Coaching Spotlight: Ken Armbruster

The following is the fourth of five coaching spotlights. Each day, we are featuring an honorable coach from a different sport. Today, read about how goalball coach Ken Armbruster received the Paralympic Coach of the Year Award.

No matter how tired he is, no matter how frustrated he might be, Ken Armbruster will never, ever complain.

Especially not when he shows up for goalball practice. Armbruster is the coach of the U.S national team and a club team, both of which include his 34-year-old daughter, Jennifer.

The two were together in Beijing last summer when the United States goalball team captured the gold medal in the Paralympics. This summer, Ken Armbruster was honored as the USOC's Paralympic Coach of the Year.

Although he received the coaching honors, it's hard to tell which one in the Armbruster family deserves more of the credit for all of their success.

A five-time Paralympian, Jennifer Armbruster credits her success to her father.

"Some people say we share the same brain," Jennifer said. "Having a father-daughter relationship and a coach-athlete relationship at the same time has been very, very special to me. I know what he expects and he treats me the same as everyone else. Being the competitor that I am, he knows I'll be there every day. It's not something many people can have. I feel very lucky and I think it has definitely brought us closer since I lost my vision.

"That was a very hard time for me. He was right there the whole way. He always has been."

Earlier this month, Armbruster was presented with the USOC Paralympic Coach of the Year award during a luncheon at the 2009 National Coaching Educators' Conference in Pittsburgh. The conference was hosted by West Virginia University's Athletic Coaching Education Department.

Armbruster guided the U.S. Women's Paralympic Goalball team to the gold medal in Beijing, including a 4-3 victory against China in the gold-medal game. He has served as head coach of the U.S. Paralympics Women's Goalball National Team since 1996. The team won a silver medal in 2004 and a bronze in 1996.

An Air Force veteran, Armbruster also coaches the Colorado Bandits women's goalball team, the current and seven-time national champions.

"Sure, it is a great feeling," Armbruster said of winning the USOC award. "There were so many other worthy candidates, and I received congratulatory e-mails from some of the other coaches. Anyone could have won.

"I was thrilled and almost didn't believe it when I got the call. To be considered the best is humbling. It's a nice thing that came along with the success we had after the gold medal in Beijing."

But he wouldn't have even been involved with goalball had it not been for his daughter.

When Jennifer was 14, her vision became foggy and she couldn't understand why. By the time she graduated high school in 1989, she was virtually blind and had to give up a scholarship to play college basketball.

Soon afterward, she made the switch to play goalball and her father became her coach.

"It's so emotional and still so hard to talk about it," Ken Armbruster said as his voice began to crack with the emotion evident in his words. "Jen is so tough, probably the toughest person I've ever seen. She's so strong and made this easier on all of us. She accepted her loss and took all the pressure off the family. I am so proud of her and I love her and admire her so much.''

After losing her sight, Jennifer Armbruster was a quick study in the sport of goalball, a fast game in which three-person teams are placed at opposite ends of the court in front of goals that are 29 ½-feet wide. Players guard their goal and complete throws to score as the game is played with a ball that has bells inside, allowing the players to find where the ball is located.

"I was so amazed how quickly she bounced up and took to goalball," Ken Armbruster said. "She lost her sight, but not her will to succeed and be competitive. She decided that she wanted to be the best goalball player around and she's accomplished that. It really is unbelievable."

Winning that gold medal in 2008 was a major goal and the result of 18 years of hard work.

"I remember going to Barcelona in 1992 and that was amazing because it was the first one," Jennifer said. "Then to win a gold medal last year at the age of 33 was so rewarding. All those years of working hard and improving was worth it.

"Actually, it gave me momentum to possibly try again in 2012."

Will she attempt to capture back-to-back gold medals?

"I'm going to the Worlds in 2010," she said. "Beyond that, I'm not sure. I know I'm having fun and I feel like I'm playing at a very high level. We'll have to see about the future."

Her father believes she can do it.

"I think she's playing even better than she was say three or four years ago," he said. "She's so competitive and you can see it in the games. I can't say for certain whether she'll keep playing. As long as she's playing, I'll be coaching her."

All these years later, Armbruster is even more impressed with the strength, resilience and courage of his daughter.

She almost makes everything look easy, which it obviously isn't.

Whenever the question is posed, he can't help but get emotional. And he won't ever groan about anything difficult life hands him.

"She handled it in a way that's amazing," said Armbruster, as his voice cracked once again. "I can't say enough about her ability to beat this. She's so strong. She made it so easy on me to handle this. Without her inner strength, I just don't know. I don't know. I know I don't complain about a thing."

Neither does she.

"I have a great family with two sisters and nephews among others," she said. "The whole family supports me. I support them. I know I was handed a difficult situation when my vision went, and I had to find another way."

That way has led her to a gold medal and as an inspiration to athletes all over the world. As for her father, no one could be more proud.

"What she has accomplished in sports and in life," Armbruster said, "is more than most. How can you not be proud? I have so much love for her and what she has accomplished."

Additional words from the sidelines:
1. What made you want to get into coaching?
"When my daughter lost her sight, it was another way to stay involved with her. I was a parent looking for something else to do. We enjoyed spending that time together and it brought us closer together."

2. What has been your most fulfilling moment as a coach?
"I would say coaching a gold medal-winning goalball team in Beijing. Listening to the national anthem for your own country while getting gold medals was a culmination of a whole lot of hard work. It was just a great experience."

3. What do you enjoy most about being a coach?
"I think it's a lot of things. But I really enjoy game time. All the practice and the behind the scenes things like budgeting, setting practice schedules are the things people don't realize that you do. They see you on game day for an hour or so. When it's time for the games, I'm happiest."

4. Do you have a motto theme to live/coach by?

"I tell the girls all the time to have fun. Yes, you need to work hard. But you have to remember to have fun. I try to keep low key and let the players enjoy what they're doing. They're competitive and so am I, so I don't need to really motivate them in that way. They're always ready to play. I'll always say, 'Let's play well and have as much fun as possible.'"

Story courtesy Red Line Editorial, Inc. Andy Jasner is a freelance contributor for teamusa.org. This story was not subject to the approval of the United States Olympic Committee or any National Governing Bodies.