Caleb Norkus

Football player infobox| playername= Caleb Norkus


fullname = Joshua Caleb Norkus
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1979|3|14
cityofbirth = Raleigh, NC
countryofbirth = U.S.
height = height|ft=6|in=0
currentclub = Carolina Railhawks
clubnumber = 14
position = Midfielder / Defender
youthyears = 1997-2000
youthclubs = UNC Chapel Hill
years = 2001-02
2004
2004
2004-2005
2005-2006
2007-
clubs = Charlotte Eagles
Sportfreunde Siegen
Richmond Kickers
Charleston Battery
Unión Española
Puerto Rico Islanders
Carolina Railhawks
caps(goals) = 49 (6)
09 (0)
04 (0)
16 (1)
22 (6)
45 (3)
pcupdate = September 30, 2008

Joshua Caleb Norkus (born March 14, 1979 in Raleigh, North Carolina) is an American soccer player, who on December 05, 2006 was one of the first players announced to join the new Carolina RailHawks franchise of the USL First Division.

Youth

Caleb, who was nicknamed "PlayStation" by the Puerto Rico Islanders supporters for his tireless work rate, grew up playing youth soccer for the Capital Area Soccer League and was North Carolina High School player of the year in 1996 when he helped lead Sanderson High School to the North Carolina State title. During this time, he was also member of the U17 and U18 United States men's national soccer team set up where he played alongside the likes of Tim Howard, Steve Cherundolo, Carlos Bocanegra and Chris Albright.

Norkus played for University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1997-2000. In 2000 he scored in overtime to bring the Tar Heels the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament title.

Professional

Norkus was drafted by DC United in the fifth round of 2001 MLS SuperDraft. Although he trained with the team, Caleb did not catch on with the MLS side and later signed with Charlotte Eagles of the then United Soccer Leagues A-League.

After two seasons with the Eagles, Norkus moved to Sportfreunde Siegen of the German Regionalliga-Süd (German 3rd Division). In 2004, Caleb returned to the United States with the Richmond Kickers of USL First Division (at the time) but transferred midseason to Charleston Battery of the same league. At the end of that season, Norkus took an opportunity to play in the with Unión Española and helped the team to the Apertura title.

At the conclusion of the Chilean 2005 Apertura, Norkus moved to Puerto Rico Islanders of USL-1 for the remainder of the USL 2005 season. In 2006, Norkus season got off to a brilliant start as he scored 4 goals in the Islanders' first 10 games before being sidelined with a sports hernia injury. After off-season surgery in Argentina, Norkus returned to the States to sign with the expansion Carolina RailHawks of USL-1.

Throughout Norkus' career, he has continually struggled with a series of unfortunate injuries which have limited his playing time and tenure at many of the clubs he has played for professionally. However in his 2007 season after having surgery to correct a groining injury his fitness was not an issue. Norkus played in 25 games for the Railhawks logging 2,175 minutes. [ [http://www.carolinarailhawks.com/index.php Carolina Railhawks website] ]

Controversy

Puerto Rico Islanders President Andy Guillemard-Noble accused the RailHawks of piracy [cite web|url=http://trisoccerfan.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=480|title=Pirates of the Caribbean?|accessdate=2006-12-19] in the signing of Norkus, who was out of contract with the Islanders after the 2006 season. While the club executive insists that the Islanders had a verbal agreement with Norkus to return to Puerto Rico for the 2007 season, the player refutes that accusation [cite web|url=http://trisoccerfan.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=485|title=Norkus Refutes Islanders' Piracy Claims|accessdate=2006-12-19] , saying the two sides never reached terms and cites the lack of an offered written contract as evidence of their lack of agreement.

References