12 year old banned for entire youth football season for disturbing kick to foe’s helmet
Sportsmanship is always cited as the main goal for youth sports. Now one young Kansas City-area football player is learning the hard way that he’ll be punished severely for violating good sportsmanship. In this case, his entire season is over.
As first reported by Kansas City television network KCTV5, an unspecified Moniteau, Mo. youth player was suspended for kicking Sedalia, Mo. player Maurice Martin, the son of a woman named Keesha Martin during a recent game. Martin quite rightfully felt that the punishment was too lax and reached out to KCTV5 with video of the incident, which you can see directly above.
Both players were ejected from the game for the altercation, which concluded with Maurice Martin removing his helmet and cursing at the opponent who had just kicked him. After being advised of the incident, the youth league’s commissioner, Jimmy Brown, doled out a one-game suspension for the Moniteau player.
The result was absolute outrage from parents who saw the young youngster violently kick Maurice Martin in the head as he attempted to get up off the ground. That prompted Keesha Martin to send her footage of the incident on to league officials and post it on KCTV5’s Facebook page.
While the Kansas City youth league’s commissioner, Jimmy Brown, initially told KCTV5 that the one-game suspension was appropriate for the attack, he quickly changed his tune after seeing the video himself. Another league board member reached out to Martin apologizing for the initial penalty and insisting that he wished they had the footage initially, promising that they would re-visit the punishment.
They did, and now the Moniteau player’s season is done.
"It saddens me that it came to this to bring accountability to the commissioner and the board," Keesha Martin told KCTV5. "For a boy of this age to have responded in this manner was just totally out of line and deliberate."
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