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“When I was younger he used to coach me, give advice,” the younger Norman said.

But once he started to get noticed by the Whitecaps, dad stepped back.

“Number one 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.”

Photo by GEORGES GOBET / PNG

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 has made himself 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 the persona some may recall of his dad.

“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 soccer passion was rooted in him early. He watched every game of the 2006 World Cup.

“He asked to stay home from school,” his dad recalled. “He’d record any game he couldn’t watch live.”

Now, an MLS contract under his arm, he’s training alongside players he literally watched as a young player.

Photo by Bob Frid/Whitecaps FC / PNG

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. knew what he was coming into.