Whitecaps have true legacy player at training camp
It’s not often Canada can claim multi-generational professional soccer families.
That speaks as much to how the game has evolved in this country over the last 40 years as anything.
In David Norman Jr., the Whitecaps have one. His dad — David Norman Sr. — played for the Whitecaps in their NASL days. He’s a young guy who can look back on the history of the club and say “that’s mine.”
Yet he’s rather quiet about the family history.
Norman, who turns 20 in May, started playing under the Whitecaps banner at age nine. He progressed through the Residency program, then landed at Oregon State for a year before returning to the Whitecaps last year and running out for WFC2 in what would be the development team’s final season.
“He’s obviously very proud,” Norman said of his dad.
As for advice on how to be a pro, “there hasn’t been much.”
“When I was younger he used to coach me, give advice,” the younger Norman said.
But once he started to get noticed by the Caps, dad stepped back.
“Number 1, he got beyond the level that I could coach at,” Norman Sr. said. “Obviously, we still talk a lot about the game, but I try and stay completely out of the mix now.”
And he also didn’t want his son to feel any kind of dad pressure.
“At the end of the day, he’s got to do it himself.”
The younger Norman really is his own man.
“He’s like his mum,” the elder Norman said with a laugh. “Honestly, he has the mentality of a full professional and he’s had that for a long, long time.”
He has a fire, but it’s different from his father’s.
“My wife has always tried to relay to him that he’s a gentleman off the field, but on the field you do what you have to.
“David has made his own way. If you ask me what my proudest thing of him is it’s his mentality.”
His passion for soccer began early. Now, an MLS contract under his arm, he’s training alongside players he used to watch. Sometimes he has to catch himself getting awestruck.
“Growing up, when I was nine, 10, 11, I was watching Kei Kamara,” he said. “He was one of the best players in the league ... now that these guys are my mentors, it’s pretty cool.”
Norman Jr. knows what he’s getting into.
“I knew the challenge ahead,” he said of being at the MLS training camp full time. “I wanted to be coming in in peak physical condition.” His coach has taken note. “David’s been absolutely excellent since he’s come in,” Carl Robinson said last week, before his team jetted off to sunny Honolulu. “He’s worked on his fitness and strength in the off-season. He’s a big boy, we know that, he’s started to fill out a little now, his body is taking shape. And he’s very calm.
“He’s done himself a lot of favours.”
The coach figures he’ll try Norman, an attacking midfielder, in a couple of spots during camp.
Norman led WFC2 in chances created and assists. He was named the team’s player of the year.