Sydney Leroux Dwyer knows football can be a tough game. She grew up in Canada but chose to play for the US, something that means she has been greeted with boos and the odd cry of “Judas” when she plays north of the border. That hostility didn’t affect her too much when she played in Canada at the 2015 World Cup: she was part of the US roster that lifted the trophy.

It now appears that the Orlando Pride forward is attempting to fashion the same toughness in her son Cassius. As the toddler, who turns two in September, ambled across the field before Pride’s match against Seattle Reign on Sunday his mazy run was halted by a studs up tackle from his own mother. “Gotta teach ‘em young,” wrote LeRoux Dwyer, who was not booked for the challenge, on Instagram.

Gotta teach em’ young. A post shared by Sydney Leroux Dwyer (@sydneyleroux) on Jun 3, 2018 at 10:42pm PDT

Leroux Dwyer agreed with the decision: “clean tackle” she wrote on Twitter.

Cassius has a good chance of making football a career, whatever his training methods. Both of his parents are international forwards for the US. His mother has 35 goals in 77 appearances, while his father Dom, who was born in England, has two in four appearances.