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NWSL Portland Thorns FC

Thorns FC Announce Addition of Assistant Coach Mike Norris

January 28, 2022 - National Women's Soccer League (NWSL)
Portland Thorns FC News Release


PORTLAND, Ore. - Portland Thorns FC today announced the addition of Mike Norris to the club's coaching staff as an assistant coach.

"We are excited to add Mike to our coaching staff, and we welcome him to Portland," said Karina LeBlanc, Thorns FC general manager. "Mike's extensive background at the international level, helping lead Canada to an Olympic gold medal and his time within the youth national team system make him an excellent addition to our technical staff."

Norris joins the Thorns FC coaching staff with eight years of coaching experience at Canada Soccer, most recently serving as the set play and goalkeeper coach for the Canada Women's National Team (2019-2021). During his tenure with the senior team, he was part of the staff that helped guide Canada to a gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, working with women's national team goalkeepers and serving as the lead on set plays and penalty kicks.

"Mike is an experienced coach with a wealth of knowledge in the women's game, who is respected by all that know him," said Thorns FC head coach Rhian Wilkinson. "He is hard-working, diligent and thorough in his planning, a strong on-field coach with a deep understanding of the game and a great person away from the field."

"I am excited to be a part of Rhian's staff and I look forward to bringing my experiences and successes to the Portland Thorns," said Norris. "This is an incredible opportunity and a huge honor to help continue the great work that has already been done at this club."

Before his role with the senior national team, Norris worked at the youth level in Canada with the U-17 and U-20 women's national teams (2014-19), serving as an assistant coach with the U-17s, and the goalkeeping coach and interim head coach with the U-20s, while also providing support to the senior team during qualification tournaments. In addition, Norris worked as the head goalkeeping coach for the U-14 and U-15 Vancouver Whitecaps FC Boys Residency teams (2014-16).

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