Family Life Fails to Loosen Grip of Field Hockey on Spencer

The words were sincere when he wrote them in 1984, but the card that Brian Spencer gave to his wife, Josephine, has become a laughing matter in their household.

Spencer, 29, had just finished playing on the U.S. field hockey team in the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, and the 1980 graduate of Royal High figured it was time to stop playing games and get on with his life.

“The card said, ‘Now that the Olympics are over, we can get on with a normal life,’ ” Spencer said. “And she has been bringing that card out and showing it to me ever since.”

It’s easy to understand why.

Seven years later, Spencer is still playing field hockey and he does not plan on retiring until after the 1996 Olympics.

He has scored five goals in four matches in the U.S. Olympic Festival at Loyola Marymount and he will lead the West team against the East in today’s gold-medal match at 4 p.m.

“(Field hockey) is something you can’t get out of your system,” said Spencer, a Chatsworth resident. “Once you’re involved in the game and that team atmosphere and camaraderie, you just miss it if you’re away from it.”

Spencer, a rabid L.A. Kings fan, said, “We were the real (fans), not the ones who have jumped on the bandwagon since Gretzky came here.”

Spencer played roller hockey and street hockey in Simi Valley as a kid before being introduced to field hockey at a clinic in Moorpark.

Intrigued, Spencer and his teammates began playing the sport at a roller rink in Thousand Oaks, and before long, they were playing outdoors on grass fields.

“I was a big ice hockey fan,” Spencer said. “But it was expensive. You had to pay for ice time, pads, and equipment. Field hockey was just a stick and a ball.”

In many ways, the game is more similar to soccer than to ice hockey: There are 11 players on each team. The field is about the same size, and the rules regarding offside are similar.

“It was a fast and high-scoring game,” Spencer said of the indoor version, which is played in the winter months. “And that appealed to us.”

The outdoor version--which is played during the spring and summer--isn’t as high scoring, but that hasn’t tainted Spencer’s passion for it. He holds down three part-time jobs and works 70-80 hours a week to support his family.

“It is a very social game,” Spencer said. “That’s probably what I enjoy most about it. I’ve done a lot of traveling in Europe and Asia because of the sport and met a lot of people. And if I wanted to go over there and train for a few months, I would have no problem staying with a family, and I would do the same thing for them if they came over here.”

As a member of the U.S. teams for the 1984 Olympics and the Pan American Games in 1983 and 1987, Spencer is one of the nation’s most experienced players. He wasn’t selected to play for this year’s Pan-Am team because he was out of shape.

“I scored a lot of goals at the trials, but they wanted me to be in better shape,” Spencer said. “And that’s their prerogative.”

As a veteran of several national teams, Spencer seems irked at not being selected to this year’s Pan-Am team, but he admits that he is about 30 pounds over his ideal playing weight of 163 pounds.

A strained left hamstring--sustained two months ago--is evidence of the burden the extra weight has put on his body.

“This is the first time I’ve ever been injured,” Spencer said. “And it’s because my body just isn’t used to carrying the weight.”

With so much else going on in his life--he has two sons and a daughter is due at any time--Spencer has found it difficult to train as consistently as in previous years.

And to top it off, Josephine is from Mexico and an excellent cook, and Spencer loves Mexican food.

He realizes, however, that he has to lose the weight if he is going to help the U.S. shed its image as a second- or third-division field hockey nation.

The United States finished 12th in the 12-team Olympic tournament in 1984, but the only reason the U.S. was allowed to compete in Los Angeles was because it was the host nation.

The U.S. failed to qualify for the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, and it must win this year’s Pan American Games in Havana or finish in the top five at an Olympic qualifying tournament in New Zealand later this year to qualify for the 1992 Games in Barcelona.

The U.S. finished fourth and third in the 1983 and 1987 Pan-Am Games.

India and Pakistan were the dominant field hockey powers until the early ‘70s, and Australia, Germany, Holland and Great Britain are the leaders today.

“We need to get the club atmosphere in the U.S. like they have in Australia,” Spencer said.

“There is enough talent here, but you’ve got to put it all together. If the U.S. fields the team they can field, they can place in the top 10.”

Spencer hopes to help that happen at the 1996 Games in Atlanta, when the U.S. will again receive a bye into the tournament as the host country.

“My last attempt will be ‘96,” Spencer said. “The only thing that’s stopping me is fitness and that’s a matter of discipline . . . As long as I’m putting goals in, I’m going to keep playing.”