Armstrong's National Success is Big Step for Michigan
10/11/2006 12:00:00 AM | Water Polo
By Matthew Baumer, U-M Athletic Media Relations Intern
As if holding every Michigan goalkeeping record is not enough, former U-M water polo All-American Betsey Armstrong recently added to her already impressive trophy case. The Ann Arbor native ignored her omission on the invitation list for the U.S. national team tryouts, took advantage of open tryouts -- the first of its kind for the national program -- and worked her way from non-invitee to starter for the United States at the FINA World League Tournament July 26-30 in Italy.
"Personally, I went into this summer with the attitude that I had nothing to lose," said Armstrong, one of two national team players to earn a spot via open tryouts. "Making the travel team and earning the starting spot was very fulfilling.
Armstrong
"I attended the open tryout at the end of May this past summer because it was really my only chance to get into the national program. The staff invited me to the tryouts at the beginning of June. I was no longer playing and I couldn't earn an invitation otherwise. They saw the potential of where I had come from and how I made improvements quickly. Once we started playing, I was able to improve further."
The road back was not easy, but Armstrong, who became the first player from a non-California collegiate program to earn a spot on the national team, has continually fought critics her entire career to prove water polo should be taken seriously in other parts of the country.
"I had stopped playing for a year, so I was terribly out of shape. It was a long three weeks at the beginning of the summer and getting back into shape," Armstrong said. "People don't even know what water polo is in a lot of Michigan. What kept me motivated was that I didn't want to get written off just because I am from Michigan."
Armstrong had no idea she would ever return to the pool, but hard training is to thank for her ability to adjust quickly to the high level and high speed of play on the national level.
"I thought I was done," Armstrong remembers. "I finished my college career in May of 2005. The whole rest of the summer I was doing triathlons. I was still in Michigan until September so I did not get in the pool until I decided (in March) to try out."
Not playing the sport for a few months could be viewed as a negative, but the Michigan graduate turned it into a positive, using intense focus to make it through the initial tryouts and regain her confidence in the cage.
"It was scary at first," says Armstrong. "My nerves helped me through it. It made me incredibly focused on my role and how I needed to execute it. It is a really big concept in the program that everyone has their role and if everyone executes their role correctly, we turn out to be very successful. I really held onto that throughout the rest of the summer and it worked out well."
U.S. head coach Guy Baker was also impressed with Armstrong's ability to adapt, and play, at a high level very quickly.
"She did a great job this summer," Baker says. "She had zero international experience going into the summer and she was able to become our starting goalkeeper."
Following training, the U.S. team set out to qualify for the World League Super Final, cruising through preliminaries (July 7-9) in Quebec City and semifinals (July 12-16) in Los Alamitos.
Being a Michigan native could have made it hard for her to jell with a roster full of Californians, but Armstrong fit right in -- in part because of the endless hours of training with the same individuals.
"I made a lot of friends quickly," she explains. "All of the players are incredibly supportive of one another, and that is what leads to our success. Everybody loves to play the game and loves to work hard. [Team chemistry] happens naturally with practicing six hours, five days a week with the same people. It is even more than in college because you don't go to class; it is a full-time commitment."
The Wolverines' goalie for four of the program's six years (2002-05), Armstrong took Michigan to its only two NCAA Tournament appearances, in 2002 and 2005, and earned AWPCA All-America third team honors her senior season.
After winning the starting goalkeeper position on the national team, she continued her success, backstopping the U.S. to a 2-1 Super Final round-robin record and a spot in the World League final against Italy. Her penalty-shot block in the final game sparked her country to a victory over Italy and the gold medal.
"The final game against Italy was close and we really closed the gap," Armstrong says. "[That block] really changed the momentum in the game. We blocked a couple of 6-on-5s and we ended up winning, 9-6."
Armstrong remembers the unbelievable feeling after the final buzzer, recalling the road she traveled to win the gold.
"How hard we had worked and everything we had put into this with the traveling and training and how difficult it had been, it really hit us when that game finished," she remembers. "We were just thrilled."
"My success shows that every player from Michigan has that same kind of attitude that they can go as far as they want."
With the FINA World League title under its belt, the U.S. team and Armstrong looked poised to race to a World Cup championship Aug. 8-13 in Tianjin, China. However, the unfamiliar food and facility, and awkward travel schedule, led to a fourth-place finish. In addition, the long wait from the end of the World League final to the start of World Cup stifled some of the momentum the U.S. carried into China. The emotional letdown made the games that much harder to play.
"[The World Cup] was different because nobody had been there and it was new for everyone," Armstrong says. "The World League gave us the confidence that we needed going into the World Cup. Unfortunately, we let down a bit at the end and it didn't take us all the way through."
The World Cup finish may not have gone the way Armstrong would have liked, but she can still look back on the summer and smile.
"The placement in China was disappointing because we had just won in Italy and had already faced some of those teams," she says. "There was a lot of good competition and it was a big tournament, but we are pleased with how we did overall."
Armstrong understands the implications of her success this past summer as not only a win for her and the U.S., but to help put Michigan and Eastern-based water polo on the map as well.
"It's great because this gets our program exposure," she says, speaking of her alma mater. "It shows that every player from Michigan has that same kind of attitude that they can go as far as they want. I liked being able to set that standard for players that come to Michigan. I always feel like I am representing the program and the East Coast."
For a U-M player to prove she can keep up with California competition speaks volumes of the strides the Maize and Blue program has, and continues, to make.
"My success shows that water polo doesn't need to be centrally located in California," Armstrong said. "Michigan is going to be a very competitive school and we need to have that ambition in the players who come in. We're a new program that has a very strong future.
"I am proud to have played at Michigan and to have been a part of that foundation; not playing at one of those two schools that wins a national title every year, but really being able to help build Michigan's future."
The summer competition has been quite a ride for a player that was not sought by the national program. To be selected for the final roster, let alone the starting goalkeeping spot, is simply admirable.
"It has sort of been a whirlwind because it all happened so fast," said Armstrong. "I didn't necessarily think that it would go this far, but I knew it could. I did not know how it was going to work out. It was such a great program and such a thrill to make the team, let alone win the world league."
The Michigan native will continue to train with the USA Water Polo program. Armstrong's next task is to secure a spot on the Holiday Cup roster and World Championships squad. The Holiday Cup is scheduled for Dec. 6-10 in Los Alamitos, Calif., and the World Championships are set to take place in March of 2007.
