Former Virginia Tech soccer player Kirsten Hennig wins $100,000 after refusing BLM kneeling

A former Virginia Tech soccer player accused her coach of benching her when she refused to kneel during a pregame social justice demonstration.

According to the Roanoke Times, Kirsten Hennig is receiving money after agreeing to dismiss a federal lawsuit he filed against head coach Charles “Chugger” Adair in 2021.

The settlement does not include any admission of wrongdoing by Henning or her former coach, her attorney Cameron Norris told the outlet.

Hennig claimed Adair was benched after he became frustrated with her political views, which often differed from those of her teammates.

Henning explicitly refused to kneel during a social justice demonstration in support of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020.

In the lawsuit, Henning said he “supports social justice and believes black lives matter” but that he “does not support the organization BLM” and that it “does not fund the police.” “The tactics and core tenets of its mission statement, including stopping it,” he quoted.

Her coach “verbally attacked” her during halftime after Hennig chose to kneel during the recitation of the “Unity Statement” before the Sept. 12, 2020 game against the University of Virginia. said.

Adair punched Hennig, benched her, and two games later quit the team en masse, saying in a lawsuit that she had been kicked out for her coach’s “campaign of abuse and retaliation.”

On December 2, federal judge Thomas Cullen denied a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, agreeing that Henning’s time on the field had decreased after the incident. Her coach chose not to kneel. Two other players who did have claimed they were not facing reduced playing time.

“Ultimately, Adair may convince jurors that this coaching decision was based solely on Hennig’s poor play during UVA’s game, but the court decided that the light in Hennig’s favor would be the most favorable. Seeing the evidence in, you can’t come to that conclusion as a matter of law. Karen ruled.

On January 4th, Adair released the following statement on Twitter:

“Unfortunately, this ordeal has been about disappointment and disagreement regarding playing time. rice field.

A payment of $100,000 to Hening was not mentioned in the tweet.