Michael Norris (born 8 October 1979) is an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

who is currently the Technical Director of the

Portland Thorns The Portland Thorns FC is an American professional women's soccer team based in Portland, Oregon. Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), which receives support from the Unit ...

in the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...

Playing career

Norris played youth football as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for Cramlington Juniors, England Boys Club and

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

Coaching career

Norris earned his FA Preliminary Licence (now known as the FA Coaching Level 2 Licence) in 1998, as well as his FA Goalkeeper Coaching Level 2 Licence in the same year. He earned his

Canada Soccer The Canadian Soccer Association (Canada Soccer) is the governing body of soccer in Canada. It is a national organization that oversees the Canadian men's and women's national teams for international play, as well as the respective junior sides ...

Coaching B Diploma in 2014, followed by a Coaching A Diploma in 2019. After settling in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

in 2006, his former goalkeeping coach Simon Smith also arrived in the area. Smith hired Norris to work at the new Simon Smith Goalkeeping Academy. Norris would later on set up his own academy program, Michael Norris Pro Goalkeeping. In 2007, he began coach in

Burnaby Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard I ...

for youth club Mountain FC, later known as Mountain United FC, where he served until 2014. In 2009, he began working as the goalkeeping coach for the men's and women's football teams of

Quest University Quest University (officially Quest University Canada) is a private, not-for-profit, secular liberal arts and sciences university. The university opened in September 2007 with an inaugural class of 73. The university has an enrolment of around ...

in Canada. He also served as an assistant coach for the men's team. In 2013, he left to become the goalkeeping coach for the

UBC Thunderbirds The UBC Thunderbirds are the athletic teams that represent the University of British Columbia in the University Endowment Lands just outside the city limits of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In Canadian intercollegiate competition, the Thun ...

women's football team at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

, where he worked until 2015. From 2014 to 2016, he worked at the

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Academy Whitecaps FC Academy is a Canadian soccer team, the academy of professional team Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as ...

, serving as the goalkeeping coach for men's and women's youth teams. In 2014, Norris began working as a goalkeeping coach for various Canadian youth national teams. This included the under-15, under-17,

under-20 Junior is a category of athletics in which athletes compete under the age of 20 years. Countries all around the world compete in athletics. World Junior Athletics Competitions are held every two years which contain the best junior competitors in ...

and under-23 women's teams, as well as the under-17 men's team at the

2019 CONCACAF U-17 Championship The 2019 CONCACAF U-17 Championship was the 6th edition of the CONCACAF Under-17 Championship (19th edition if all eras included), the men's under-17 international football tournament organized by CONCACAF. It was hosted in the United States betw ...

. In late 2019, he began working as the set piece and goalkeeping coach for the Canada women's senior national team. The team went on to win the gold medal at the 2020 Olympic Football Tournament. The following year, Norris joined

Portland Thorns FC The Portland Thorns FC is an American professional women's soccer team based in Portland, Oregon. Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), which receives support from the Uni ...

in the

as an assistant coach. The team won the championship in the 2022 season, though coach

Rhian Wilkinson Rhian Emilie Wilkinson (born May 12, 1982) is a Canadian professional soccer coach and former player. She was most recently the head coach of Portland Thorns FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), where she led the team to the 2022 NW ...

resigned at the end of the season. On 9 January 2023, Norris was appointed as head coach of the Portland Thorns.

Personal life

Norris was born in

Ashington Ashington is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, with a population of 27,864 at the 2011 Census. It was once a centre of the coal mining industry. The town is north of Newcastle upon Tyne, west of the A189 and bordered to the ...

and grew up in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

. Since 2006 he has lived in

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, with his wife and two daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Norris, Mike 1979 births Living people Footballers from Ashington English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers English football managers English expatriate football managers English women's football managers Vancouver Whitecaps FC non-playing staff Portland Thorns FC non-playing staff Portland Thorns FC head coaches National Women's Soccer League head coaches English expatriate sportspeople in Canada Expatriate soccer coaches in Canada English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer coaches in the United States