Sounders camp highlights, Day 5

Today's Sounders FC Q&A is with Leighton O'Brien, a local product with MLS experience who is taking his trial with Sounders FC very serious.

Position: Midfielder

Age: 32

Height: 5 feet 10

Weight: 160

Hometown: Federal Way

Last club: USL Sounders (two stints in MLS with San Jose and Real Salt Lake).

Kickin' it with ... Leighton O'Brien

Question: Is it true that you hired a personal trainer in preparation for Sounders FC tryouts?

Leighton O'Brien: "Yeah, I just wanted to get a little stronger and more flexible, so yeah, I did hire Oscar Santana. Good guy. We worked on a lot of strength training stuff, preventing injuries and getting a little stronger and quicker."

Q: Was that you saying to yourself that you wanted to make a serious run at making this club?

LO: "I just wanted to be prepared. It wasn't necessarily public knowledge, but I just wanted to be prepared for camp and I feel like I'm getting stronger every day."

Q: Has it paid off?

LO: "Yeah, I feel really good. I'm not sore after training and I feel strong. So, yeah, every day it gets better."

Q: You have a deep family history in the game, can you talk about that a little?

LO: "My dad [Fran] played. He was a professional for I don't know how many years. He played on the Irish national team. And then my brother [Ciaran] plays at MLS Colorado. He's a second-year guy. So, yeah, it's just a soccer household."

Q: Your thoughts on MLS as a league?

LO: "It's good. It's real organized and it's getting better year by year. Bigger staff, good money, and it seems like it's going well. Especially in Seattle. The fan base seems to be good already. I played in San Jose and Salt Lake, so I'm pretty familiar with it."

Q: What does having an MLS team in Seattle mean to a local guy like you?

LO: "It's pretty cool. We've got a lot of fans out there and good for the young kids, I think, in general, to be able to watch high-level soccer week in and week out."

Q: What was the first job you ever had?

LO: "I worked at Soccer West, Federal Way. It's a soccer store in the Seattle area."

Q: First car you ever drove?

LO: "Honda Civic. I think it was a 1990."

Day 5 highlights:

• Osvaldo Alonso, a former Cuban national team player and United Soccer Leagues star with Charleston last year, made his practice debut after arriving Monday. Head coach Sigi Schmid said he'll ease up on Alonso in practice to round him into shape for camp.

• There was an eight-on-eight scrimmage over much of the indoor field at the Seahawks facility. The other side of the field had a small group of players lining up to take a pass from coach David Tenney, dribble through obstacles, shoot on goal, run back through an obstacle, take a long crossing pass from coach Ezra Hendrickson and shoot on goal again.

• Midfielder Sanna Nyassi was hit in the groin area while battling for a ball during the scrimmage and walked off the field doubled over in pain. He didn't return and was attended to briefly by a trainer. Schmid also said newly acquired defender Patrick Ianni is still going through his physical because the team wants to treat an injury from last season.

• Schmid, on what he's seen in the first five practices of camp: "It is getting better every day. I thought that once we started playing eight-versus-eight, the first three or four minutes was not what I wanted. The next four or five minutes was very good, and from there on they had an idea of the tempo I wanted. I explained to them the game is a transition game, and the sport is a turnover sport. ... It's how you can effectively respond to those turnovers is the mark of a good team. They are starting to understand those concepts, and I thought there were some good things today and we will get better every day."