Seattle Reign Practice Notebook: August 12th, 2026

By Charles Hamaker

Tukwila, WA - Coming off a draw against Angel City FC back on Sunday, the Seattle Reign returned to their training ground at Starfire Sports Complex on Wednesday, August 12th, for the second time in a short week. With no media availability on Monday and players off on Tuesday, Wednesday provided the first opportunity to see the club ahead of Friday’s contest against Chicago, the second of three home matches for the Reign in the month of August.

Here are a few basic notes from Reign training on Wednesday, August 12th, 2026.

Seattle Reign FC training session scenes from Wednesday, August 12th, 2026, at Starfire Sports Complex. (Photos by Charles Hamaker)

Welcome back

For the first time that we’re aware of, veteran forward Lynn Biyendolo was at least on the training ground at Starfire since she returned from Australia after the birth of her child. The club got started early, typically out on the field a bit late relative to their listed training start time, and Biyendolo got some cardio work in before leaving, once the main group had truly begun the session. Biyendolo could be seen heading back into the team's facility with a trainer. It’s not necessarily a major step or a sign that she’ll be on the field in a real match anytime soon, but it’s at least a sign of progress being made to add one of the sport’s best forwards of all time back to the group.

Injury notes

As was the case last week, club original and team co-captain Jess Fishlock was training off to the side during this session. Fishlock did not feature in any full-sided drills that the club ran today; an observer alongside head coach Laura Harvey, seen chatting with her head coach often throughout those team drills. Last week, Fishlock was held out of Thursday’s training session for a full medical evaluation, per assistant coach Lloyd Yaxley. Harvey went on to say in her MD-1 press conference that Fishlock’s injury was not as serious as initially believed, but that she wouldn’t be available for that match against Angel City FC.

The quick turnaround from that match to Friday against Chicago may make it too soon for Fishlock’s return to availability, and the Reign may opt to play it safe and keep her out again.

These aren’t really injuries to note and are likely just things being managed, but defender Shae Holmes had a brace on her right knee and defender Phoebe McClernon had a wrist brace on her left arm. Holmes was listed on the availability report last during the club’s July 18th road match against Gotham, first popping up on it for the July 4th road match against the Courage. She hasn’t been listed on it since and was in full training, so we don’t imagine it’s anything that will keep her from being available going forward.

Phoebe McClernon had a brace on her left wrist during this session, and a team representative stated that it’s something she’s had for a few weeks, as seen in the club’s last match back on Sunday against Angel City. Considering that, it obviously isn’t hindering her ability to defend, and like Shae, it shouldn’t affect her availability going forward.

Defender Phoebe McClernon seen kicking the ball during the Seattle Reign FC’s 2-2 draw against Angel City FC on Sunday, August 9th, 2026, at Lumen Field. (Photos by Liz Wolter for Circling Seattle Sports)

Post-training media: Lu Barnes

As has been the case for the Reign at training this year, the post-training media availability is a rotation of the coaching staff, from head coach Laura Harvey to the assistant coaches. Today’s availability was with former club original and defender-turned-interim assistant coach Lu Barnes, who spoke on the young players on the roster, settling into her role, and the short week.

Note: Questions and answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.

CSS: What’s it been like to see these younger players take steps forward in their growth?

Barnes: That's exactly what you want to see through a rebuilding cycle, right? You bring these kids in, you know they have talent, you know they're going to be great, but how do we provide that to make them successful? And I think that's what you're seeing now, right? And that takes time, that takes years, that takes experience, and not even within the group that's doing it, but also the people around them, which I think has been hard, right? This has been the youngest group now, with not a lot of veterans, but what you're seeing produced now is like what happened years ago. I think that's been super cool to see it now thriving, and like that's our main group, right? I think about being back in 2013; you can maybe see the main group every three to five years, and now it's fun to be on, like, the other side of it and see it. We have a really strong group. I was just looking at rosters, and the spine of our team right now is like incredible, and they're all performing, and they're all very young, so it's so fun to watch. So, the ceiling is high.

CSS: What have the last few weeks been like for you, now officially in your role?

Barnes: I think I'm settling for sure a bit more. I was in the process of transitioning between two jobs, so working both at the same time was really tough. So now, my main focus is here, and all my energy can be here, which is obviously lovely. In terms of what it kind of feels like, it doesn't really feel much different, other than that I'm not physically exerting as much as I used to, but I'm probably more mentally tired because you're thinking about everything almost 24/7. Even when you go home, I'm still thinking about it, even on my runs: what can I do better to better these players? And I think because of my lens and it being so unique, I think it's like turning a lot as to, like, you know, what was helpful as a player for me, but also, like, my generation is so different. So, how does it translate to the younger generation now? Learning all those things has been fun. But yeah, I feel like I can make a pretty decent impact because of my playing career. Obviously, I played with most of the team about six months ago, so I know a lot of them personally and how they operate, and I also know how to get the best out of them, which is, like, obviously, as a coaching staff you learn to do that too. But I think being a player, being in the locker room, being a teammate, like I do have an advantage, and I'm able to kind of use that knowledge. So trying to tap into that as much as I possibly can, which has been really fun for me.

CSS: How different is the short week for you as a player as compared to as a coach?

Barnes: It's interesting. I think for coaching, it's more like you have to put more into a short week, whereas a player you usually back off on load, so it's a little bit different in that sense. But yeah, I think for us coaches, it's a very quick turnaround. So we had a session straight after the game, which is like, you get to see the game, then you go into a session right after, and we had to prepare that in less than 12 hours. Whereas as players, you still have to prepare, but you're more so showing up. It kind of seems like a normal cadence, but you're not preparing for an actual session; you're there to execute, which is the fun part. But coaching, having to do that beforehand, yeah, it's a lot. So I think for a short week for coaches, we're like, I looked at Scott [Parkinson], I was like, ‘man, I'm cooked,’ and he's like, ‘I know,’ and he's like, ‘but it's the nature of it, right?’ Like we're essentially doing all the things behind the scenes, so the players don't have to deal with that, and that is our role; that is super important. So, if they don't feel that, we're doing our jobs right. So, hopefully, they don't feel that

What’s next?

Following today’s sun-baked training session at Starfire Sports Complex, the Seattle Reign will have another tomorrow before their Friday night match against the Chicago Stars FC on Friday, August 14th at Lumen Field, with kickoff at 7 PM PDT and broadcast on NWSL+. The Stars have struggled mightily this season, sitting dead last in the NWSL table thanks to a run that’s seen them lose nine of their last 12 matches. Their attack has struggled, like the Reign’s was prior to the men’s World Cup break, recording multiple goals just twice in their last 16 matches.

Seattle comes into this match in solid form, recording points in four of the five matches since their return to Lumen Field from the break on July 12th, the lone loss coming to the super team that is NJ/NY Gotham FC on the road. They’ve recorded multiple goals in all of those matches, a feat that was rare between the time they were in Spokane earlier this year and the return from the break, and are only getting healthier, with Lynn Biyendolo working her way back to game shape.

Friday's game against the Stars is the Reign’s Pride match, with two different ticket offers available for purchase. The first of the two is the Pride Captain Armband Bundle, as those who purchase a ticket through this link can take home an armband like the Reign captain will wear on the field in addition to their ticket. The other offer is a “bring your extra” buy one, get one special, as for this match, only fans can get a second ticket for the price of just their first by clicking here.

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• Check out our previous Seattle Reign FC articles here.

• Check out our previous articles written by Charles Hamaker here.

• Cover photo by Charles Hamaker

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