Six teenagers thought their late night soccer game was over when a patrol car rolled up to the park.
It was getting late on a Long Island soccer field when the boys saw the police coming. They just assumed they were getting kicked out for breaking curfew and figured the cops would blow the whistle to tell them they weren’t supposed to be there. But Suffolk County Police Officer Kevin Martinez had a completely different idea.
Martinez climbed the fence and walked right up to the kids. Instead of handing out a warning he simply asked them “Hey who wants to uh play me one v one?”
Most of us would have just pointed to a watch and told them to go home. He actually climbed the fence to join them.
It turns out Martinez is a former college soccer star. He took off his glasses but he kept his full uniform and heavy duty belt on while he went to work on the field. The teens were completely stunned by his footwork. One of them later joked that the officer was “moving like Michael Jackson” and admitted he wasn’t expecting those skills out of him at all.
The clip quickly went viral online. People everywhere loved seeing it and one person in the YouTube comments pointed out what we were all thinking when they wrote “Awesome!!!! Cop could still play despite having his duty belt on.”
The footage racked up over 18 million views but the real victory had nothing to do with internet fame. Martinez noticed something important about how the night unfolded. He said “When you’re 17 18 years old and you see a cop climb a fence your first inclination is to run away. I’m very very happy that they didn’t do that they stayed.”
When we help kids figure out what they are good at and give them the space to grow it really does change things. Parents teachers and even law enforcement officers like Martinez all have a role to play. If you give young people something positive to focus on and show them someone actually cares, they are just a lot less likely to look for trouble. It naturally brings crime down in the long run and sets up the next generation for a better tomorrow. I really appreciate Martinez taking the time to step up like that. I am sure it was a huge inspiration for those boys and they will remember it forever.
WATCH: Officer Crashes Teens’ Late-Night Soccer Game and Stuns With Pro-Level Skills
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