Paterson Works to Get Foot in the Door : Soccer: Mira Mesa graduate says his chances of making national team are ‘pretty slim,’ but coach says he could fill a need.

During the little time there is for wondering, he is wondering.

Did he get here soon enough? Can he adjust to a new style of play? Will he get a chance?

Robert Paterson has always been hard on himself, and trying out for the U.S. national soccer team affords him a good opportunity for self-criticism.

Paterson, a 22-year old center forward, never expected to be here with these guys. This is such a long way from his days as a standout at Mira Mesa High School. It’s so different than it was scoring a nation-leading 61 points this past season at the University of Evansville. It’s also a far cry from the experience he had in two seasons at UC San Diego, where he was so good he was sometimes bored.

This is life in the bigs. He has lost eight pounds from all the running, and each day’s schedule at practice in La Jolla is hectic and time-consuming.

Up at 7:15 a.m. Eat, train, eat, train, eat.

And then?

“And then just kind of lie around and wait for the next day,” Paterson says. “We take a lot of naps throughout the day as well.”

In this type of situation, exhaustion comes in two forms: physical and mental. The cure for physical fatigue is sleep. Mental fatigue is sometimes best dissolved by a call home for a chat with little sis.

Paterson’s younger sister, Erin, a scholarship soccer player at U.S. International, says she has talked to him every day since he returned last week to his home town of San Diego. She says he might be feeling pressure.

“He may not admit it, but the pressure is on,” Erin says. “I think he just needs to relax a little bit.”

Every day they talk, Erin asks: “How did it go today?” And Robert will say something like: “We had shooting practice, and for some reason I wasn’t connecting.”

The other day, Paterson was asked whether he thinks a position on this team is his for the taking. His response: “My chances are probably pretty slim, actually, because a lot of players are pretty much set into it and because I’m coming into it brand new, without ever playing with these players at all.”

Wait a minute, says Bob Gansler, the national team coach. The kid has to give himself a chance.

“I think he’s more pessimistic than he should be,” Gansler said Tuesday after practice. “He has been here three days, and he obviously hasn’t torn it up. He’s a little tentative, which is to be expected. Right now, he’s just feeling his way in.”

Besides, Paterson fills a need.

“He’s a finisher,” Gansler said. “Those folks are hard to come by. We haven’t had anybody who has scored for us consistently. That’s why Rob came to mind.”

It seems that throughout Paterson’s career, he has never really been satisfied with his performance. His coach at Evansville, Fred Schmalz, said there were times when Paterson wouldn’t eat after the game, not because he didn’t like the food but because he didn’t like the way he had played.

“He’s got a lot going on inside of him,” Erin says. “He’s very critical of himself. He just wants to keep perfecting himself.”

He told Erin one time that soccer is like an addiction for him, and that sometimes affects his moods. One of his teammates at Evansville nicknamed him “Norman Bates.” Split-personality stuff. Off the field, easy going and quiet. On the field, intense and vocal.

That he hasn’t been saying anything on the field during national team practices is a perfect indication that he hasn’t yet gotten his bearings. He always let people know what he thought on the field during Evansville games.

“I’m still being a little quiet,” he admitted. “I’m kind of listening to other players to get the feeling of how they feel before I let loose.”

It’s almost hard to picture Paterson voicing his opinions. This is a man of few words. Apparently, he doesn’t care to talk a whole lot about his own achievements, of which there are many, including his selection as an All-American last season.

“He’s real quiet,” said Christine, his mother. “He’s not one to brag about anything. He really cares about the game, but he doesn’t care about awards or anything.”

Soccer is his focus. He says he doesn’t really have time for hobbies. Ever since he was a little kid, Paterson’s family has heard him talk of his desire to become a professional soccer player.

He was always the best player on his youth league teams, even at the tender age of 6.

Says Christine: “You know how they all get in a little clump and race down the field? He’d always be standing off to one side, and the ball would always come out right where he was. It was like he had an instinct.”

He carried that instinct through two years at UCSD, where he outclassed his competition. He knew he wouldn’t be doing his college career justice by staying there four years.

“I felt I was more than ready (to play Division I),” he said. “I wanted to leave my freshman year. I just felt that the only way to get better was to play against better competition.”

So he packed for Evansville and wound up being among the best of the best. People might say, “How could he be so good if he wasn’t recruited by Division I schools out of high school?” And that may never be fully be answered.

But to the question of whether Paterson is a legitimate All-American, Schmalz answers: “If someone said he was lucky, they’re lying to you. He could come back next year and have a similar season.”

His accomplishments were certainly enough to catch Gansler’s eye. Every time Evansville played the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where Gansler used to coach, Paterson would have a field day. Gansler took notice. And his team wasn’t the only one suffering.

“He didn’t just pick on us,” Gansler said.

It’s not as if Paterson is a flashy player who winds through defenders with a dash of magic. He is a worker, who sticks around like humidity in a warm summer heat wave. He is steady and consistent, always ready to pay his dues in practice.

“He’s not one of those kids that just oozes athleticism,” Schmalz says. “He’s got a very good shot. It’s strong enough. It’s not something that just knocks your socks off.”

If he doesn’t make the national team, Paterson plans to explore the possibility of playing in England, where he spent a semester playing and studying last year. His mother is English, and his father, John, is Scottish. His grandfather was a first division player in Scotland. Soccer has always been sort of the family sport.

But right now, he says, he isn’t thinking about the future, the past or anything else that might distract him from what he hopes to accomplish in the upcoming weeks of tryouts.

“Really, I’m pretty much dedicated to this right now,” he said. “It’s kind of hard to find other things to do. I don’t have a lot of time.

“It’s going to be pretty tough. But I’m not ready to give up yet.”