Sports
‘More than just playing the sport’
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| Pasadena Rugby Football Club Coach Michael Bryant is a Glendale resident. |
Since taking over the reins of the Pasadena Rugby Football Club, Michael Bryant has done wonders
By Gabriel Rizk
News-Press
Michael Bryant’s philosophy of coaching sounds simple enough, but it requires more than just lip service to be effective.
When Bryant, a Glendale resident, pledged to give his all to piloting the Pasadena Rugby Football Club in preparation for the 2007 season — his first as the club’s coach — it was a promise he took to heart. He was no less adamant in demanding the same level of commitment and effort from his players.
“He’s one of the most organized people and takes everything he does seriously — you never get the sense that it’s OK if you don’t go 100%,” says Aaron Tanner, a longtime Pasadena player. “Because he takes it so seriously, he almost has the ability to will you to do the same. He’s the kind of guy you don’t want to disappoint.”
Adds PRFC player and public relations director Rob Heintz: “[Bryant’s] done an excellent job of motivating and unifying everyone. People on this team would follow him to the ends of the Earth.”
The club has grown in leaps and bounds ever since Bryant took over — both in terms of roster size and on-field results, as well as branching out into charitable community-based projects — because both sides have kept up their end of the bargain.
But it was Bryant who broke the ground on that two-way avenue, and many involved in the give and take of dedication and effort between Bryant and his players will tell you that this success story begins with him.
Michael Bryant describes his family life growing up as pretty disciplined.
It’s a trend that continued when the San Diego native spent his first two years of college at the United States Military Academy at West Point.
“West Point ’s one of those places where they sort of break you down and they build you up,” Bryant says. “It’s a rest home for high school heroes. You can be the big man on campus coming out of high school and all of a sudden you get there with this elite class of men and women and you find out you’re pretty mediocre.
“It just taught me about limitations — especially the field exercises — and dependence upon others.”
Bryant returned west to continue his undergraduate studies at UC Davis before earning a degree in medicine from the University of Cincinnati .
It was in 1987, as a resident physician at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, where he continues to practice pediatric medicine, that Bryant was first recruited by a colleague to play for an Eagle Rock-based rugby club.
After 11 years there, a shoulder injury as well as the pursuit of an MBA at UCLA, forced Bryant into a hiatus from the sport.
In 2003, with another degree in hand, Bryant sought a return to the field and was led by co-workers toward the PFRC, a traditional rival of his former Eagle Rock squad.
“It was a clean slate, no expectations, no one knew me,” Bryant says of the PRFC, founded in 1971. “They were in a rebuilding mode at the time — they had core guys, but attendance wasn’t great and I thought, ‘Here’s a team I can add some value to.’”
In 2006, Bryant’s third and final year as a PRFC player, the club went 4-6 for fifth place in Division III of the Southern California Rugby Football Union. The team’s active roster was 25 men deep.
“[The club’s] been around for a long time, but we’d kind of been mired in mediocrity,” says Mark Frazier, a longtime PRFC player, who played his last season with the club in 2007. “We had tried to go to the second division before, but we just never had the numbers.”
Growing enrollment was a key to improving, but Bryant realized that reaching that goal started with working with the team he inherited upon becoming coach in 2007.
“We were really on the cusp of the team either not doing well and not being able to retain and recruit people, or hopefully growing the club,” Bryant says of the transition. “I wasn’t going to make my effort [as coach] contingent on how many players we had. We were going to enter this as a collaboration and learn from each other with the understanding that I’ve been given a responsibility and will take it seriously.”
Bryant got to work organizing and regularly scheduling practices, personally searching for and recruiting players and much more, including fund raising and compiling weekly injury reports.
Players point to a change in Bryant’s demeanor, from a quietly efficient teammate to a vocal, assertive leader.
“I wanted this team to be a family and each family has a leader,” Bryant says. “You’ve got to be much more vocal about the direction a family moves in.”
The PRFC went 11-0 in 2007, by the end of which it had a 40-man roster, and won the Division III championship before going on to place fifth nationally in Division III.
As enrollment continued to grow, the club, which plays its home games at Alhambra High, actually had a surplus of players. But that problem was solved when the team moved up to Division II prior to the 2008 season, which is a much harder level of competition, but enables clubs to field an “A” and a “B” squad so that every player can play in a weekly game.
