Soccer player refusing to kneel before game was forced off Virginia Tech team, suit says
This article was updated around 5 p.m. on Jan. 4 to include that Coach Charles Adair agreed to pay over $100,000 to settle the lawsuit, according to one of Hening’s attorneys.
A former Virginia Tech women’s soccer player says the head coach forced her off the team after she refused to take a knee before a game in September 2020, according to a federal lawsuit.
Kiersten Hening, who held a starting spot on the team for three years, sued Hokies Coach Charles “Chugger” Adair, arguing he retaliated against her for not kneeling alongside her teammates who did in support of social justice and the Black Lives Matter organization, a complaint filed in May 2021 states.
Because Hening, a then-junior, wouldn’t kneel, Adair is accused of benching her for the next games and verbally abusing and berating her, according to the complaint. Hening said Adair’s “politically motivated retaliation” forced her to resign and prevented her from playing “the game she loves.”
The lawsuit was settled on Jan. 3 after asserting Hening’s First Amendment rights were violated, court records show. A jury trial for the case was set to begin on Jan. 18.
Adam Mortara, an attorney representing Hening, told McClatchy News on Jan. 4 that Adair agreed to pay more than $100,000 to settle the lawsuit.
McClatchy News contacted attorneys representing Adair for comment and was referred to his Jan. 4 statement made on Twitter.
“I am pleased the case against me has been closed and I am free to move forward clear of any wrongdoing,” Adair wrote.
He added that Hening’s case “lacked any standing” and “was about a disappointment and disagreement about playing time.”
Previously, Hening asked the court for an injunction that would allow her rejoin the team, order Adair to take First Amendment training and asked to be awarded unspecified damages, according to the complaint.
Adair’s statement did not say whether he agreed to pay a more than $100,000 settlement.
Meanwhile, Mortara replied to Adair’s statement and wrote on Twitter that his client “was benched for her free speech and you paying a giant settlement proves it.”
Hening accuses the coach of disliking her political views
Hening’s lawsuit argued Adair disliked her stance on politics and supported athletes who took a knee before games, according to the complaint. It described athletes kneeling as a demonstration “loaded with political, social, cultural, and symbolic meaning.”
The action originated with professional football quarterback and civil rights activist Colin Kaepernick in 2016, the lawsuit notes. While playing for the San Francisco 49ers, Kaepernick took a knee before a game during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racial injustice, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica.
After this, athletes nationwide began doing the same before games, the complaint states.
“By 2020, it was well understood that kneeling before a game communicated support for Kaepernick’s message and the organization that had become the face of that message: Black Lives Matter (or BLM),” the complaint says.
On May 25, 2020, the death of George Floyd — a Black man who died when a white police officer in Minneapolis pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for more than 9 minutes — ignited worldwide protests against police brutality and racism, according to The Associated Press.
Afterward, the Virginia Tech women’s soccer team discussed ways of showing support for social justice and the Black Lives Matter movement and organization, according to the complaint. It asserts Floyd’s death “raised the profile of BLM.”
“While Hening supports social justice and believes that black lives matter, she does not support BLM the organization,” the complaint states.
Hening refuses to kneel during a pregame ceremony
On Sept. 12, before Virginia Tech’s season opener against the University of Virginia began, a “unity statement” in support of social justice created by the collegiate Atlantic Coast Conference was read aloud, according to the complaint. This statement was to be read before every ACC game going forward.
At the time, all starters, including Hening, were on the soccer field, the lawsuit argues.
“While other starters knelt during the unity statement to mirror Kaepernick’s protest and to express support for BLM, Hening remained standing,” the complaint states.
At halftime, Adair is accused of launching a tirade targeting Hening and berating her in front of the other teammates for not kneeling, according to the complaint.
Although another fellow starter also refused to take a knee, Adair didn’t berate this teammate because her parents warned him not to prior to the game, the lawsuit argues.
Days later, Adair took Hening out of the starting lineup for the next two games, according to the complaint.
This “was based on Hening’s political views and her refusal to kneel, not soccer or her play,” the complaint argues.
It goes on to assert “Adair’s campaign of abuse and retaliation made conditions for Hening so intolerable that she felt compelled to resign,” the complaint states. She “did not want to leave; but, given no real choice, she resigned on September 20.”
In Adair’s statement, he wrote that his “coaching decisions are based purely on getting (Virginia Tech’s) team in a position to win.”
He was hired as the head coach of Virginia Tech’s women’s soccer team in 2010.
Now that the civil case is settled, he said he looks forward to continuing his focus on the team.
This story was originally published January 4, 2023 at 1:55 PM with the headline "Soccer player refusing to kneel before game was forced off Virginia Tech team, suit says."
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