Olivia Harness is not burdened by history. Harness, an 11-year-old basketball phenom from Arizona, wants to become the first woman to play in the NBA.

She’s certainly off to a promising start. Harness, with her mind-boggling handles and smooth jumper, has made a habit of going viral and has more than 36,000 followers on Instagram. Last April, in a guest spot on NBA on TNT, Harness told Shaquille O’Neal she could “drop” him with one move.

Harness started playing basketball after watching her older sister, Tatiana, train with their father Mike. Harness decided she wanted to be better than her sister, and that competitive spirit helped launch her career. Now, Harness, who said one of her basketball heroes is Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi, spends two hours per day working on her dribbling and another five to six hours in general training. She plays for her father on the Arizona Select travel team and often scrimmages with 14-year-old Tatiana, who is something of a phenom herself.

“They have the same basketball dream, and so there’s times I have to pull them apart,” Mike said.

“We are very competitive,” said Harness, who goes by the nickname Liv. “Whenever we go down the stairs and we play one-on-one, sometimes I get really frustrated. … I’m more competitive and hard on myself than I thought I was.”

Watch the latest episode of “No Days Off” from Whistle to learn more about the aspiring basketball star.

Josh Needelman is the High School Sports Editor at Just Women’s Sports. Follow him on Twitter @JoshNeedelman.

US Soccer is developing new pre- and post-pregnancy protocol plans, USWNT manager Emma Hayes told media on Saturday — hours after star forward Lynn Biyendolo announced on social media that she is expecting her first child.

"It is how to combine the right things in the right ways and the right specialisms around so that players feel supported," said Hayes. "That through their journey of having a baby, that feels like they're doing the right things, but also gets them back in the safest way possible, depending if it's a natural pregnancy or if it is a C-section."

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Described as a 360 approach, the pregnancy protocol and how best to manage new parents has been a point of focus for the national team, with the players union and US Soccer most recently ratifying new protections and resources for parent-athletes into the 2022 CBA.

Multiple USWNT starters have started families in the years since that landmark agreement, with US and Portland Thorns forward Sophia Wilson giving birth to her first daughter last month and Triple Espresso teammate Mallory Swanson expecting her first child later this year.

Hayes said that she expects to share those protocols "with our larger landscape," though she did not specify a timeline for the roll-out.

"I keep reminding the players, whenever things get challenging, lean into the team in every way, shape, or form, whether that's in our game model, whether that's outside of the field," she added. "Healthy culture, great people always is going to represent great progress."

The world No. 2 USWNT returned to winning form on Sunday, avenging Thursday's upset loss to No. 23 Portugal by capping the pair's two-game friendly series with a 3-1 victory.

USWNT midfielder Olivia Moultrie led the charge, securing a brace within the opening 10 minutes before second-half sub Sam Coffey flicked in a 77th-minute corner kick to cement the 3-1 scoreline.

"[US head coach] Emma [Hayes] said before the game, 'I don't care what the result is, but no matter what, I want it to feel like we played like us,'" said 20-year-old Moultrie postgame.

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Hayes significantly shifted away from Thursday's struggling lineup, replacing eight starters and relying on a starting XI with an average age of 21.7 years old — including teenaged midfielders Lily Yohannes and Claire Hutton.

Defender Emily Sonnett captained the squad, and her 111 senior team caps singlehandedly outranked the other 10 players on the field, whose USWNT appearances combined totaled just 100 matches.

"You can't cut a corner to success, and you can't cut a corner with development," said Hayes, impressed by the young group's growth since falling to both Brazil and Japan earlier this year.

"I think last game was a blip," Hayes continued. "And that, for me, is not something I expect to be happening on a regular basis."

How to watch this week's USWNT friendly

The No. 2 USWNT will close out October's international window with a friendly against No. 33 New Zealand in Kansas City on Wednesday.

The match will kick off at 8 PM ET, live on TNT.

The Tour de France Femmes confirmed its course for 2026 this week, setting up next year's event as the longest iteration of the race in the women's tour history.

The 2026 course will run in nine stages starting in Lausanne, Switzerland, on August 1st and continuing through the finish line in Nice, France, on August 9th.

Cyclists will cover a total of 1,175 kilometers, with 18,795 meters of climbing.

The course will feature three flat stages and three hilly stages as well as two mountain stages and one individual time trial, with riders tackling Mont Ventoux — an iconic climb from the men's event — for the first time.

Though 2026 will only by the fifth edition of the modern Tour de France Femmes, the race will make its debut in a standalone time slot one full week after the men’s race ends, with recent record viewership fueling the move to separate the races rather than continue the previous tactic of scheduling the two events back-to-back.

"We no longer need men for the Tour de France Femmes to exist,"  said race director Marion Rousse at Thursday's course unveiling. "There's no need to have the men's race as a platform to launch the women's race. Now people are waiting to see us."

"People have embraced us," Rousse continued. "The new dates, separate to the men, prove it."

This weekend's slate of international soccer features more than one blockbuster matchup, as some of the summer's top performers, including England and Brazil, begin the long process of preparing for the 2027 World Cup.

Reigning UEFA Women's Euro champions England will be hosting 2025 Copa América Femenina winners Brazil at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester on Saturday, when the Lionesses officially kick off their four-game Homecoming Series to close out 2025 play.

The match between world No. 4 England and No. 7 Brazil will serve as the first of the series of friendlies that will span the final two international breaks of the year, with the Lionesses closing out the opening pair of games against No. 15 Australia on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, while England fans will be enjoying the team's victory lap after their second-straight Euro title, other top UEFA competition are honing in on 2025 Nations League play.

Behind a long-range goal from winger Klara Bühl, No. 5 Germany snagged a narrow 1-0 victory over No. 6 France on Friday morning, taking the lead in the pair's two-leg semifinal.

The second Nations League semifinal round kicks off at 2 PM ET on Friday, when No. 1 Spain faces No. 3 Sweden live on Prime.

How to watch England vs. Brazil this weekend

England takes on Brazil at 12:30 PM ET on Saturday, with live coverage streaming on Prime.