Now sporting a roster of 55 players, the club continues to grow, as much because of the unique opportunities it provides its members off the field, as well as the lure of winning rugby championships.
“The biggest thing I see as far as him coming onto the team is the fundraising side, not just for us, but for causes,”" Frazier says. “It’s great to build a club and a fraternity, so to speak, with the guys, but it’s also nice when everyone’s working toward a really positive goal.”
Perhaps because of his background as a health care professional, Bryant’s visions for the club as a community service tool have often manifested in projects that assist or comfort those affected by serious injury or illness.
In addition to working with Ronald McDonald House charities, the PRFC has developed a tradition of involvement with the Holidays From the Heart program.
Through Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, the team is joined up with a chronic or terminally ill child from a financially-challenged family to “adopt” for the holidays.
This year, the team adopted a total of eight families — or about 22 people — shopped for essential household items and toys for the kids and had an all-day wrapping party.
Bryant gets choked up when recalling a connection the team made with the family of 15-month old Andrew Donis the previous year.
“Andrew was in the hospital on Christmas day, so we brought all his gifts to him and his family was really grateful,” Bryant says. “Three months later, he died while waiting for a liver transplant, so I told the guys. His family didn’t have enough money to actually bury this kid, so the team raised all the money to bury him and four of us went to his funeral. The day after, the mom and the dad came to our game to say thank you — it was pretty amazing. That’s the kind of quality of player I have, so that’s why it’s so much fun to coach these teams.”
Bryant has also quietly taken it upon himself and the team to raise money for Alec “Bunk” Wurth, a player from another SCRFU club who became a quadriplegic three years ago after suffering a neck injury while playing rugby. While Bryant points out that Wurth’s medical and care expenses far outnumber the money the PRFC has been able to raise, club players say the jump to get involved was typical of their leader.
“He challenged the team to raise money and he was putting his money where his mouth is — he matched whatever we could raise,” Frazier says.
The PRFC wrapped up its season in March with a 4-6 record and did not qualify for the SCRFU Division II play- offs.
With a robust enrollment and a new era dawning for the club at a more competitive level, though, Bryant is hardly concerned about that.
“There are a lot of things that bode very well for us next year,” Bryant says. “We just had amazing numbers and camaraderie throughout the season, and for me, it’s always much more about the team. It transcends rugby, it’s about much more than just playing the sport.”
When Bryant, a Glendale resident, pledged to give his all to piloting the Pasadena Rugby Football Club in preparation for the 2007 season — his first as the club’s coach — it was a promise he took to heart. He was no less adamant in demanding the same level of commitment and effort from his players.
“He’s one of the most organized people and takes everything he does seriously — you never get the sense that it’s OK if you don’t go 100%,” says Aaron Tanner, a longtime Pasadena player. “Because he takes it so seriously, he almost has the ability to will you to do the same. He’s the kind of guy you don’t want to disappoint.”
Adds PRFC player and public relations director Rob Heintz: “[Bryant’s] done an excellent job of motivating and unifying everyone. People on this team would follow him to the ends of the Earth.”
The club has grown in leaps and bounds ever since Bryant took over — both in terms of roster size and on-field results, as well as branching out into charitable community-based projects — because both sides have kept up their end of the bargain.
But it was Bryant who broke the ground on that two-way avenue, and many involved in the give and take of dedication and effort between Bryant and his players will tell you that this success story begins with him.
Michael Bryant describes his family life growing up as pretty disciplined.
It’s a trend that continued when the San Diego native spent his first two years of college at the United States Military Academy at West Point.
“West Point ’s one of those places where they sort of break you down and they build you up,” Bryant says. “It’s a rest home for high school heroes. You can be the big man on campus coming out of high school and all of a sudden you get there with this elite class of men and women and you find out you’re pretty mediocre.
“It just taught me about limitations — especially the field exercises — and dependence upon others.”
Bryant returned west to continue his undergraduate studies at UC Davis before earning a degree in medicine from the University of Cincinnati .
It was in 1987, as a resident physician at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, where he continues to practice pediatric medicine, that Bryant was first recruited by a colleague to play for an Eagle Rock-based rugby club.
After 11 years there, a shoulder injury as well as the pursuit of an MBA at UCLA, forced Bryant into a hiatus from the sport.
