Supposedly benched for refusing to kneel during the national anthem is an ex-Virginia Tech soccer player.

By Maggie Last updated Dec 12, 2022

Supposedly benched for refusing to kneel during the national anthem is an ex-Virginia Tech soccer player. The green light has been given to a former Virginia Tech soccer player who claims she was benched for refusing to kneel during the national anthem to file a lawsuit against the university for allegedly violating her right to free speech.

Former Hokies midfielder Kiersten Hening claims that coach Charles Aidair benched her in 2020 because she refused to participate in the team’s kneeling as a “unity message,” and U.S. District Judge Thomas T. Cullen has given her permission to sue on First Amendment grounds.

Hening sued the college and the coach last year, but the college filed a motion to dismiss the case. Fox News stated that on December 2, Judge Cullen decided that the patient may proceed.

Hening believes that she was benched because she frequently disagreed with the coach and team’s stance on the Black Lives Matter movement. She continued by saying that as their political views started to diverge, Aidair regularly verbally assaulted her. Then he forbade her from even playing.

Hening, who had contributed significantly on the field for the previous two seasons, claims that Adair benched her for the next two games and significantly cut down on her playing time due to her First Amendment-protected speech. According to Judge Cullen’s judgment, Hening left the squad after the third game of the season.

The judge said, “Hening averaged 76 minutes of playing time as a freshman; nearly 88 minutes as a sophomore. Hening played just 29 minutes at the Clemson game (the game after the kneeling incident) and five at the UNC game, respectively.

The Trump-appointed judge also noted that it appears from the circumstances of the case that the coach took the player’s punishment in retaliation based on his political beliefs, not sports. The central constitutional norm, he continued, is “clearly established and important to a free society, and notably to an institution of higher education.” Hening’s right to her political ideas, he continued.