After Viral Soccer Incident, Winter Park Commissioner Says Adults Must Set the Example

Nevada Pierre, just 3 years old, has amassed 1 million Instagram followers following an incident where police were called to MLK Park

Oct. 29, 2026

By Beth Kassab

Everyone from Jay-Z, the billionaire rapper and husband of Beyoncé, to Eddie Johnson, a former professional soccer player born in Florida, has weighed in on the buzz surrounding 3-year-old phenom Nevada Pierre.

But in Winter Park, where a police call over youth soccer became national news, the incident that unfolded last weekend at MLK Park raised a familiar concern: questionable behavior by adults at kids’ sporting events.

City Commissioner Craig Russell, who is also a teacher and coach at Winter Park High School, summed it up this way:

“The true measure of a great youth sports program isn’t how talented any of the kids are. It’s really how the adults model respect, sportsmanship, self-control and character, because kids should leave the playing field with life lessons,” Russell said from the dais Wednesday night. “I also just want to comment on how disappointed I am in all of the adults’ conduct who were involved in that incident. It’s unfortunate because kids are watching.”

Russell pointed to another incident earlier this year that also resulted in a police response at MLK Park. That incident occurred during a flag football game organized by a different youth league.

According to emails from a city parks official, the March incident involved a physical altercation described as “pushing and shoving” between two players in a league called Under the Lights. At least one coach also became involved.

“What occurred Friday should have resulted in the two players involved being ejected and the remainder of the two teams being allowed to continue the game,” Parks & Recreation Director Jason Seeley wrote to Commissioner Elizabeth Ingram after she inquired about the incident. “Instead, parents and coaches were not much better at self-control than the two adolescent boys involved in the initial dust-up.”

The city rents its athletic fields to youth leagues, whose directors are responsible for managing play and setting expectations for everyone involved — not just players, but also referees, parents, coaches and spectators.

The incident involving Pierre’s family occurred Saturday, when the director of an i9 Sports soccer league called 911 to report an “unruly parent.” He told the operator that it was not an emergency but urged her to dispatch officers quickly before the family left the field.

The incident has attracted widespread attention. An Instagram account called “@nevadaney10” features a number of videos of the child playing and has amassed 1 million followers, and a GoFundMe campaign started by someone who identified herself as the boy’s mother, Martasia Griffin, has drawn 2,000 contributions totaling more than $58,000. Celebrities have weighed in and offered to provide training for the boy.

Earlier this week, Winter Park police posted a recording of the 911 call and body-camera footage from two responding officers on the department’s website, seeking to address a growing barrage of questions about what happened.

“Upon arrival, officers encountered the parents, who were already in the process of leaving the park on their own accord,” the department said in a Facebook post. “… Despite some social media rumors, there was never any suggestion that the call to police was prompted over the child’s on-field talent.”

The body-camera footage shows that two officers arrived just before 10 a.m. Saturday.

They quickly contacted the league director who had called police. The director appeared to be on the phone with another league official, seeking guidance on whether he could ask the parents to leave.

The director told officers he had called because the child’s mother had become upset, followed him around and called him names.

He explained that the boy was far more advanced than the other children on the field. He and other adults helping run the league allowed the boy to play but periodically rotated him out of the game to give other children a chance to get the ball.

“The kid is good,” the director told police. “He’s great. Real good.”

“So what happened was he’s very advanced compared to the other ones, so he scores a lot of goals,” the director said. “But he pushes the kids and does that other stuff, so I try to tell them, ‘Don’t let him push. Play without pushing, right?’”

The director said the conflict had begun “a few weeks ago,” when he noticed the boy pushing other players and took him out of the game to give other children on the team a chance to play.

“They don’t like it,” he said of the parents’ reaction to his efforts to distribute playing time. “They tell me I’m ignorant and this and that.”

