Tunnel Vision

Caleb Konstanski, former captain of the NCAA national championship-winning IU men’s soccer team, is one of the newest members of the Major League Soccer team, the Chicago Fire. But before he hits the turf as a pro, he’s sharing a few of his game-winning secrets with Inside.

Step 1: Take your time.
“We would get to the locker room about an hour and 15 before, so we had a good 25-minute time period,” Konstanski says. “A lot of guys joke around with teammates. A lot of guys just sit out on their own.”

Konstanski says he takes the whole 25 minutes to do his pre-game routine.

Step 2: Establish a routine.
Konstanski ties his right shoe first, tapes his wrists, and listens to only one song the entire week before a big game. The song before this year’s championship was, “It’s Time” by Imagine Dragons.

“Even if I don’t like the song, if it is the one I hear for the week, then I’m like, ‘Alright, that’s the song,’” he says. “I don’t know how I pick them. It’s whatever hits me. One time, Hunter Hayes was one of the songs. Sometimes, they’re not even motivational. It is just the superstition, I guess.” 

He remembers listening to “Lose Yourself” by Eminem before a big game in high school. It was the first game of the season, and he scored three goals. Tradition was born.

Step 3: Get in your zone.
“In the locker rooms before the games, we all have our own space where we can sit down,” Konstanski says. “It wasn’t like I left the team. I was just sitting down and had my music on and visualizing that way.” 

Konstanski withdraws into himself when there is a lot of commotion and media in the room.

“At the tournament during the Final Four, I would close my eyes just because the lights were really bright and there were a lot of people in the room. So when there is a lot of people and a lot of activity, it is kind of more distracting,” he says. “But on the normal day, I wouldn’t.”

Will he continue his traditions as a pro? Definitely.

“I’m kind of a superstitious guy,” he says.