LAKEPORT — Former Clear Lake High School soccer star Tony Bussard is halfway through his fifth season playing professionally in the Netherlands and returned home for the Christmas holiday showing off his new son.
“I”ve been waiting five months to bring him home,” Tony said.
Tony”s Dutch girlfriend, Amber Cabaret, gave birth to Bo Tanner Bussard on July 1. “It”s been great,” Tony, 30, said of fatherhood. “He keeps me busy.”
Tony was on winter break from his Dutch league team when he visited Lakeport for nearly two weeks around Christmas, providing him the opportunity to introduce Bo to his Lake County family and friends.
“It was wonderful,” Ann Bussard, Tony”s grandmother said of spending time with Bo. “He”s a beautiful boy and it was really nice seeing him.”
Tony said he has tried to come home to Lakeport twice a year since beginning his overseas playing career in fall 2005. He played his first season abroad for a lower-level Dutch team in Den Haag (The Hague).
After scoring 26 goals for the third division Den Haag team, Tony played the next season with a first division team, before being picked up by Feyenoord Rotterdam, one of the Netherlands”s top clubs, in 2007.
“For any good player or player who has the opportunity to play in Europe, you almost don”t give up that chance,” Tony said.
Tony has played on Feyenoord”s reserve club for the past three seasons and said he”s “trying to get on the first team right now.”
Tony cited the fact he is not a European citizen as one reason it has been difficult for him to rise to the first team. “It”s tough for me to play with the big boys. I cost a lot of money,” Tony said, referencing a European Union soccer club rule regarding non-citizen player pay.
He has experienced on-the-field success for his Dutch team, scoring 18 goals during the reserve team”s last season. He has scored seven goals in 12 matches so far in the 2010-11 season.
The reserve team got off to a rough start this fall, Tony said, partially because of an influx of new, younger players. Tony, a starting striker on the team, said he has taken a veteran, leadership role with the club, which is nothing new for an athlete with coaching experience and aspirations.
“I try to talk with kids and explain to them that where I”m at is at a high level, but I had to work my butt off to get there,” Tony said.
Tony played three sports in high school, starring as a forward on the Clear Lake soccer team.
“He was an exceptional soccer player,” former high school teammate Michael Jolin said. Jolin, who remains one of Tony”s closest local friends, said he remembers Tony as a “leader for the team.”
A soccer scholarship to Sonoma State University followed Tony”s Clear Lake graduation in 1999. He played four seasons at Sonoma State, winning an NCAA Men”s Division II Soccer Championship in 2002. Tony graduated with a degree in kinesiology in 2003.
Tony played soccer professionally in the United States after college, earning national rookie of the year honors for his season with California Gold, a United Soccer Leagues (USL) rookie league.
He then signed with the Syracuse Salty Dogs, a former USL First Division team, playing one five-month season in upstate New York.
His focus turned to teaching during 2005 when he worked as an assistant trainer for Sonoma State. In July of that year, he accompanied the college squad to the Netherlands as part of a preseason tour.
“I was going as a coach,” Tony said of that 2005 trip. “And I played a little bit and got seen, and they asked me to come back and play a season.”
Five years later, Tony continues to work through the club ranks and experience European living. He said he”s enjoyed traveling throughout Europe, getting to know the Dutch culture and welcoming a newborn with his Dutch girlfriend.
“It”s been great. You know the Netherlands, it”s a very nice country, very nice people,” he said.
He”s found that his teammates and fans have embraced his on-the-field effort. “They”ve treated me well. They like Americans; they like our mentality. They like our ?we”ll win at any cost” attitude,” Tony said.
Tony said he has begun integrating himself into the culture, including improved Dutch language skills, though European city living has been one of the harder adjustments to make.
“I”m living in the city over there and I”m a country boy,” he said.
Tony said his goal is to bring his new family to northern California and work as a soccer coach after his playing days are done. It could be difficult to earn a living as a coach in Lake County because of the tough economy, Tony said, so places like Sonoma County or closer to the Bay Area appear to be ideal long-term choices.
Still, the closer to Lake County that he could settle, the better, partly because a significant portion of his family still lives around the lake and partly because he has enjoyed teaching the game to local children in the past, something he plans to do in the future, no matter where his family settles.
“I”d love to work with the kids up here,” Tony said.
Tony left Lakeport on Monday to return to his team. The reserve club will train for two weeks in the Canary Islands before beginning the second part of its season, Tony said.
Contact Jeremy Walsh at jwalsh@record-bee.com or call him at 263-5636, ext. 37.
