STAFF

Joana Michaelson was born in the Philippines and lived in England for eight years before moving to the US when she was 12. She grew up in Olympia, WA, and played soccer and ran track & field for Olympia High School and Blackhills FC. Joana attended Western Washington University, where she ran track and field for 2 years and played soccer for all 4 years of her undergrad degree. Joana’s first coaching gig was her junior year in high school, where she helped coach summer soccer camps with her club coach. She continued to coach while attending and playing at Western Washington University, helping out with the youth soccer camps in the summer. After she completed her undergraduate degree, she stayed another 2 years at Western to complete her graduate degree in Kinesiology. During these 2 years, she was a graduate assistant for the women’s soccer program. During this time, she also played soccer for the Issaquah Gunners Women’s semi-pro team and the Sounders Women's team. She also had a 3-year stint training with the Seattle Reign (now Ol Reign) and played with the Philippines National Team for 3 years.

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Joana earned her Master's in Kinesiology and earned her USSF National D-license. She has coached with Northwest United for eight years and has been the girls director of coaching since 2017.

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Her husband is Bryant Michaelson, and she has two kids (Cooper, 2 years old, and Jordan, 1 year old). When she’s not coaching, she plays golf and pickleball. Her favorite men's team is West Ham United since she grew up in East London, and her favorite women’s team is Arsenal Women’s.