this post was submitted on 25 Oct 2026
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[–] ProfessorScience@lemmy.world 282 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Ok so, sure, other parents seem to have escalated things in a dumb way, but... for the rest of his life, this kid can say "I was so good at soccer they called the police on me... when I was 3."

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[–] SeeMarkFly@lemmy.ml 147 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

My neighbor called the police when my dog chased their cat...in my backyard. I got off with a warning.

[–] CuddlyCassowary@lemmy.world 51 points 2 weeks ago (10 children)

Were they at least told to keep their cat inside? Or on their own property?!?

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[–] threeonefour@piefed.ca 112 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

"Ball so hard motherfuckers wanna fine me"

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[–] Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world 97 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

I'm the one who called the cops. You guys don't understand just how good this toddler is, someone had to do something

[–] timewarp@lemmy.world 27 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Don't you know about cops killing black people though. They could have showed up and thought that little 3 year old boy was going to kick a soccer ball at them.

[–] DickFiasco@sh.itjust.works 31 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Or an acorn could have fallen on a car, causing them to shoot the place up.

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[–] ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 94 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

The episode has prompted online discussion about age-group rules, competitive balance in recreational youth leagues

Looks like some people are trying to defend this by arguing that kids are there to just have fun, not being outplayed. Which still completely ignores the fact, the the 3yo also was just having fun.

[–] glimse@lemmy.world 28 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

I've been going to my sister's kids' games since they started and there's ALWAYS a huge skill disparity in the younger games. And honestly it's just one thing that seems to click and instantly make twice as good: predicting where the ball will go.

Kids that age ball chase because they have no idea what's going to happen next. They will literally stop and wait for an opposing player to make their move before deciding what to do.

It's exceedingly frustrating to watch but also really funny to see a whole field pause to watch a player do some tippy taps before kicking the ball straight into the feet of another.

[–] kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world 17 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Under 5 years old, an age difference of 2+ months can already be a major advantage in any sport that requires coordination, dexterity, anticipation, and agility without even considering raw talent. There's a documented phenomenon where leagues that start splitting kids into skill levels at a young age are split predominantly based on the proximity of the month the kids were born to the age cutoff. Being older is already a massive advantage around then because their brains and bodies are developing rapidly and a few extra months of development has a lot of effect on their cognitive and physical abilities, and their height and weight.

This kid may be an outlier in raw skill. But honestly that also may even out considerably as other kids' motor skills develop. This shit is temporary and part of playing sports in this age range. All of the people involved need to just chill out and watch the kids play whether they are killing it or chasing the ball.

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[–] FenrirIII@lemmy.world 18 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

My 9 year-old's team played soccer against a team of giants. They had 3 kids at least a foot taller who manhandled them and could kick the length of the field and score. It wasn't fun and we were annoyed, but we didn't call the police.

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[–] 20cello@lemmy.world 71 points 2 weeks ago (9 children)

Are people really that stupid in the usa?

[–] smeenz@lemmy.nz 71 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

They voted for trump didn't they ? Twice. There's your answer.

[–] Formfiller@lemmy.world 39 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] smeenz@lemmy.nz 28 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

True. Only successful twice, but stupid three times.

[–] the_flying_pig@lemmy.world 17 points 2 weeks ago

At this point one might conclude they're stupid all the time.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 23 points 2 weeks ago

also very racist in varying degrees.

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[–] crazycraw@crazypeople.online 52 points 2 weeks ago

12-15 years from now we may start to hear of an up and comer in the soccer leagues, and someone will rediscover his early roots.

just kidding. we'll have destroyed ourselves long before this delightful and skillful little boys dreams come true.

[–] itsjustachairmary@lemmy.world 45 points 2 weeks ago

White people intuitively understanding how cops are there to protect white supremacy even though when asked directly they'll deny it and call themselves allies of black people

[–] thisbenzingring@lemmy.today 39 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Messi was like that when he was an adolescent. Theres video of him just tearing it up as the smallest kid in the game

The future looks bright for little Nevada

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[–] kablez@lemmy.world 38 points 2 weeks ago (12 children)

Wow, those other parents are total pieces of shit.

[–] stylusmobilus@aussie.zone 20 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

They are, but it’s not just them

The whole system complied. On a kid younger than them

I can’t say I’m surprised either

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[–] echodot@feddit.uk 37 points 2 weeks ago

Hello 911 what's your emergency?

...

Yeah we're not going to attend that.

[–] NotAnOtter@lemmus.org 34 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (31 children)

I played soccer at that age, my siblings did too, and my cousins do as well.

When you're 3/4/5 you're not playing soccer. There are no rules, positions, score, winner/loser or goalies. It's "go kick the ball around time". When the ball goes out of bounds the coaches, who are often just some dad, just give it to a player that has not had a ball in a while. No one is trying to win, there is no 'win', it's all make believe for the kids to have a chance to run around for a while in the sun. If one super-player wins every match, that sucks for every other player on the field including his team since they don't even get to "win", there are no winners. They just have to sit around bored with the other team because there is no point.

So the league refunded the parents fee and asked them to not come back (trespassed them). They are no longer legally allowed on the field and for that matter, have no claim to participate in the league seeing as they were refunded. They weren't kicked out on the basis of race, it was many parents complaining "Hey, I paid ~$600 for 'go kick the ball around time', and you are facilitating a situation where my kid doesn't get to kick the ball". This isn't a competitive format it's gym hour and they are not receiving the product they paid for.

