An Ottawa mom is outraged after being kicked off a soccer field because she and her son wouldn’t take shelter under trees during a thunderstorm.

Zita Oliveria and her son Noa, 10, were at a South Keys soccer pitch on Wednesday evening as dark clouds began to close in, thunder sounded and lightning could be seen in the distance.

Oliveria said at one point the coaches decided to round the kids up under the trees bordering the field. She said she was dumbfounded that anyone would suggest that given the approaching lightning.

“I learned that in school, I think we all kind of did,” she said of proper storm precautions. “(The tree) is the highest point, it conducts electricity.”

Oliveria refused the coach’s order, keeping her son with her and a close eye on the approaching storm, which ended up passing by the area.

The coach, she said, told her: “You cannot be here, you have to be where we tell everyone else to be.”

The conversation got heated to the point where several other coaches approached.

“You have to leave if you’re not going to do what you’re told,” Oliveria said she was told.

Even a parent approached and asked her why she was being “so irrational and difficult.”

She said the coach also told her the field was private because the team rented it from the city, and she was therefore breaking the law by refusing their direction.

“Next think you know I have four or five of them (coaches) around me,” she said. “None of them were listening, they kept asking ‘are you above the law’?”

“Take your son and leave,” Oliveria said the coaches told her.

She’s not sure if Noa will be welcomed back as she hasn’t been able to reach anyone at the South Keys Greenboro Community Association, which runs the league.

Oliveria said she is both shocked and concerned that so many people didn’t consider the dangers of hiding under a tree when lightning is nearby.

“I was ganged up on because I refused to stand under the trees for my own safety reasons,” said Oliveria, adding she felt she was bullied by the coaches. “It’s bizarre and that’s what concerned me the most.”

Twitter: @chrishofley