By Lee Davis
Ever since he was a second-grader at St. Rose of Lima Academy, Norris Howze has loved to play soccer.
Howze was a standout in the sport at Hoover High School and had an outstanding career at UAB. Now his greatest soccer milestone is straight ahead. Howze is a defensive midfielder for the Birmingham Hammers, which will begin play as a member of the National Premier Soccer League in May 2016.
“This is a very exciting thing and I’m proud to be a part of it,” Howze said. “It will be great for the team and for Birmingham to be actually competing in a league.”
The Hammers – which were founded two years ago – drew impressive crowds for six home exhibition games at the Sicard Hollow Athletic Complex in Vestavia Hills in 2015. Howze believes that league competition will raise the overall quality of play.
“A competitor wants to win regardless of the situation, but there’s no doubt that playing in a league will increase the intensity level on the field,” he said. “When you’re playing for a potential championship, it brings out the best in everybody.”
The league has more than 80 teams across the country. Birmingham will be aligned in the Southeast Conference with teams from Atlanta, Chattanooga, Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, and New Orleans. The Hammers will train and play all home games at the Sicard Hollow facility.
Howze came to the Hammers after meeting team owner Morgan Copes. “One of my best friends knew Morgan, who had organized a support group for UAB soccer,” he recalled. “Later he sought me out to be a part of the new team.”
The rise of soccer as a youth sport has fueled overall interest in the sport locally, according to Howze. “Surveys have shown that more young kids play soccer than any other sport,” he said. “So even if they go on to play other sports later, they have an appreciation and love for soccer. If you look at that and the fact that 35,000 people came to watch the U.S. women’s team play Haiti at Legion Field last month, it means that soccer’s popularity is on the rise.”
In addition to preparing for the upcoming season, Howze is pursuing a graduate degree in psychology from UAB. He also coaches youth soccer at the nine and under level and works with the Oak Mountain soccer team.
“A background in psychology can be an asset in coaching,” Howze said. “It helps you understand how to motivate your players. Some kids respond well to criticism and others need more of a consoling approach. It’s all about knowing who responds to different forms of motivation.”
As he’s coached at the youth and high school levels, Howze said, he’s seen Alabama teams step up their soccer programs.
“For a while, some of the other states were ahead of us, but we’ve made a lot of progression over the past few years,” he explained. “The level of play and interest is making steady growth at its own pace. I’m very encouraged.”
Howze never needed much encouragement or motivation to play soccer. His love affair with the sport that began in second grade has never wavered.
“Soccer always appealed to me more than the conventional sports of football, baseball or basketball ever did,” he said. “There was just something about soccer that was different that made me like it so much. Maybe it was because it was the only sport where a player can’t use his hands. Whatever it was, I had an attraction to soccer from the very beginning.”
After his playing days are over, Howze hopes to work in soccer full-time or as a director or administrator. “I’d love to work for an NCAA Division I program, or a professional league in the United States or Europe,” he said. “We will see what the future holds.”
For now, Howze is concentrating on the new season for the Birmingham Hammers.
“We’ve had good fan support in the past, and I think it will be even better now,” he said. “This is a team that everyone in Birmingham can get behind with the goal of bringing home a championship one day.”
And Norris Howze hopes to help make that happen.