A 3 yearold hogging the ball all game, isn't doing anything wrong. He's 3. He's should be instructed to share more but he isn't doing something that warrants the cops involvement. The parents however, that understand the situation and failed to correct it / their kids ability to share, do. The adults that received their money back, understand it. The adults that received a trespass notice, understand it. The adults, who the cops talked to not the kid, understand it. The parents of the superplayers here at being assholes and injecting their kid in a situation they already KNOW will cause problems. All the kids are just being kids and the other parents, as far as I can tell, just want their kid to receive the product they paid for.

Too many people in this thread letting their emotions control their opinion due to a scary headline about a subject they apparently know very little about.

[–] ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 23 points 2 weeks ago (19 children)

If it was a matter and refunding and asking people to leave why was police involved? I can think of 100 ways to handle this without police starting with giving the other kids another ball.

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[–] MilitantAtheist@lemmy.world 30 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Cop could have just said "Are you for real? Did you really waste police resources on this?"

[–] DupaCycki@lemmy.world 25 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

They trespassed the kid, so the police had no choice but to escort him out. Which absolutely is a waste of police resources, but is also perfectly legal and follows the process.

In more reasonable countries, nobody can trespass you from a football field, unless you give them a very good reason like repeated physical assault.

[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 19 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

Who trespassed the kid? Like I know it says "the league" but the league obviously didn't have any meeting or come to a consensus in time to make that decision.

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[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 29 points 2 weeks ago

they realy just dint want a black kid make a white kid look bad, plus racist parents.

[–] DaddleDew@lemmy.world 28 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (11 children)

Listening to the parent talking in the video it sounds like there was past history between the kid's parents and the other parents and that there was at least an altercation between them after someone said something the kid's parent didn't like. This seems to be the real reason behind the parents being kicked out and the cops ultimately called. But of course, the parent who released the video edited all those parts out to make it sound they're kicking the kid out for being too good. Feel bad for the kid though. That wasn't his fault.

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[–] GardenGeek@europe.pub 23 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Well, I'm not really sure how I'd feel about it from a moral standpoint (and I have no idea if, or what, might be going on behind the scenes). But from my perspective, the incident (and the media coverage) is great publicity for a boy who might one day make a living playing soccer. I mean, a 3-year-old who gets taken off the field by the police because he’s outplaying 5-year-olds might just be a sign of some talent...

[–] pigup@lemmy.world 35 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

I'd rather him get the same treatment as his talentless white peers: safety, respect, education, support etc.

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[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 22 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

There has to be more to the story

[–] Earthwormjim91@lemmy.world 107 points 2 weeks ago (27 children)

It’s a non-competitive league with specific rules about sharing and playing together. My kid played I-9 for flag football for a while and then we went over to a competitive league as he got better, and wanted to actually compete. I-9 is explicitly for just getting kids out to play.

Other parents complained because this kid should clearly be in a competitive league instead, and the other story I read was that the dad was filming for tik tok and loudly going on about how famous his kid was online. Other parents were fed up with the stunt and complained about it and the parent filming their kids to put online, so the league refunded the parents and asked them to take the kid to a different league if he wanted to play competitively. The parents then started losing it and arguing about it and causing a scene.

They didn’t call the cops on a black kid for being too good at soccer. They called the cops on his parents for orchestrating a stupid tik tok stunt and being assholes to all the other families there just to get their kids outside doing something as a team, and not leaving when asked.

If you want your kid to play competitively, go to a competitive league. There’s thousands out there. If you want to go have your kid dunk on non-competitive kids and ruin their fun, don’t be surprised when you get asked to leave, and don’t start throwing a little bitch fit when that happens.

[–] Ready_Player_01@lemmy.zip 21 points 2 weeks ago

If this is true, I have just one thing to say: context changes everything...

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[–] WizardofFrobozz@lemmy.ca 20 points 2 weeks ago

GUARANfuckingTEED to be the same parents who won’t shut the fuck up about participation trophies, how kids these days are too soft, and how nobody deserves anything they haven’t earned through white-approved work. Always preaching meritocracy, personal responsibility, and how losing builds character. Fucking snowflakes.

[–] soupcon@lemmy.blahaj.zone 19 points 2 weeks ago

Unbelievable.

By which I mean, I literally don't believe this story as presented. There's definitely some details missing.

[–] protist@retrofed.com 18 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (4 children)

Obviously this looks awful on its face, but we definitely don't know all the details leading up to them getting a criminal trespass notice. Having an 8 year old who plays recreational soccer, I can confidently tell you I would have a serious problem with another parent live streaming his games on Tik Tok. Dad says "there's thousands of people watching this, he's famous." This seems likely to be against the rules at most soccer clubs, and it's definitely a privacy violation.

Edit: Update indicates what likely happened was the coach benches the kid to give the other kids a turn, the parents complained to the coach about this (maybe because it was bad for their live stream) which ended in them being refunded their money and asked to leave, but they didn't leave, so police were called.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/winter-park-police-explain-response-164621178.html

[–] buddascrayon@lemmy.world 19 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Okay, then why is the viral video of them kicking this kid out of the league and having him escorted out with police instead of a video of the coach having a conversation with the father about live streaming the games?

Because if that was the issue, then that should have been the conversation. Not "your kid is too good we're going to kick him out of the league because he's making the white kids feel bad about themselves."

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[–] FatVegan@leminal.space 18 points 2 weeks ago

Fuck i never even thought of this. Back in the days, the worst thing was an overbearing parent next to the field. Now you have people uploading your child durectly to social media.

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[–] fakeman_pretendname@feddit.uk 17 points 2 weeks ago

This article is a metaphor for all right-wing "anti-DEI" policies.

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