NOTEBOOK

Outstanding in their field: Robbie Ryan and Tony Tyler grew up down the street from one another in central Anaheim. Now they’re playing on the same men’s field hockey team--or make that teams.

Ryan, 19, and Tyler, 20, are members of the Olympic Festival West team, the U.S. Junior National team and the Orange County Colts, a club team they helped to start.

Along with Huntington Beach resident Pankaj Padhiar, also on the Festival’s West team, Tyler and Ryan led the Colts to a gold medal in the 1986 Cal Cup, a prestigious 19-and-under tournament, which featured teams from the United States, Canada and the Republic of China.

Today, they play for the Festival’s gold medal when they meet the East squad at 4 p.m.

Tyler, a water polo player and swimmer while at Anaheim High, had a natural interest in field hockey--his father, George, was a national team member. Last year, George and Tony coached the girls’ field hockey team at Santa Ana Valley High.

“Dad was the head coach, but I ran the team,” Tony said.

Ryan became interested in the sport in 1984 when the U.S. men’s team gave a presentation at his elementary school. Although he played football as a freshman and sophomore at Orange Lutheran High, a back injury forced him to change sports. Field hockey it was.

In fact, Ryan became so enamored with the sport, he spent his final semester of high school in Colorado Springs, Colo., site of the U.S. training center. After morning classes at a nearby high school, he’d return to the center for hours of practice, conditioning and instruction.

“It was good because you learn a lot,” Ryan said. “But all you do is field hockey, field hockey, field hockey, so it was real easy to get burned out, too.”

Tyler will take that chance. He’s moving to Colorado Springs in August, as soon as he returns from a junior national team tournament in Montreal.

“I think it’ll be great,” he said.

Hitching a ride: Every day, he drives BMWs, Porsches and Rolls Royces, but he doesn’t own a car.

That’s OK with Padhiar, who works for a Santa Ana auto mechanic. He’d rather just work on the cars--and take them for test drives--than own one.

“I drive enough as it is,” says Padhiar, who graduated from the Arizona Automotive Institute, a two-year technical college. “I don’t need a car.”

But, working among all those sports cars, he must enjoy a joy ride or two. On his Festival biographical sketch, Padhiar’s only comment was: “I like speed.”