Player Profile: County's Amanda Arbogast
There have only been a handful of athletes over the years that have excelled at two professional sports. Althea Gibson became the first African-American Grand Slam tennis champion in 1956; eight years later, she traded in her racket for a 9-iron and became the first African-American woman to play in the LPGA. Deion Sanders enjoyed a nine-year baseball career before cementing himself in football legend and is the only man in sports history to have played in both a Super Bowl and a World Series. In November 2006, the Philadelphia Eagles, in the 5th round of the NFL Draft, selected phenom Jeremy Bloom--after skiing for the United States in two Olympic Games.
Loudoun County High School senior Amanda Arbogast may be far removed from the Olympics, but she can still relate with the pressures of being a star two-sport athlete. In the Fall of 2006, Arbogast was a key contributor in leading the Lady Raiders volleyball team to a state runner-up finish and received MVP at the end of the season. Ever since that spectacular run ended, Arbogast has been hard at work training for her other sporting passion: Softball.
At 6'2", Arbogast is a monolith compared to her softball teammates. When you look up the word 'modest' in the dictionary, there's her smiling face. If she had a motto, it would most likely be, "Walk softly and carry a big stick"...or in this case, a bat. Over the past four years on varsity softball, she's played a variety of positions, from infield to outfield. This year, Arbogast is assuming duties at first base and as Captain of the team. "Amanda is a great leader and leads by example. She has a really good work ethic and keeps everyone on their toes ready to play," says friend and fellow volleyball standout Paige Knudsen.
While she is a natural born leader, Arbogast has to work even harder this year to get the Raiders softball team into shape--due in a large part to a number seniors from last year's team, opting to excel in other sports in 2007. "I was really surprised when I walked into the gym the day of tryouts and saw that I was one of just two seniors trying out. I was in total shock," says Arbogast. "I later found out why some of the girls decided not to try out and I understood completely." Still, Arbogast was unwavering in her decision to stay. "Softball is my love and I would never give it up for anything. I knew by losing a few key players, it would mean stepping up and leading the team to work hard."
Head Coach Ryan Vance is glad she stayed. "As far as a player, Amanda is a very determined and a very mature athlete. She is physically gifted and her mental game has come along since last year. She's been very hardworking over the past twelve months and played a lot of travel ball." In fact, Arbogast says her proudest accomplishment in softball, so far, was being named MVP for her travel team the past two years in a row. While she decided to sit out the travel season this winter and focus more on physical training, Arbogast is quick to say, "I never have free time!"
It looks like that trend isn't going to stop this spring. "Coming into the season, both the team and I knew that we wouldn't have it easy. We are a very young team with only four returning varsity players," says Arbogast. "With that said, we knew we had to work twice as hard as anybody else." Vance agrees, but is still looking to improve upon last year's 10-10 record and 3rd place Dulles District finish. "The league is as wide open as it gets. No matter what team came back, I thought we were going to be able to compete."
In high school softball, "competing" is the "be all to end all." At the time of this writing, the Lady Raiders are 3rd in the Dulles District behind pre-season favorites Broad Run and Park View and have a 3-1 record (4-3 overall). While it hasn't been a perfect season, Arbogast doesn't mind. She's just looking to enjoy her last stint as a high school athlete before receiving her diploma.
Arbogast has been accepted to Bridgewater College and Christopher Newport University, both located in Virginia. She hasn't made up her mind so far about where she'll attend, but one thing is for certain - she will play both softball and volleyball at either school.
Maybe that Olympic podium isn't so far away after all?
