emotionless.

It’s about:

• Staying composed under pressure.

• Refocusing quickly after mistakes.

• Not reacting to distractions.

• Choosing discipline over impulse.

• Playing your role no matter the noise.

It’s the ability to say:
“I see the chaos. I choose clarity.”

Control What You Can Control

Great players understand something simple:

You can’t control:

• The referee.

• The opponent’s behavior.

• The crowd.

• The scoreboard.

You can control:

• Your effort.

• Your communication.

• Your body language.

• Your next decision.

Mental strength lives in the “next play.”

Mistake? Next play.
Bad call? Next play.
Opponent talking? Next play.

Championship mindset = Short memory. Long focus.

Energy Management

Soccer is emotional. That’s part of what makes it beautiful.

But strong teams learn how to channel energy instead of being ruled by it.

Instead of:

• Yelling back.

• Losing shape.

• Dropping heads.

• Playing rushed.

They:

• Reset.

• Organize.

• Communicate calmly.

• Stay disciplined.

When others escalate, they stabilize.

That’s leadership.

The Calm Team

When a team stays calm under pressure, something powerful happens:

Opponents get frustrated.
Officials respect composure.
Momentum shifts quietly.

Mental strength isn’t loud.
It’s steady.

And steady wins.

Practice Mental Reps

Mental toughness isn’t built on game night. It’s built in training.

Ask yourself:

• How do I respond to correction?

• How do I respond when I’m tired?

• How do I respond when I lose a drill?

• How do I respond when I’m not starting?

Those moments build the player more than the goals do.

Final Thought

The best teams don’t just play soccer.

They master themselves.

When the game gets intense, loud, and emotional — the team that controls its mind controls the match.

Win the game within the game.

Perfect Game Day Weather

 The Empire Strykers have a home game on this rainy day at the Toyota Arena in Ontario, California. The doors open an hour prior to the game and the game is at 6:35. 

There is also a home game on Thursday at 6:35. Parking is $15 per car every game. 

The next home game after Thursday is on Sunday at 4:05. 

Lyric's

 You choose who you are, what you represent and who you want to become. 

Bask

It was a hot day today in the winter. 

I sat with the sun shining on my arm.

There was silence and stillness to bask in. 

I watched the pulse in my wrist like a metronome. 

Then I stared at the piano wondering what it sounds like. 

Stryker Game Next Thursday Night

 The Empire Stryker's indoor soccer team has another home game this Thursday night vs. Utica City FC, who typically usually has a solid team. It should be a great game considering the level the Stryker's have been playing at. The overall intensity of the team has increased monumentally this season. I don't know if you're familiar with "runners high" or not but if you are, you understand that when you're running, you go through a period of time where you don't think you can make it through any more strides. Once you push through that point where you thought you couldn't keep going, your body rewards you with the "runner's high". 

This is when you feel as if it's easy (pleasurable really) to keep going and feels completely natural to continue. It seems as though the Stryker team has found their "runners high", so to speak, in the flow of the games. It makes it so fun to watch because of the gorgeous plays that emerge in that state of the game. I hope this level of play continues and the team is consistent with this type of improvement. The fans have been helpful, the entire Toyota Arena is increasingly welcoming, and the Stryker team is pushing past former performance boundaries all around, improving the overall experience. 

The next home game is on February 5th is at the Toyota Arena in Ontario, California at 6:35pm. Parking is $15. For more information, visit theempirestrykers.com. 

Stryker Games this Season

 The Empire Strykers have two upcoming home games. The first home game is on Thursday, January 22nd vs. the San Diego Sockers at 6:35pm (doors open at 5:35) and Sunday, January 25th vs. the Kansas City Comets at 4:05pm (doors open at 3:05). The home games are at the Toyota Arena in Ontario, California. Parking tickets have increased and are now $15 per car. For tickets to the game or more information about the Empire Strykers, visit TheEmpireStrykers.com. 

Blackbird by Harvard Opportunes

 

Heritage in a Performance

 

My Madrigal

Madrigal: "a part-song for several voices, especially one of the Renaissance period, typically arranged in elaborate counterpoint and without instrumental accompaniment." -Bing

"Madrigal is the name of a form of poetry, the exact nature of which has never been decided in English. It is one of the types of poetry in the 18th century figurative system of human knowledge..." -Wikipedia 

One more time

If I could see your face

See that smile light up

Your bright eyes

I would, I love you. 

God Willing

We stare out the window at the pouring rain. 

I go to school and sit at the piano to write. 

The words emerge through the keys. 

The thunderstorm, the new baby, the beautiful family, the rain. 

But there's no record of it.

Just the building of the song, the love of playing. 

My parents, in their love I play as if I can do anything I wish for.

