From ball-girl to player to coach,
Armstrong does it all for New Trier
By Michael Wojtychiw
Maggie Armstrong never thought she'd go into coaching.
After a stellar four-year career at Denison University, where she finished as a three-time First Team All-Conference, selection, two-time conference Midfielder of the Year and NCAA Division III Third Team All-American, Armstrong came back home to work at Evanston Hospital.
But when her former coach, New Trier's Jim Burnside, approached her in January about volunteering with the program, she jumped at the chance.
"Throughout my first few years of college, I spent the summers as one of the coaches for the summer school program and actually coached a few of the girls that ended up on the varsity team this year," she said. "So I had done a little bit of post-high school coaching with them but never really imagined that I would be on the coaching staff for a real season."
Originally, Burnside offered her the opportunity to help out at any level, but told her that there were no paid positions available at the varsity level.
That didn't matter to the former Trevian.
"She said, 'I'd love to deal with the varsity. I'd love to volunteer, and I'd just love to be a part of it,'" Burnside said.
Soon, Armstrong was at winter workouts, helping the team through strength and conditioning and intramural practices before tryouts started.
She is a perfect example for the girls how hard works pays off and how not getting discouraged early in your playing career can help you become successful.
Freshman year she played on the JV 1 level, the program's top junior-varsity squad. Her sophomore year, she made the varsity squad and played some, but it was really her junior and senior years when she never left the field, Burnside said.
"My time in girls soccer, it wasn't all perfect, happy memories," Armstrong said. "I had my own taste of some heartbreak and disappointment. But when I look back on it, because of how I bought in, I feel like I was part of the process and what was being built.
"When I look back on it, I don't remember disappointing outcomes. But what you really hold on to is the successes you had and the successes your teammates had, and that feeling at the end of the season. Although the games were over, there was still something so fulfilling about it to be a part of it.
"As much as you put into the program, what I think I found after graduating, is really how much it lets you take with you. I'm now 23 and still coming back … and kind of find a way to contribute. It's really exciting."
Like many of the girls who play in the New Trier program, both today and in the past, Armstrong grew up wanting to play for Burnside's varsity squad.
And she, like some of the girls on this year's squad, got their first taste being a ball-girl for the varsity games while they were in elementary and middle school.
For players like rising senior Grace Walker, being able to play for someone they looked up to as a middle school player, was extremely exciting.
"Maggie Armstrong came back to coach us this year, and I still have my ball-girl shirt with her name signed on it," Walker said. "I have looked up to the girls on this team since I was a little kid, and I knew that I wanted to play for this team for as long as I can remember."
For someone like Armstrong, to have players who chased down balls for her Trevian teams, it was just as interesting of an experience.
"There was one day actually, where Grace Walker was wearing... It must've been a 2014 girls soccer T-shirt that she ball-girled in," Armstrong said. "And it had all the signatures on it. She came up to me and she told me that my name was on it. So we looked all over the shirt, and we found it. Sure enough, 'Maggie Armstrong, number five' was written on it. It was a little bit surreal, because I have program T= shirts from 2003 when I was in that position. It really is full circle.
"I was there getting those girls' signatures on my shirt. And then I remember thinking how wild it was when I was the one writing on theirs and now, to even come this far and see them be able to live through their own journey of ball-girling and then playing on the team, was pretty incredible."
While volunteering with the New Trier program, Armstrong has continued working full-time at Evanston Hospital as a patient care technician, a nursing assistant. The goal is to eventually apply to Physical Assistant School, with the goal of starting in a grad program next summer.
Even though she hasn't dealt with COVID-19 patients while working on the surgical and medical unit at the hospital, her team has still seen some patients come through their care who have needed to go to the COVID unit. But since they work with mostly post-operative patients, she hasn't had many dealings with them.
Even though her schedule is a busy one -- with applying to schools and working full-time – she’d like to continuing coaching as long as she can.
"I think it's something I'll always want to come back to," she said.
Burnside, who was really looking forward to coaching with Armstrong, also hopes that her return to her alma mater will continue.
"Maggie is a natural teacher," he said. "She just knows how to communicate. She knows how to laugh. She understands the difference between serious and not serious. She's a great coach. I would've loved to have seen her on the sideline, because I think the kids would've benefited greatly.
"I've been in this for a long time, but I was really looking forward myself to coaching with Maggie. I think I would've learned a lot."
