S109 - Nielson, Norbert

#1

Name: Norbert "Coach" Nielson
Gender: Male
Age: 18
Grade: 12th
School: John Endecott Memorial Academy
Hobbies and Interests: Robotics, fitness & weightlifting, sports science, motivational speaking, American football

Appearance: Norbert is 5'10" and weighs 164 lbs with a toned build. He has excellent posture and a commanding presence when he is thinking about it or addressing another person, but otherwise tends to slouch. He walks with a pronounced limp in his right leg and wears a heavy knee brace at most times. Norbert is square faced with a heavy jawline and a crooked nose from a previous break. His eyebrows are surprisingly delicate by contrast, thin and naturally tapering, while his eyes themselves are brown. Norbert's hair is black and wavy and stubbornly resists his every attempt to bestow any style upon it. Norbert is white and generally has a mild suntan, but is often red-cheeked thanks to too much sun exposure.

Norbert is a fashion disaster and not only lacks any modicum of style, but frequently manages to botch how he wears his clothing thanks to absent-mindedness. He will wear clashing colours, combinations of garments that do not mesh well together, and has odd ideas about what types of outfits best suit various dress codes. On the day he was abducted, Norbert wore a white, short-sleeved button up shirt which he had managed to button incorrectly, an ineptly knotted tie which he had mistaken for a neckerchief, blue jeans, sneakers, and odd socks.

Biography: Norbert is the eldest of three sons to Uri and Stephanie, who are respectively a non-fiction author specialising in biographies and a dancing instructor. Norbert is named after his paternal great grandfather. As a child, Norbert was highly energetic and a bit of a handful, particularly to Uri, who often found his work disrupted by his rambunctious son. Stephanie was much better at channelling Norbert's energy, playing with him and keeping him engaged with physical activities, including youth football once he got old enough. The combined efforts of Norbert's parents were enough to calm him down when he started school, and though he was still enthusiastic and brimming with energy, he was not disruptive other than sometimes shouting out his answers. Norbert quickly proved to be popular and likeable amongst his peers, and was often something of a ringleader when it came to coming up with ideas for games and so on. He loved group work, and would always go out of his way to try and make his group the best of all the groups in class, even in tasks that were ostensibly not competitive.

When Norbert was seven, his twin younger brothers Theodore and Jed were born. Although pretty sore at first that he was no longer the centre of attention at home, Norbert soon adapted and became a willing and enthusiastic helper to his parents with looking after the babies. He constantly tried to prove that he was a great and responsible big brother who could be trusted with caring for them, although his parents never allowed this unsupervised, aware by now that Norbert's well-meaning enthusiasm did not always translate into effectiveness or indeed due care and attention. Nevertheless, Norbert adjusted well to the change in his family and continued to be a solid student as he progressed into middle school, although his grades were not top of the class and he did not excel in any subject except when playing sports.

At fourteen years of age, Norbert, playing youth football, suffered a freak injury. He planted his foot as he made to juke past an opposing player, but the opponent, trying to course correct, ended up ploughing straight into him. Norbert tore every ligament in his knee, AKA O'Donoghue's triad, and had to be stretchered off the field. The prognosis was poor and Norbert and his family were informed he would require multiple surgeries to begin correcting the damage. Fortunately, they had sufficient medical insurance that it would be possible to cover the costs of the treatment, but the doctor's recommendation was for Norbert to stay out of competitive sport for the foreseeable future. Norbert for his part was shell-shocked; he'd harboured vague ambitions of taking football further in life, but that door was now categorically closed to him. He had never suffered such a setback before and had no idea how to handle it, even with his parents' attempted encouragement, and he fell into a malaise for a month or so after the injury.

Norbert started bouncing back thanks to his little brothers, who were still eager to spend time with their sibling. One afternoon, Theodore happened to show Norbert a build-your-own-robot kit he had received for his birthday and then promptly forgotten about. Happy for something to do other than sitting in bed, Norbert helped Theo out assembling the simplistic circuitry, finding himself surprisingly engaged in the process. Norbert started to look up other crafts activities that he could do while healing up, trying out a few different things but always cycling back around to robots in the end. His interest deepened and Norbert began spending hours browsing the internet, looking up the various contraptions and computer-piloted devices that were being innovated all over the world. Although strictly a dabbler at first, Norbert slowly built up his knowledge and skill, sticking with the hobby even after his knee was in better condition, and these days, he has a number of machines under his belt, mostly simple remote control vehicles.

