Soccer coach knocks boy on his back with a little lesson in tackling

Video of a soccer coach in Russia kicking the legs out from under a small boy is causing a small sensation online. Trying to jump out of the way of the blow, the child flies into the air and lands on his back.

The coach in the video, a man named Valentin Pavlov, says he was trying to teach Ilya, the eight-year-old boy he kicked, how to defend against someone trying to take the ball from him. “I explained to the boy that he’s got to set his feet harder, more firmly. I started to show him, and the kid jumped. I ended up kicking him, and he did a somersault,” Pavlov told Sovetsky Sport newspaper.

Pavlov insists he wasn’t trying to hit Ilya, but the boy’s “beautiful” fall made it seem that he’d been kicked. Pavlov says he “feels bad” for Ilya, but he says he’s experienced worse mishaps on the job, including a goal nearly collapsing on top of a young player. He says he’s received no complaints from Ilya’s parents.

“Of course the boy was surprised! He did a somersault, after all! But watch the clip again. He got up and ran off all by himself.”

Soviet Sports