COMMERCE CITY, Colo. – After making history by becoming the Colorado Rapids' first-ever homegrown player, Davy Armstrong thanked his family, friends and former coaches for their support. But few stories could have been more inspirational to the 18-year-old than his father’s.
Ri Armstrong hails originally from Cambodia. As a 6-year-old boy, Ri injured his leg during the Vietnam War and lost several members of his family. Cared for by a US medic, Ken Armstrong, Ri was eventually adopted and went on, incredibly, to become an Olympic skier for the US at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics.
The young midfielder gave one of his first thank yous to his father, whom Davy said had been there for him from the beginning.
An obviously close knit family, Davy said there had been much discussion and some disagreement about signing for the Rapids instead of going to college. And Ri said his son will attend college while playing professionally and being close to home.
“As parents, we’ll like having him at home,” Ri told MLSsoccer.com. “It’s a blessing in disguise that he is here in Colorado and playing for the Rapids.”
The press conference survived, Davy said the real battle to try and get some first-team action begins now. As a central midfielder, he is clearly going to find it tough to get much action given the dominant pairing of veterans Pablo Mastroeni and Jeff Larentowicz.
“There’s a lot of great players,” he said. “I’ll just have to work harder. It’s going to take a lot out of me.”
Having trained for about a month now with the first team, Davy said he had gotten over the initial nerves and the fear of not being able to play at the required level. It’s clearly been a massive learning curve that will continue to extend. But the Colorado native is grateful for the opportunity.
“It’s still pretty much a dream and hard to grasp it all now,” he said. “There’s so much more to learn. I am always aware that everything has to be close to perfect. The passes have to be crisper, otherwise you lose [possession] right away.”
Rapids head coach Gary Smith said he liked both the technical ability and Davy’s maturity.
“Davy has already shown his capabilities, has a lot of physical qualities and shows great technical attributes,” Smith said. “He is also calm and collected and, if we can harness his potential, he is certainly going to be a great product for the club.”
Davy has a mature outlook for someone so young. Going from playing volleyball with the Rapids’ first team at the end-of-season barbecue last year to daily practices with some players who were already professionals when he was just a young child has not seemed to faze the youngster too much.
“Stay focused on your goals, keep driven,” he said would be his advice to any aspiring young players. “Don’t let worldly things get to you and always be ready for the unexpected.”