In 2003, with another degree in hand, Bryant sought a return to the field and was led by co-workers toward the PFRC, a traditional rival of his former Eagle Rock squad.
“It was a clean slate, no expectations, no one knew me,” Bryant says of the PRFC, founded in 1971. “They were in a rebuilding mode at the time — they had core guys, but attendance wasn’t great and I thought, ‘Here’s a team I can add some value to.’”
In 2006, Bryant’s third and final year as a PRFC player, the club went 4-6 for fifth place in Division III of the Southern California Rugby Football Union. The team’s active roster was 25 men deep.
“[The club’s] been around for a long time, but we’d kind of been mired in mediocrity,” says Mark Frazier, a longtime PRFC player, who played his last season with the club in 2007. “We had tried to go to the second division before, but we just never had the numbers.”
Growing enrollment was a key to improving, but Bryant realized that reaching that goal started with working with the team he inherited upon becoming coach in 2007.
“We were really on the cusp of the team either not doing well and not being able to retain and recruit people, or hopefully growing the club,” Bryant says of the transition. “I wasn’t going to make my effort [as coach] contingent on how many players we had. We were going to enter this as a collaboration and learn from each other with the understanding that I’ve been given a responsibility and will take it seriously.”
Bryant got to work organizing and regularly scheduling practices, personally searching for and recruiting players and much more, including fund raising and compiling weekly injury reports.
Players point to a change in Bryant’s demeanor, from a quietly efficient teammate to a vocal, assertive leader.
“I wanted this team to be a family and each family has a leader,” Bryant says. “You’ve got to be much more vocal about the direction a family moves in.”
The PRFC went 11-0 in 2007, by the end of which it had a 40-man roster, and won the Division III championship before going on to place fifth nationally in Division III.
As enrollment continued to grow, the club, which plays its home games at Alhambra High, actually had a surplus of players. But that problem was solved when the team moved up to Division II prior to the 2008 season, which is a much harder level of competition, but enables clubs to field an “A” and a “B” squad so that every player can play in a weekly game.
Now sporting a roster of 55 players, the club continues to grow, as much because of the unique opportunities it provides its members off the field, as well as the lure of winning rugby championships.
“The biggest thing I see as far as him coming onto the team is the fundraising side, not just for us, but for causes,”" Frazier says. “It’s great to build a club and a fraternity, so to speak, with the guys, but it’s also nice when everyone’s working toward a really positive goal.”
Perhaps because of his background as a health care professional, Bryant’s visions for the club as a community service tool have often manifested in projects that assist or comfort those affected by serious injury or illness.
In addition to working with Ronald McDonald House charities, the PRFC has developed a tradition of involvement with the Holidays From the Heart program.
Through Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, the team is joined up with a chronic or terminally ill child from a financially-challenged family to “adopt” for the holidays.
This year, the team adopted a total of eight families — or about 22 people — shopped for essential household items and toys for the kids and had an all-day wrapping party.
Bryant gets choked up when recalling a connection the team made with the family of 15-month old Andrew Donis the previous year.
“Andrew was in the hospital on Christmas day, so we brought all his gifts to him and his family was really grateful,” Bryant says. “Three months later, he died while waiting for a liver transplant, so I told the guys. His family didn’t have enough money to actually bury this kid, so the team raised all the money to bury him and four of us went to his funeral. The day after, the mom and the dad came to our game to say thank you — it was pretty amazing. That’s the kind of quality of player I have, so that’s why it’s so much fun to coach these teams.”
Bryant has also quietly taken it upon himself and the team to raise money for Alec “Bunk” Wurth, a player from another SCRFU club who became a quadriplegic three years ago after suffering a neck injury while playing rugby. While Bryant points out that Wurth’s medical and care expenses far outnumber the money the PRFC has been able to raise, club players say the jump to get involved was typical of their leader.
“He challenged the team to raise money and he was putting his money where his mouth is — he matched whatever we could raise,” Frazier says.
The PRFC wrapped up its season in March with a 4-6 record and did not qualify for the SCRFU Division II play- offs.
With a robust enrollment and a new era dawning for the club at a more competitive level, though, Bryant is hardly concerned about that.
“There are a lot of things that bode very well for us next year,” Bryant says. “We just had amazing numbers and camaraderie throughout the season, and for me, it’s always much more about the team. It transcends rugby, it’s about much more than just playing the sport.”
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