Reign make splashes at Seattle Sports Star of the Year Awards

The Brave and Bold enjoyed a night of Reign last week, courtesy of the Seattle Sports Commission.

The 89^th Annual Seattle Sports Star of the Year Award show took place on Thursday, February 15, and Seattle Reign FC had much of the spotlight. Laura Harvey won the Leader of the Year award while Lu Barnes was nominated for women’s Sports Star of the Year, and Megan Rapinoe took home the Paul G. Allen Humanitarian Award to cap off the evening.

Even though she did not win the award, Barnes made sure to note how happy she was to be nominated.

“I’ve been here since 2013, so I literally call this community home, and they’ve been so supportive of women’s sports over the years. They’re super passionate about it,” Barnes said. “Being able to be honored for that award in the city is really, really special.”

Barnes was not the first Reign player to be nominated for the women’s Sports Star of the Year award. Megan Rapinoe (who else?) was both the first Reign player to be nominated and also the first to win the award, taking home the prize at the 81^st SSY Awards. Rose Lavelle won it at the 88^th ceremony, while Jodie Taylor, Bethany Balcer, and Jess Fishlock have both been nominated for the award (Taylor at the 84^th, Balcer at the 85^th, and Fishlock at the 83^rd and 87^th). This is not the only award that Reign players have been nominated for, as Quinn was nominated for Sports Story of the Year at the 87^th SSYs for being the first out trans and non-binary athlete to win a gold medal at the Olympics (and the first to compete), doing so for the Canada national team.

Laura Harvey praised the recognition that Barnes got with the nomination.

“I think her dedication to this city and to this club is something that should be celebrated,” Harvey said.

Laura Harvey herself got bigger accolades. She was given the Leader of the Year award, an award given for the outstanding performance of a coach. Having been nominated quite a few times before, she wasn’t expecting to win the award, but enjoyed receiving the accolade.

“I’m really surprised, actually. Very humbled. Being in the city for as long as I have been, I think getting recognition across the sports commission is really cool,” Harvey said. “I’ve been nominated quite a few times for this award, so I wasn’t shocked to be nominated, but I was definitely shocked to win it.”

The big star of the show for the Reign, however, was Megan Rapinoe. She won the Paul G. Allen Humanitarian Award, given to athletes with extensive off-the-field impacts. It was the final award given out during the ceremony, and so Rapinoe capped off the festivities with a 13-minute sendoff speech.

She recounted her beginnings in the NWSL, telling a humorous story of how she originally didn’t want to play in the Emerald City.

“My agent Dan calls me, and he was like ‘Oh, good news, you’re placed in Seattle, and the city is really great, and they’ve got a really great young coach … they’re really excited.’ I go, ‘I’ll tell ya what it’s not! A place that I’m gonna play! I’m going to Portland, and whatever you need to do to make that happen, you need to do it.’ So that tells you how much pull I had at that time. I immediately landed in Seattle,” she joked. “And that’s how this place became my home in so many ways, in every way, in all the most important ways.”

As an aside, I don’t think I’ll be ruffling many feathers by saying that any Seattle Reign fan would be happy that Rapinoe didn’t end up playing for the Portland Thorns. That alternate-dimension Thorns team probably won even more NWSL Championships than they did in real life! Truly, the darkest alternate timeline.

Back to reality. Though Rapinoe’s speech was full of jokes and humorous asides, she showed strong emotion as well. This blend was particularly strong when she gave thanks to Coach Harvey, tears in her eyes.

“I wish I could just, like, crack jokes at you all the time, because that’s what we usually do,” Rapinoe said to Harvey. “I feel like there’s no talking about my game or my success without talking about you … the way that you just let me be on the field, while gently trying to guide me away from terrible decisions which I always felt like were worthwhile to try once to five times a game. My game just matured and developed and became what it was, I became the person that everybody saw in 2019.”

Rapinoe’s off-the-pitch influence has been huge. She is not only outspoken about numerous social causes, but also puts in effort for those things. She was one of five players to file a lawsuit against the United States Soccer Federation in 2016 seeking equal pay between the US Women’s National Team and the Men’s National Team, an effort that eventually led to a collective bargaining agreement in 2022 equalizing pay between the two teams.

These efforts have attracted controversy, many times making Rapinoe a culture war lightning rod around the issues she often speaks about. These off-field activities have brought her accolades before, such as the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Now, her impact has brought her the Paul G. Allen Humanitarian Award in the city where she became a star.

In her speech, it was that city that she decided to focus on. Though as she initially did not want to play in Seattle, the city grew on her, and on Thursday, Rapinoe gave thanks to the city, and its fans, and the support they give her, especially when she is vocal about things.

“The city is always right behind me, saying ‘what can we do, where can we help, how can we support,’ and that’s this room right here,” Rapinoe said. “It’s obviously the city writ large, but that’s this room and that’s what makes it so special to be a Seattle athlete.”

In addition to that, she also praised the Emerald City for having a tight knit sports community where every team has fans, and the teams support each other (take notes, LA).

“Every time I go to a game, I see other athletes from different sports, I’m going to different sports. The coaches, the owners, and the entire staff of all of the teams are just so supportive in this community, and it’s really an unbelievable place to play,” Rapinoe said.