Passing the Torch : A Soccer Career That Ended in Burnout Kindled the Interest of Bryan Children

For the San Fernando Valley, it was the end of an era.

For Peter Bryan, it was a lot worse. It was the end of the world. At least the only world he had ever known.

When the Los Angeles Skyhawks folded in 1979, Bryan, head coach of the Valley-based professional soccer franchise, was a man without a team for the first time he could remember.

He had grown up playing the sport in his native England, signing his first professional contract with Oxford United of the English Football League on his 17th birthday.

After six years, Bryan was traded to Waterford of the League of Ireland, for which he played another decade. There he was part of a dynasty, starring at fullback for a club that won its league 5 times in the 10 years. That was pretty big stuff in a town better known for producing fine crystal than fine soccer teams. Despite a population of only about 30,000, Waterford would regularly turn out 12,000 strong for its soccer team.

Bryan loved it. He also played in international competition, coming to these shores in 1976 for a tour that included games against American Soccer League teams.

He liked what he saw well enough to stay. In 1977, Bryan landed a job as player-coach of the New York Apollo of the ASL. He became coach of the Skyhawks in ‘78, signing a three-year contract.

But by 1979, he was faced with collecting his pay for the final year of that deal by sitting at home. Soccer had died another of its frequent deaths in this country.

What to do?

“I was 35 years old,” he recalls. “I had a wife and two kids and we had bought a home in Simi Valley before the team folded. We were settled. I was the only one who was unsettled.

“I had no trade. I had signed to play soccer when I was so young I hadn’t even graduated from school.”

Bryan, through a golfing buddy who worked for an insurance company, became interested in that field. He pursued it and today is a claims representative for a major company, dealing in everything from forgery to earthquake damage.

You have the next line of this story all figured out, right?

You can take the man out of the game, but you can never quite take the game out of the man. Bryan, unable to purge soccer from his blood, finally has found a way to get back into the sport.

Not quite.

Oh, sure, Bryan keeps up with the exploits of some of his old friends still involved in soccer back home. And he plays in an adult league in Simi Valley to keep in shape.

But miss the game? Not really, he insists.

“I really enjoy the insurance business,” he says. “It’s demanding, much like soccer in respect to some of the pressures.

“There was so much pressure in soccer at the end because the financial pressure on the Skyhawks the last few years made things very stressful. I’d had enough of living by winning and losing. . . . I wanted to go to bed without worrying, without having my life hang on a soccer game.”

This was one case of burnout where the scars never quite healed.

“I’d never go back now,” he says. “I’ve got a different life, a life after sports.”

When Bryan’s kids--David and Suzanne--naturally started playing youth soccer the way all their friends did, Bryan went as far as to conduct clinics for some of the American Youth Soccer Organization coaches.

But no further. Certainly not far enough to coach his own children.

It is nearly 10 years later and David and Suzanne have grown up on the soccer field. Both now play for Simi Valley High.

Suzanne, 17, in her third year on the varsity, is the sweeper, defensive leader and co-captain of the girls’ team that has registered a school-record 17 shutouts, including a Marmonte League-record nine in a row.

All this comes as a follow-up to last season when she was third team All-Southern Section, first team all-league and Simi Valley’s most valuable player.

“She’s the key to our defense,” says her coach, Mark Johnson. “She has right- and left-foot ability and reads defenses fabulously. This year, she is also taking the responsibility of helping our young goalkeeper. Suzanne has great knowledge of the game, great speed and great feet. And two of those things you can’t teach.”

Simi Valley (21-2-1) plays host to Santa Barbara today in the first round of the 3-A Division playoffs.

David, 18, does not have quite as many honors. A reserve winger on the boys’ team that is 17-4-2, he is in his first varsity season.

“He’s shown tremendous improvement in his shooting and overall aggressiveness,” says Andy Silva, David’s coach. “That’s why he’s there.”

Silva’s team also has qualified for the 4-A playoffs and will open today at Long Beach Wilson.

Peter Bryan will follow both teams avidly--as a fan. No coaching from the stands. No second-guessing. He is not above yelling instructions to his son and daughter, but no more so than any other father.

“He’s just a concerned parent,” says Silva, who makes it plain Bryan has never interfered with his own coaching. “He knows when to deliver advice and when not to.”

But it is advice Bryan’s children respect. They want to emulate their Dad. David hopes to perhaps someday play soccer in Europe.

And Suzanne?

“I want a career like my father’s.”

To be a professional soccer player or coach?

“No,” she says, shaking her head with a smile, “I want to be a claims adjuster.”