Head Coach Laura Harvey – Post-Training Press Conference • 1-25-23

Head Coach Laura Harvey

On the first couple days of preseason:

“Yeah, it’s been good. Obviously, a new facility, few new players, new staff. So, I think just getting everything on track takes times, so I think these first four days is a good opportunity for us to iron out some kinks along the way. But, overall, been really good. I’m just really happy to the majority of the group back.”

On being at Starfire:

“I think, long term, it’s going to be fantastic. I think, obviously, when you first move anywhere, the new [feeling] is exciting but brings its own challenges, but I think long term, it’s going to be a huge thing for our club moving forward.”

On what it’s like having preseason without former assistant coach Sam Laity:

“Different. We message, actually, quite a lot still. He will always be the DNA of the Reign. It’s hard when someone’s been here for over 10 years to not be that way. So, I think it felt a little weird not having him around and I’m sure it will be really weird when we eventually play against each other.”

On messaging with Laity:

“We’ve spent so much time together over such a long period of time that he’s always been someone I would pick up a phone and have conversations with on different levels, so I’m sure that will continue. But, yeah, I might have to keep a few more secrets than I used to.”

On what she hopes to accomplish in this first week of training:

“I think the first week, honestly, is seeing what this looks like for us – the facility, how our day-to-day flow works because we’ve been used to something different and then we get the US players back on Saturday and then we head down to LA. So, I think when we go down there, it will be a really good chance for us to really get into the details of who we are as a team on and off the field, the principles in which we live by and work in, I think, will be really important. The first week has been a little bit about finding out who we are off the field, how this is all going to function for us properly and then I think we go to LA and we really nail things down on the pitch a little bit more.”

On having so many players gone during the 2023 World Cup:

“It’s always a challenge, but I think this is the best World Cup schedule that I’ve ever seen. We’ve been, in years past, missed 10-plus games without them and it’s definitely not going to be at that level. I don’t know exactly how it will end up folding out, but I think we’re looking at maybe half that at worst. So, I think that is massive for us to be able to have built the roster that we’ve been able to build and we have a lot of young, talented players that will get opportunities and some of them showed that at different stages last year and it’s going to be another important time for them in the summer, again, this year.”

On the process of free agency:

“I mean, obviously, it was new. I think we had a very clear mentality that we wanted all of our free agents to go in whichever they wanted to go and how they managed it and they all did that. I think, obviously, for them having that choice is actually something that I think they should have, so I was all about it….”

On defenders Ryanne Brown and Alyssa Malonson returning to the team after being on loan:

“It was perfect. It was exactly what a loan should be. They went out there, they played a ton of games, they got a ton of exposure, which is what they needed and then they wanted to come home, so we’re really happy that we could bring them back. They look in good shape, which is great.”

On forward Megan Rapinoe:

“She’s down in LA training. She couldn’t really get into full team activity this week, so she has all of the people she needs down there. The fact that we’re going there, it made sense for her to just stay down there, get her individual time in so that when we get on the grass in LA, she can be back with the team fully.”

On being proud about calling Starfire the club’s long-term home:

“I think, yeah, long term, I think so, for sure. I think there will be some kinks that we have to work through this year, but I think our long-term outlook is definitely that and let’s be real, I think this team, especially, and a lot of these players have shown for 10 years, coming into their 11th season, that they are the best athletes at their chosen sport, so do they deserve the best? Yeah, 100 percent, they deserve the best. So, I think we have a mentality at this club where we try and do everything possible for them and we’ve grown and shown along the way that whether we’ve been at Starfire in year one to Memorial to Cheney to here that we’re always trying to get better and better and I think this is where we can find a long-term solution to continue that growth.”

On being more accessible:

“I think, for me, us being able to interact again with the community of Seattle, I think, is massive. Being at Lumen and having that connection back in Seattle, I think, is huge, so I’m conscious of that. I think that I’ve evolved over the years. I’ve grown up as much as everyone else has and I think that there will be times where I’m very protective of what we do, but I’m also very open to opening the doors up and the gates up to media, the community, coaches around the city because I think that, I believe we have a product that people want to see and I believe we should be selling Lumen out at levels that match the (Seattle) Sounders and the only way we’re going to do that is if people know we exist and the only way people know we’re going to exist is if they come and see it. Thousands of people drive in and out of this facility every day and every week so for people to see us down here and interact with us, I think that will help.”

On the team adapting to the new space:

“This is a brand-new field; no one’s ever played on it before, so there’s going to be kinks with that. I think the locker room is a temporary solution for this year until the Sounders go to their new facility, so there are things with that. I think there are just little things along the way that we’re going to have to get used to and we’re used to what we had to deal with at Cheney, it’s bigger here than Cheney was, so we have to deal with what that looks like. But yeah, we’ll be fine. We’re working towards making sure everything is what it should be for the players and I think one thing that his club has been really good at ever since I walked through the door is, if players feel a certain way about a certain thing, then we try our hardest to make sure it’s put right. So, I think those things are the conversations that we’re having and until we live it, we don’t know what they’re going to be.”

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