Virginia soccer coach beaten with metal bottle by parent
Heather Hunter
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A youth soccer coach was shocked when a parent attacked him with a metal water bottle during a children’s soccer scrimmage at George Hellwig Memorial Park in Manassas, Virginia.
“I’m pretty sure I was unconscious, so I have no clue what happened,” Vince Villanueva said of the attack.
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Villanueva, known as “Coach Vince,” has been coaching youth soccer since he was 18 and coaches the Potomac Senior High School girls team and youth club teams. On Saturday, he volunteered to fill in for a fellow coach for a boys soccer team scrimmage.
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The coach said a father wanted to speak to him at the scrimmage, and as he was watching the field of children, the parent walked up and attacked him.
“As I was turning to talk to the father, the next thing I know, I was on the ground, and then I heard like a ding noise, and I realized I was getting hit in the head with a water bottle,” he said.
Parents at the scrimmage called 911, and off-duty first responders helped the coach before officers arrived.
The 45-year-old suspect, Blerand Hoxha, was charged with malicious wounding.
The coach went to the hospital. The attack made his eyes swollen and blackened, with his left orbital wall fractured.
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Villanueva now questions whether the growing violence of parents is worth his volunteering to help children learn and play soccer.
“Seeing the escalation of violence toward coaches and game officials and stuff like that within these sports — I’m still processing, thinking about, is this something that I want to continue doing?” he said.