The Commute: Four Buses and Two Trains
It’s quiet at 5am when Igor Pierra puts on his team-issued adidas white socks.
He diligently slips on the left and then the right in the dim light of his childhood bedroom. Standing up from his bed he places his LA Galaxy backpack across his broad shoulders. He slowly moves through the house as not to awake Elizabeth and Rene, his sleeping parents, and closes the door.
Igor glances down at his watch, it’s 5:15 am, he has a bus to catch, and then a train, and then another bus. Work starts at 8 and professional soccer training starts at 9:30.
It’s all intertwined.
All the moments move in repetition from start to finish.
Like clockwork.
A ball rolls with steady pace from one boot to another. The whap of a well-struck ball that sails over the bar and is headed to the parking lot next to University Field #1. Players tepidly tease the guy who has sent the ball awry. Before it bounces off of the black concrete or the top of a Toyota Corolla, the first sound you hear is, “IGOR!”. With no reproach or complaint, he’ll glance at the player, glance at the fence and will retrieve the ball.
Like clockwork.
In 1996 Igor was 20-years-old and looking for work. Ivan, his older brother, had taken a job as the head athletic trainer for the LA Galaxy. Ivan asked Raul Vargas, the Galaxy’s kit man, if Igor could come in and help out around the locker room.
In a locker room filled with egos, bravado and global superstars, Igor is a player favorite. David Beckham, Landon Donovan, Steven Gerrard and Alan Gordon all light up when Igor walks into the dressing room. He goes about his business with a smile and a humble high five. After a bad game, a missed penalty or a tough loss, he reserves judgment and brings a smile to the face of each guy.
Igor Pierra is an LA Galaxy Original. A club man in every sense of the word. Igor has served on the first team staff under eight LA Galaxy coaches. Since joining the LA Galaxy in 1996, Igor has participated in roughly 325 home games (Saturday will be number 326). In that time, he has gone 196–70–59.
He also happens to be autistic. A small factor that has never slowed him down or excluded him from being an integral part of the team; an integral part of the LA Galaxy.
There are commutes and then there are commitments.
Today, for the 3,781st time, Igor will arrive at LA Galaxy training.
He will slip his socks on in the dim morning light. He’ll take a bus to a train. A train to Los Angeles. A bus to Carson. He’ll get out on Avalon Blvd. and walk uphill along Avenue A, past the palm trees and under the sign that states “Home of the LA Galaxy”. He’ll put on his team-issued LA Galaxy top and start the day.
Like clockwork.
