Nevada Pierre is three years old, and last Saturday the police got called to his soccer game. Now Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Sports is reportedly sending him to Spain.
According to Loren LoRosa of “The Breakfast Club,” Jay-Z and Roc Nation have committed to sending Nevada to Spain in December for a development experience, working through the company’s overseas soccer division. Roc Nation Sports represents international stars including Real Madrid’s Vinícius Júnior, and it had already posted a message of support for the kid: “Keep shining Nevada, we support you!” No formal agreement or Spanish club has been announced, and the family had already been talking about moving to Spain so he can develop in the sport.
The Spain news lands days after a scene nobody expects at a preschool soccer game. On October 24, at Martin Luther King Jr. Park in Winter Park, Florida, Nevada was playing in an i9 Sports league against kids as old as five, running past them and scoring. His family’s video of him dominating, ten goals in one game by their count, pulled millions of views. Then Winter Park police showed up on the sideline.
The two sides tell it differently, and the bodycam footage police released Monday has both versions on tape. His parents, Martasia Griffin and Don Pierre, say their son was singled out for being too good, that opposing parents complained nobody could take the ball off him, and that the family was kicked out of the league. A league official told officers Nevada had been pushing other players and that his parents got disruptive after disagreements over playing time and benching. On the bodycam, Griffin tells an officer the league is “literally kicking him out of this place because he’s good at soccer.”
Police treated the whole thing as a civil dispute. Nobody was arrested, nobody was formally trespassed, and the family was not forcibly removed from the park. i9 Sports refunded the registration fee and says it is reviewing the incident.
The support rolled in fast once the video spread. Former U.S. national team striker Eddie Johnson backed the family, Ms. Rachel posted for him, and U.S. men’s national team defender Alex Freeman offered to set Nevada up with gear and a meetup, telling him to use it as fuel. Roc Nation stepping in with a Spain trip is the biggest move yet: a three-year-old who got police called to his game on Saturday could be training overseas by December.
Photo: Jay-Z portrait panel via Wikimedia Commons. Bodycam video: WKMG News 6, from Winter Park Police Department footage.
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