A former youth soccer player filed a lawsuit last week against OL Reign Academy, U.S. Soccer Federation, U.S. Youth Soccer Association and Washington State Youth Soccer claiming a pattern of racist behavior and lost opportunities because of discrimination.
August Hunter, who identifies as a Black Asian American, was part of the academy from 2016-2020. According to the suit, filed Aug. 26 in King County Superior Court, Hunter showed “remarkable skill and potential” as a player but was bullied by her white peers beginning in 2016 and was not supported by the academy’s technical staff when she reported the hostile environment.
Hunter’s parents sought switching age groups and academies to protect their daughter and received “angry, hostile communications” from then-coach Jason Farrell, who opposed the decision, according to the suit. She remained with the academy and in 2017 was told to “take off your weave hoe and go eat a bowl of rice” by a biracial teammate, the lawsuit alleges.
Farrell currently coaches Ballard FC, a men’s fourth-division soccer team.
“I thought all of my experiences with August, her sister (Smith) and her brother (Keith) were great soccer experiences,” Farrell said via phone Friday. He acknowledged his position may not have made him privy of talk between the girls and didn’t know details about the suit.
“She’s very good,” Farrell said of Hunter’s talent. “I coached her for maybe a year and a half, and she’s a very good player.”
According to the suit, critiques of Hunter’s skills often described her as too aggressive and mean, tropes used against Black girls while white girls were praised for being competitive. Hunter claims in the suit that former OL Reign Academy technical director Tracey Kevins limited her playing time to five minutes per match and no other player had a similar limitation.
Kevins left the academy in 2017 to coach the USSF U-17s and is currently a USSF U-20 women’s national team coach. When attending a 2018 training camp organized by USSF, according to the suit, Kevins told Hunter in front of he majority of the team at a dinner that she was “too aggressive and not technical enough” and would not be invited to the next USSF camp.
When Hunter, a defender, injured a player perceived to be favored by Kevins, the latter “humiliated” Hunter to the point where she was “overwhelmed by tears,” according to the suit.
The arrival of current Reign Academy executive director Amy Griffin in 2019 didn’t improve conditions, according to the suit. There was an influx of white players who complained that Hunter played “too hard,” the suit alleges.
Griffin didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for USSF declined to comment Friday. An OL Reign spokesperson acknowledged the lawsuit but declined to comment.
In a tweet that has since been deleted, Hunter said in May she also “experienced racist and homophobic taunting as well as profanity laced comments from parents and players of Crossfire Premier” in Redmond. A petition was started to support Hunter, who currently plays alongside her older sister at Harvard.
Hunter and her attorney, Veasna Hoy, declined to comment.
The suit also notes USSF “breached its duty to avoid inflicting emotional distress” and OL Reign Academy was negligent in notifying Hunter of deadlines to apply or comply for scholarships.
In a 2019 feature for television show Sports Stars of Tomorrow, Hunter and her sister, who’s a member of the USSF Athletes’ Council, said their family often didn’t have the financial means to afford travel for development camps and matches. The girls often sold cookies on the Seattle waterfront as a fundraiser.
According to the suit, the retaliation Hunter faced caused her to fall out of compliance with scholarships and developmental camps. Griffin is also accused of blocking Hunter’s return to the Reign Academy in 2021 because of a concern for “team chemistry.”
Hunter is seeking, in part, compensation for lost scholarships, grants, and benefits; implementation of standard coaching procedures; and damages for “loss of enjoyment of life, pain and suffering, mental anguish, emotional distress and humiliation,” according to the lawsuit.