Outside of robotics, Norbert's rehabilitation was through physical therapy and a rigorous regimen of exercises. He found the physiotherapy to be calming, helping him settle his mind at the same time as rebuilding his strength. His mom encouraged him to think about the activities in this way and by the time Norbert was walking unassisted, he had decided that he wanted to continue working on his health and fitness. Although he wasn't able to play sport, carefully constructed workouts were not beyond him, and Norbert found great enjoyment in the knowledge that he was still capable of physical exertion. In particular, provided he had good form, was sensible with the total weight, and avoided certain lifts that put strain on his knee, Norbert really enjoyed weightlifting. Inspired, Norbert worked with his mom to devise training plans, and started assisting friends and former teammates with their own exercising, something which led to his nickname of Coach.

Norbert's determination to be involved in sport grew as he got older and he accepted the verdict of fresh consultations that he was unlikely to regain anything close to full strength in his weak knee. He had grown vested into not simply exercise and work outs, but the fundamental science and study of sporting. Norbert put a lot of time into researching nutrition, muscle groups, sporting injuries, and new training technologies, fully immersing himself within sports science. He did his best to build up this knowledge base and then attempt to apply it within his training plans. Norbert also continues to help out with his former youth football team, acting as an assistant to his old coach and trying to learn as much as he can about tactics and plays. He has also taken a couple of basic first aid courses to enable him to assist with any injuries that might occur on the field. Covid was tricky to navigate for Norbert, since initially he was unable to really go to the gym or help out with football, but he could still keep up with the theory and with his robotics, which helped him maintain a certain level of normalcy with his hobbies. Remote learning was not so easy to wrap his head around, largely because it was easy for him to get distracted, but he eventually developed some methods of going through lessons that prevented him from tabbing out and allowing him to maintain focus at least some of the time.

During his time recovering from injury, Norbert took to watching motivational videos in an attempt to cheer himself up. Although he found some of these to be either condescending or cheesy, certain speakers did resonate with him more than others and he stuck with them after the fact. Norbert then later used some of these techniques to good effect in encouraging friends in workouts or with delivering team talks on the odd occasion the football team coach was unavailable to make them himself.

Nowadays, Norbert is a pretty well adjusted young man and has a diverse group of friends thanks to his willingness to hang out with more or less anyone. He can sometimes come across as over-enthusiastic, which has stuck with him throughout his life, and his habit of bombarding anyone who expresses the slightest bit of interest in athletic pursuits with information can be both overwhelming and irritating. Still, Norbert is very earnest and his heart is in the right place, which tends to win him a lot of goodwill. Norbert has decent grades, strongest in sciences, but spends so much of his time on extracurriculars that he never really excels with his schoolwork. This is unhelped by his general absent-mindedness; Norbert gets so lost in thought about his hobbies, assembling regimens and blueprints in his head, that he loses track of other commitments and mismatches his priorities. Norbert has a good relationship with his family, frequently discussing instruction and teaching with his mom and making cool contraptions for his brothers or otherwise hanging out with them and teaching them how to play sports. He is most distant from his dad, but shares his interest in research, they simply do not tend to have deep meaningful conversations. After graduation, Norbert hopes to get involved with football via a role as a physiotherapist or coach, but otherwise would be happy to become a personal trainer or even continue to explore robotics, though he is uncertain of how feasible this is.

Advantages: Norbert is charismatic and likeable with a infectiously positive attitude and a knack for buoying the spirits of others. He is self-motivated and does not allow setbacks to get him down, which should allow him to maintain his own morale. He knows some basic first aid and has a good level of upper body strength. Norbert also has a working knowledge of robotics and experience with circuitry, which may assist him if he is able to access any electronics.
Disadvantages: Norbert can be overbearing and it is possible that constant attempts to lift spirits could cause frustration and anger. Norbert's weak knee causes him to have limited speed and manoeuvrability in addition to being an obvious target thanks to his limp and distinctive knee brace. His poor focus and habitual lack of concentration could result in dangerous lapses at crucial moments.

Designated Number: Student No. 109

---

Designated Weapon: Spray can of fast-expanding foam sealant

Conclusion: Okay "Coach" Norbert No-Knee this is your big shot at glory, don't get fucking annihilated this time. - Josie Knight