How do you honor a man who was larger than life and was a great husband, father, and soccer coach and was taken away from us way too soon? For Jamie and Lori Abramowitz, the daughters of Norm Abramowitz, the answer was easy. You ask each of the many girls/women whose life Norm touched as a soccer coach, to consider honoring him by playing on a soccer team created in his memory. The response was tremendous and this year 18 women have come together to form Team Norm and play in honor of a man who touched their lives and contributed to who they are today! These women have one thing in common, each played on one or more of the soccer teams that Norm coached over his 12 years of coaching.    

The members of the team are Jamie and Lori Abramowitz, Bree Broughton, Caitlin Dvorak, Jessica Frye, Rachel Hilmer, Rachel Hoover, Laura Howland, Kaitlin Jones, Rachel LaHoda, Jamie Langer, Katherine Lunn, Amanda March, Alexa Phillips, Chalie Simon, Jenna Stimac, Megan Van Dore, and Emma Zimmerman.   The team manager is of course Jamie Abramowitz and the coaches are Tim Hilmer and David LaHoda. Tim and David worked with Norm many years helping out at practices or being assistant coaches, or doing anything else that Norm needed help with.  

The key thing for these women is honoring what Norm was about when it came to coaching soccer. Norm was constantly strategizing on how to best use each team members talent and was constantly in his mind playing through the different scenarios.   While winning was key to Norm there were also other things that Norm considered important aspects of his team. He wanted every member to feel valued on the team and he made sure that every girl knew what he saw her contributing to the team. He cared about each girl’s feelings and was very sensitive to key issues like self-esteem. Norm loved the sport and he lived and breathed it 24/7. He wanted the girls to each feel a sense of accomplishment and contribution to the team. 

It is only fitting then that Team Norm was formed and that each of the women on this team chose to don beautiful tie dye shirts in his honor. Most importantly each woman is playing with a heart and passion for soccer that Norm helped to develop. So even though 8 long months have passed since Norm Abramowitz died, he really lives on in Team Norm every Sunday at Pleasant View fields.  Go Team Norm!