U.S. soccer greats cheer Nebraska girl
barred after mistaken as boy
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[June 07, 2017]
(Reuters) - Pixie haircuts may be
the new rage on the girl's soccer field now that superstar Mia Hamm
cheered an 8-year-girl whose Nebraska team was booted from a tournament
after officials insisted she was a boy.
U.S. soccer legend Hamm and Olympic soccer gold medalist Abby Wambach
launched a Twitter defense of Mili Hernandez, the Omaha, Nebraska girl
whose team, Assurri Cachorros Chicos, was disqualified from a
Springfield Soccer Club tournament over the weekend.
After a typo on the team roster misidentified the short-haired Hernandez
as male, her family told NBC affiliate WOWT News that tournament
officials ignored insurance documents produced to prove she is female
and instead kicked out the entire team.
"Mili, don't EVER let anyone tell you that you aren't perfect just as
you are. i won championships with short hair," Wambach tweeted late on
Monday.
Hamm also took to Twitter to invite Hernandez to her TeamFirst Soccer
Academy.
"Be you!" Hamm added to the tweet late on Monday.
The club has filed a complaint with the Nebraska State Soccer
Association, local media reported.
The Hernandez family could not be reached for comment. Neither Nebraska
soccer officials or the Azzuri club immediately responded to requests
for comment.
Hernandez told WOWT that she was "not happy" that officials disqualified
her team because of her appearance.
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Mili Hernandez, 8 year old female soccer player seen in undated
photo released by WOWT NBC in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S., June 6, 2017.
WOWT NBC Omaha/Handout via REUTERS
"They only did it because I look like a boy," Hernandez told WOWT
News in a televised interview.
TeamFirst spokeswoman Cori Boyle told Reuters on Tuesday the academy
would consider running a camp in Nebraska if Hernandez is unable to
attend any of the other camps currently scheduled in the U.S.
Midwest. TeamFirst camps focus on "being yourself, being proud of
who you are, being the best you can be, as a person," Boyle said.
She added, "A lot of professional athletes have short hair... I have
short hair."
(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg in New York; editing by Diane Craft)
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