Armstrong does it all for New Trier
By Michael Wojtychiw
Maggie Armstrong never thought she'd go into coaching.
After a stellar four-year career at Denison University, where she finished as a three-time First Team All-Conference, selection, two-time conference Midfielder of the Year and NCAA Division III Third Team All-American, Armstrong came back home to work at Evanston Hospital.
But when her former coach, New Trier's Jim Burnside, approached her in January about volunteering with the program, she jumped at the chance.
"Throughout my first few years of college, I spent the summers as one of the coaches for the summer school program and actually coached a few of the girls that ended up on the varsity team this year," she said. "So I had done a little bit of post-high school coaching with them but never really imagined that I would be on the coaching staff for a real season."
Originally, Burnside offered her the opportunity to help out at any level, but told her that there were no paid positions available at the varsity level.
That didn't matter to the former Trevian.
"She said, 'I'd love to deal with the varsity. I'd love to volunteer, and I'd just love to be a part of it,'" Burnside said.
Soon, Armstrong was at winter workouts, helping the team through strength and conditioning and intramural practices before tryouts started.
She is a perfect example for the girls how hard works pays off and how not getting discouraged early in your playing career can help you become successful.
Freshman year she played on the JV 1 level, the program's top junior-varsity squad. Her sophomore year, she made the varsity squad and played some, but it was really her junior and senior years when she never left the field, Burnside said.
"My time in girls soccer, it wasn't all perfect, happy memories," Armstrong said. "I had my own taste of some heartbreak and disappointment. But when I look back on it, because of how I bought in, I feel like I was part of the process and what was being built.
"When I look back on it, I don't remember disappointing outcomes. But what you really hold on to is the successes you had and the successes your teammates had, and that feeling at the end of the season. Although the games were over, there was still something so fulfilling about it to be a part of it.
"As much as you put into the program, what I think I found after graduating, is really how much it lets you take with you. I'm now 23 and still coming back … and kind of find a way to contribute. It's really exciting."
Like many of the girls who play in the New Trier program, both today and in the past, Armstrong grew up wanting to play for Burnside's varsity squad.
And she, like some of the girls on this year's squad, got their first taste being a ball-girl for the varsity games while they were in elementary and middle school.
For players like rising senior Grace Walker, being able to play for someone they looked up to as a middle school player, was extremely exciting.
"Maggie Armstrong came back to coach us this year, and I still have my ball-girl shirt with her name signed on it," Walker said. "I have looked up to the girls on this team since I was a little kid, and I knew that I wanted to play for this team for as long as I can remember."
For someone like Armstrong, to have players who chased down balls for her Trevian teams, it was just as interesting of an experience.
"There was one day actually, where Grace Walker was wearing... It must've been a 2014 girls soccer T-shirt that she ball-girled in," Armstrong said. "And it had all the signatures on it. She came up to me and she told me that my name was on it. So we looked all over the shirt, and we found it. Sure enough, 'Maggie Armstrong, number five' was written on it. It was a little bit surreal, because I have program T= shirts from 2003 when I was in that position. It really is full circle.
"I was there getting those girls' signatures on my shirt. And then I remember thinking how wild it was when I was the one writing on theirs and now, to even come this far and see them be able to live through their own journey of ball-girling and then playing on the team, was pretty incredible."
While volunteering with the New Trier program, Armstrong has continued working full-time at Evanston Hospital as a patient care technician, a nursing assistant. The goal is to eventually apply to Physical Assistant School, with the goal of starting in a grad program next summer.
Even though she hasn't dealt with COVID-19 patients while working on the surgical and medical unit at the hospital, her team has still seen some patients come through their care who have needed to go to the COVID unit. But since they work with mostly post-operative patients, she hasn't had many dealings with them.
Even though her schedule is a busy one -- with applying to schools and working full-time – she’d like to continuing coaching as long as she can.
"I think it's something I'll always want to come back to," she said.
Burnside, who was really looking forward to coaching with Armstrong, also hopes that her return to her alma mater will continue.
"Maggie is a natural teacher," he said. "She just knows how to communicate. She knows how to laugh. She understands the difference between serious and not serious. She's a great coach. I would've loved to have seen her on the sideline, because I think the kids would've benefited greatly.
"I've been in this for a long time, but I was really looking forward myself to coaching with Maggie. I think I would've learned a lot."