Moo

I look at the cow's face, and I think she's staring at me

I'm sorry for eating meat, I think. 

Her nose drips and I wonder if she's crying.

I learn about her importance, and I hope to appreciate her more. 

I laugh out loud when the kids cheer as she picks her nose with her tongue. 

I thought about her four toes while she stood on only two. 

I looked at her hip bones standing proudly on her lower back. 

Her rack of ribs.

The way her body twitches and her tail swings to ward off the bugs. 

She stared me in the eyes. 

I gave her a little smile. 

Thou

Grant us understanding

Guide us

Protect us

Provide for us

Peace be with you

Mother us

The Lord is with thee

Strengthen us

Amen

The Cavities that Hold Our Parts

 The body’s cavities. 

Dontal me it’s all connected. 

Baby skin soft.  

Umbilical Cord Clip

That animal tale.

National Enquirer says it's happened. 

Surgically remove tail. 

Lab Images

View from space. 

Far as microscope can see. 

Is planet Earth.  

Motor Neurons Haiku

The squishy brain. 

Those dragon fruit motor neurons. 

Transmitting bossy instructions.  

Transverse Tree Trunk

 Tree of bones. 

Human bones made of these. 

Tree trunk bones.

BHS Chorus How Like a Winter

"Shakespeare’s famous line from Sonnet 18:

"Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade…"

Earlier in the same sonnet, he asks:

"Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?" — and in contrast, winter in Shakespeare often symbolizes barrenness, aging, or hardship.

If you mean “How like a winter hath my absence been”, that’s actually from Sonnet 97, where Shakespeare writes:

"How like a winter hath my absence been
From thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year!"

Here, he’s saying that being apart from the person he loves feels as bleak, empty, and lifeless as winter, even if the actual season is summer or autumn. It’s about the emotional “winter” inside him." - Chat GPT

Illumina Oculos Meos

"Latin (Psalm 12:4 in the Vulgate / Psalm 13:3 in many English Bibles)

Respice, et exaudi me, Domine Deus meus; illumina oculos meos, ne unquam obdormiam in morte.

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Literal English Translation

Look upon me and hear me, O Lord my God; enlighten my eyes, lest I ever sleep in death.

"Illumina oculos meos" is Latin for "Enlighten my eyes" or "Light up my eyes".

It’s a phrase that appears in the Vulgate (Latin Bible), specifically in Psalm 12:4 (which corresponds to Psalm 13:3 in many English versions):

Illumina oculos meos, ne umquam obdormiam in morte.
“Enlighten my eyes, lest I ever sleep in death.”

Here, “illumina” comes from illuminare — “to illuminate, to light up, to make bright.” It’s metaphorical for granting understanding, hope, or vitality.

In this psalm, the speaker feels abandoned by God and is crying out for help. The request to “enlighten my eyes” carries multiple layers:

1. Physical Restoration – In the ancient Hebrew sense, “eyes” are tied to vitality. Dim or closing eyes symbolized life fading away. Asking for them to be “enlightened” is a plea for renewed strength.

2. Spiritual Illumination – It’s also about insight and clarity. To “light up” one’s eyes means to receive divine understanding — to see truth instead of stumbling in darkness.

3. Emotional Reviving – On a poetic level, the line is a cry for hope. Darkness in the eyes reflects despair; light represents joy and renewed purpose.

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Poetic Parallels

Shakespeare often used similar imagery — the eyes as windows to the soul, reflecting life or love.
For example, in Sonnet 43:

“When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see…”

In both the psalm and Shakespeare’s sonnets, the eyes are not just organs of sight — they’re mirrors of the heart, indicators of inner light or darkness." - Chat GPT

Hanerot Halalu

""Hanerot Halalu" (הנרות הללו) is Hebrew for "These candles" (or more precisely, "These lights").

It’s the name of a short prayer/song traditionally recited right after lighting the Hanukkah candles.

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Text (in Hebrew & Transliteration)

הנרות הללו אנו מדליקין על הנסים ועל הנפלאות ועל התשועות ועל המלחמות שעשית לאבותינו בימים ההם בזמן הזה...

Hanerot halalu anu madlikin al hanisim ve’al hanifla’ot ve’al hateshu’ot ve’al hamilchamot she’asita la’avoteinu bayamim hahem bazman hazeh…

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English Translation (opening lines)

These lights we kindle for the miracles, for the wonders, for the salvations, and for the battles that You performed for our ancestors in those days, at this season…

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Purpose & Meaning

• It’s a declaration of why we light the Hanukkah candles — not for personal use, but to publicize the miracle of the Maccabean victory and the oil that lasted eight days.

• It emphasizes gratitude and remembrance of God’s interventions “then” and “now.”

• Traditionally sung or recited after the blessings over the candles, while watching the lights burn." - Chat GPT