Rhian Wilkinson
Rhian Emilie Wilkinson (born May 12, 1982) is a Canadian professional soccer coach and former player, currently serving as head coach of Portland Thorns FC in the National Women's Soccer League. During her playing career, she made over 180 appearances for the Canadian national team, with whom she won an Olympic bronze medal at London 2012 and Rio 2016. She played as a forward and midfielder, but was primarily an offensively-minded right fullback who carried the ball forward and made crosses in the attacking zone. Early life. Wilkinson was born in Pointe-Claire, Quebec, to parents  Keith Wilkinson and Shan Evans. Her Danish-born English father is a former director of the Canada national rugby union team. Her mother, Shan Evans, was born in Wales. She has an older brother, David, and a twin sister named Sara. In 1990, she relocated to Wales for one year, where she attended Bont Faen Primary School in Cowbridge. The school did not offer soccer to girls and Wilkinson's mother joined the Parent-Teacher Association to convince the school to have inclusive sports teams. She attended Villa Maria High School in Montreal and was valedictorian of her class. She  played soccer for the Quebec provincial team from 1997 to 1999 and was named most valuable player in 1999 after helping the club to the silver medal at the nationals. In 1997 and 1998, she helped the Lac St. Louis Lakers earn two silver medals at the national club championships. She was selected as the Greater Montreal Athletic Association's Most Valuable Soccer Player in 2000, and attended the national training centre camp for the under-19 Canadian national team in 2001. Wilkinson competed for the Lakeshore, a female ice hockey team, and also played rugby from 1998 to 1999. Wilkinson  majored in speech communication and English at the University of Tennessee and was chosen as the University of Tennessee's Lady Vols' Offensive Most Valuable Player in 2002. Club career. Wilkinson was named to the 2003 W-League All Star team and the 2004 W-League Championship All-Tournament team. She won the W-League 2005 scoring championship and tied for the assist leader with 38 points on 13 goals and 12 assists. She began playing for Team Strømmen of the Toppserien (Norwegian league) in autumn 2005 and maintained her relationship with the club over the course of eight seasons . In 2013, she played for the Boston Breakers in the new National Women's Soccer League. She played several games for Boston as a midfielder, scoring twice. She signed with the Laval Comets of the W-League in 2014. In 2015, Wilkinson joined Portland Thorns FC of the National Women's Soccer League through NWSL Player Allocation. In February 2016, the Thorns announced that Wilkinson would not play for the team in 2016, and she became unaffiliated. International career. Wilkinson won bronze with Canada at the 2007 Pan American Games, and gold at the 2011 Pan American Games where Canada  defeated Brazil 4–3 in penalty kicks. She captured an Olympic bronze medal at London 2012 after Canada defeated France 1–0 on August 9, 2012, in Coventry, England. She contributed three assists in the first two games for Canada at the 2014 Cyprus Cup. Wilkinson announced her retirement from international football on January 13, 2017. Coaching career. Wilkinson was a volunteer assistant coach at her alma mater, University of Tennessee. She also served as an assistant coach for the Canadian women's national team, and led their under-20 and under-17 programs. In February 2021, she was appointed as assistant manager of  the England women's national football team with Hege Riise in charge. In November 2021, she was named head coach of Portland Thorns FC in the National Women's Soccer League. Personal life. Wilkinson plays both the cello for fun and played the trumpet in high school, and has been a member of the Suzuki Strings Orchestra since 1994. She participated in the 1997 Quebec Winter Games in ringette.