A few minutes before officers arrived, the director said, he had been watching the boy’s game when he noticed pushing and spoke to the referees. That, he said, led to what he described as a “big scene,” with Nevada’s parents “arguing with the other parents.”

The parents have disputed on social media that the child pushes other children.

“I just want them out,” he told police. He also asked whether the officers could help facilitate a refund of the registration fee the parents had paid.

The officers advised him that he did not have to allow the child to play, but the parents could not be forced to leave a public park.

A few moments later, the officers approached the parents.

“If you guys don’t mind leaving, it would be very much appreciated,” one officer told the mother.

“The game is over,” the mother responded. She then asked whether the league would be willing to refund their money.

The officer confirmed that the director was willing to issue a refund.

The mother asked why police had been called. One officer responded that he had been told the parents were causing a disturbance.

“How?” the mother asked. “They were all in a circle talking about my son, and I walked up, but he’s been doing weird things to my son because my son actually plays soccer. They’re mad at my son because he actually plays soccer. So I’m a little baffled and a little confused.”

One officer tried to explain the director’s perspective.

“He [the director] specifically mentioned that your son is very good, but he doesn’t like how the parents become aggressive when they try to do different coaching,” the officer said.

The boy’s father then expressed frustration, telling the officer that he had paid $300 and that every time his son scored a goal, “they take him out” of the game.

“He played like 10 minutes,” the father said, explaining that the family had arrived late for a 9:30 a.m. game scheduled to end at 10 a.m. He said his son had “touched the ball one time” that morning and that other adults involved in the league had “had a meeting about it.”

The officer tried to sympathize with the father and offer encouragement, saying, “I’m sure there are other leagues out there.”

The parents and their two children, including the 3-year-old boy, then began walking with the officers toward the park entrance so they could provide the mother with documentation of the police call, which she had requested.

“He can pass the ball, but every time he passes, they lose it, so I just tell him, ‘Do what you got to do,’” the father said.

The parents tried to approach the director, but the officer discouraged them from doing so.

The mother accused the director of “lying” about being willing to issue a refund and suggested she might have to “take him to court.”

The officers explained that the refund could take a week or two to process but reiterated that the director was willing to provide one. They advised the mother to document her requests in writing.

The family then walked toward the parking lot. According to the body-camera footage, the parents’ interaction with police lasted less than 10 minutes.

Mayor Sheila DeCiccio addressed the incident at the beginning of Wednesday’s City Commission meeting.

“i9 Sports is a private youth league that uses our athletic fields through a rental agreement with the city,” she said. “… Removing a player from the program was the league’s decision. The city had no part in it. We are committed to full transparency … As to the police response, when someone calls 911, our officers respond. Whether to make that call was the league’s decision. The officers kept things calm and helped the league and the family discuss their next steps.”

DeCiccio said i9 Sports had “begun a review” that included speaking with everyone involved in the incident.

Later in the meeting, LaWanda Thompson, a longtime community advocate with the Equity Council Corp., asked the city to review i9 Sports’ use of city athletic fields.

“This incident has raised serious concerns about treatment of young children and families participating in recreation programs, the handling of disputes by private sports organizations, and the appropriate involvement of law enforcement in matters that may be similar in nature,” she said.

During his comments later in the meeting, Russell addressed the challenges leagues face in enforcing conduct policies, noting that many rely on a single director and part-time staff to manage multiple games simultaneously.

“So it’s a tough job,” he said. “But when you rent a facility, that’s just your responsibility … So I agree that we’ll look more deliberately at the leagues because we have a standard to protect kids.”

Russell commended the responding officers for helping de-escalate the situation and “modeling” how adults can treat one another respectfully.

“I could sit here for hours and talk about the damage done to kids when adults behave badly because I’ve seen it,” Russell said. “And I hope that young man — I’m sorry, I hope that baby is OK. That 3-year-old child is OK. I hope that the 5- and 6-year-old babies who were there are OK and that there’s a resolution that is acceptable in regards to moving forward. So pray for them.”

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