US Soccer player Davy Armstrong is half-Cambodian

Davy Armstrong

15 MINUTES: A Pro not far from home

Davy Armstrong, a former striker for Rangeview High School, reflects on life with the Colorado Rapids

Thursday, June 2, 2011
By COURTNEY OAKES
The Aurora Sentinel (Colorado, USA)

Davy Armstrong, at 19, is Aurora’s youngest professional athlete, having signed a contract with the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer just a few weeks after graduating from Rangeview High School.

An All-American striker in four varsity seasons with the Raiders, Armstrong had a scholarship offer on the table to play at the University of Washington. Instead, he accepted the chance with the Rapids, who made him their first hometown signee after he worked his way through their developmental academy. Armstrong didn’t see any game action with Colorado last season, but he was with the team when it won the franchise’s first MLS Cup Championship last November.

Armstrong — who has a brother who also played at Rangeview and two sisters — has Cambodian roots as his father, Ri, came to the United States as a boy by way of adoption and made the U.S. ski team for the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y. Davy Armstrong grew up on the family’s 2 1/2-acre plot of farmland on the northeast edge of Aurora, working on his soccer skills and helping tend to animals.

We caught up with Armstrong at a Rapids reserve game against Sporting KC on May 29 outside of Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, a game he couldn’t play in part due to his recovery from a concussion he sustained recently in training. Pausing mid-sentence to watch his team on the attack, Armstrong talked about growing up in Aurora, how things have changed for him in the past year and the many facets of his life as a professional athlete.

Aurora Sentinel: Any particular moment where it really hit you that you are a professional soccer player?

Davy Armstrong: “The closest was last year after we won the championship and being able to celebrate with the team in the lockerroom afterwards. I haven’t had any first-team minutes, so it hasn’t really hit me yet, but I just have to keep working.”

AS: What was winning the MLS Cup like?

DA: “It was amazing feeling. The goal of the game is to win a championship, and that’s what you dream about your whole life. To be on the top of it all shows that the hard work has finally paid off. But it all starts over at the beginning of the new year. You have to almost erase it from your mind and go from there.”

AS: How are you learning to adapt to a different pace of game at the professional level?

DA: “I am learning every day. It’s going to take a long time, maybe another year or so — at minimum — to get used to it. It’s good. The practices I think get me really ready. Practices actually seem so much faster than the games because there’s way more space in the game.”

AS: As a competitor, is it difficult to be patient and wait for your turn?

DA: “It’s definitely hard to be patient because I’ve been used to starting and all that from when I was very young. Now, I’ve gone from being a big fish to the smallest little minnow out there, I guess you could say, has been a change. It’s tough, but I have to learn to be patient. That’s what all the coaches have been telling me, so I’m putting my faith in what they say. I just keep trying to work hard and improve and the time so I can be ready when it is my chance.”

AS: What’s it like to have people ask you for your autograph?

DA: “It is an honor, honestly. I still don’t really feel like I should be giving them, but it makes you feel like you are worth something and you can give people something they can cherish.”

AS: Do you try to live your life as a role model?

DA: “Taking on the challenges of being a professional comes with a lot responsibilities, and I really like it. A lot has definitely changed. You really have to think before you act. Before I used to be easygoing and like ‘yeah, I’m just going to do this, do whatever.’ Now, you really have to think about what you are doing and how it reflects on you.”

AS: Is your family happy you get to play close to home?

DA: “It’s great, my family is very proud of me. I can only take that and use it as a positive thing to help me. I really want to do well for them. They love coming to my games to be there, even if I’m not playing. They give me tons of support.”

AS: You chose this path instead of going to the University of Washington. Is education still important to you?

DA: “Education is definitely still up there for me. The team is paying for me to go to Metro, and I was able to take a couple of classes this last semester. I’m going to keep trying to do that and I’ll probably graduate in like eight years since I’m just going part time. I still need to keep that a big goal. It’s rough because sometimes we won’t get out of here until 3 or 4 p.m. and from there I just have to go straight over to my class. It’s rough because you are exhausted from waking up and training and everything, but you have to do what you have to do I guess to make it happen.”

AS: Have you thought about life after soccer or is there anything else that interests you?

DA: “I have to keep focused on soccer right now because it is very important. Maybe in the future I could do something like being a teacher or a personal trainer, something hands on and athletic. My main goal is something hands on.”

AS: What was life like growing up in a farm environment?

DA: “I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. We’re not too far away from the city, we’re not in the city, so it was nice. I love coming from that background. Out there we always had to work for what we did. We had to make our patios, we had to make our chicken coops and our sheds. I like the thought of always having to do hard work. I think it helped me be pretty well rounded.”

AS: What animals does the family have and what are they like?

DA: We actually have like 16 chickens and a goat named Chop Suey. ...My dad just brought home a goat one day and it was like ‘I don’t know know why we need it, but ok.’ He acts like a dog. Yesterday, I was out there in the backyard and he thought it was my dad, so it was calling out for me to come out to see him and he wouldn’t stop. If you go over to him, he’ll start wagging his tail and rub up against you like a dog, so it’s cool. We also have a rooster that’s pretty mean. If you turn your back on it, it will come and attack you, but other than that, they are all pretty mild.

AS: Your dad is from Cambodia, do you ever get to go there?

DA: I haven’t been to Cambodia yet. My uncles still does an orphan camp down there with all the missionaries. My sisters have gone down and helped out, so I hope to get there someday to do that, too. I really want to go, but I think it might be awhile. Maybe in the winter it would be good because it’s really humid down there and everything, but who knows. It’s extremely hot in the summer. So we’ll see.

AS: How much of an influence was your dad, Ri, on you?

DA: “My dad is probably the main reason for where I am today. He always pushed me. He’d always tell me and my brother we couldn’t come inside until we got like 10 juggles. Of course we took that literally, so we were out there for half an hour trying to get it. If we weren’t doing anything when he came home from work, he’d always say, ‘You guys are so lazy,’ and me and my brother would go and start working out. He’s the one that pushed us to where we are. He still gives me pointers every once in awhile. Sometimes they’re right, sometimes they’re wrong, but they usually help me out. He played soccer in high school, but he was mostly a skier, so he didn’t do too much soccer.”

AS: Is skiing a big interest?

DA: “I was a skiier, but I had to give that up for this. I love skiing and the mountains, but I can’t do that now. I definitely shouldn’t do that.”

Courtney Oakes: 303-750-7555, sports@aurorasentinel.com