Newly released police bodycam footage from Winter Park, Florida, contradicts claims made by the family of a 3-year-old soccer player that police were called because their son was “too good” for his youth league. The family has used that claim to raise more than $25,000 on GoFundMe.
Winter Park police were dispatched Saturday to a city soccer field after a league director called in a disturbance involving the boy’s parents. According to the bodycam video, i9 Sports league director Thomas Hayes told officers the dispute stemmed from the boy pushing other children during play, not from his skill level alone.
“So he scored a lot of goals, but he pushed the kids to do that, all that stuff. So I tried to tell him. Hey, stop! Don’t let him push. Don’t want to play with pushing. Right. So a few weeks ago there was like six kids on the team anyway. I swapped the kids out. Right? Because he’s so good. Take him out. They don’t like that. Tell me I’m ignorant. I’m this, I’m that,” Hayes told police.
Hayes said he intervened after further pushing by the boy during Saturday’s game, which he said led to the child’s parents creating what he described as a “big scene” and arguing with other parents. Police were then called to the field.
The boy’s mother, Martasia Griffin, has since launched a GoFundMe campaign describing the incident differently. In her campaign description, she wrote that her son, identified as Nevada, was removed from the October 24, 2026 game “because of concerns about his skill level,” and that the situation escalated until law enforcement was called.
“At just 3 years old, Nevada could not understand why he was being taken away from a game he loved. What should have been a happy childhood moment became heartbreaking and distressing for him and deeply painful for our family to witness,” Griffin wrote.
Griffin also wrote that “every child, regardless of abilities, background, or potential, deserves the chance to learn, grow, and enjoy the game they love in a safe and supportive environment.”
The GoFundMe campaign has raised more than $25,000 as of this report. The family had previously posted videos on social media documenting the boy’s performance in the league, including a May Instagram post noting that he had scored 40 goals in four games despite missing three games that season. The i9 Sports league in question is a beginner-level youth league that does not use goalies.
Police bodycam footage was released to media outlets following public interest in the case, which began after reports surfaced of officers being called to the youth game.
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