Top soccer stars have rallied around 8-year-old Mili Hernandez, a talented young athlete who was forced out of a soccer tournament when organizers thought she was boy due to her short haircut. According to Think Progress, Mili’s parents tried to fight the decision by showing them her insurance card and a medical form, but they claim “it did not change the minds of the tournament organizers.” “She was in shock, she was crying,” said Mili’s dad.
Mili wasn’t alone in getting disqualified thanks to the grown-up’s bullshit either, because her entire team was kicked out of the soccer tournament. Organizers told Mili’s family they could appeal the ruling to the Nebraska State Soccer Association, but the tournament came and went, leaving Mili to bravely dust off her shoulders and return to practicing—but not before getting some words of encouragement from some Olympic gold medalists:
“Listen, I’ve heard the news and all I can say is that your courage to want to stand up and talk about it and your bravery is going to help that next kid that’s put in this similar situation,” [Abby] Wambach said in the video. “You’re inspiring. You’re a natural born leader honey, and I’m so proud of you. I want to tell you a few things. First of all, you don’t look like a boy, you look like a girl, with short hair, and that’s okay.
“Also, I know somebody else who has short hair. She’s won gold medals and a World Cup and US Soccer Player of the Year and FIFA Player of the Year. You can do anything you want to do and you can be anything you want to be and guess what, you can look like whatever you want to look like to do it.”
Mia Hamm, another two-time Olympic gold medalist, tweeted “Hey Mili, we would love to host you at one of our camps @TeamFirstSA. Be you!” U.S. women’s national team player Lydia Williams tweeted a picture of herself as a child—also with a short haircut similar to Mili’s—with the caption, “Guess I should've been disqualified too. Keep doing you, Mili.”
About the whole ordeal, Mili said that ”when my hair starts to grow I put it short because I’ve always had short hair. I didn’t like my hair long. Just because I look like a boy doesn’t mean I am a boy.” The fact is Mili should be able to wear her hair any fucking way she pleases, but instead too many girls and women get punished for either looking too feminine, or in Mili’s case, looking too masculine just because she likes the hair on her own head short. Meanwhile, there are how-to guides on getting those long David Beckham locks, right? But as Williams said, you keep doing you, Mili. Have fun at soccer academy.