‘Tiny but mighty’ soccer player Ariana dos Santos of Lee’s Summit becomes a sensation

Six-year-old soccer player Ariana dos Santos of Lee’s Summit refers to herself as “tiny but mighty,” and thousands of her fans on social media would agree.

Tiny Ariana and her big soccer skills became a viral sensation after her father accidentally made his private Instagram public in late December.

Within a handful of days the account, full of photos and videos of Ariana, grew from about 150 followers to nearly 3,000. Today it boasts more than 31,000.

Her fan page on Facebook has nearly 77,000 followers.

Ariana’s father, David, who is her soccer coach, said he could tell she had a natural affinity for the game when she was 2.

“Even though she didn’t know how to do the things that we were trying to teach her, you could tell she had a good body coordination,” says David dos Santos.

This story was originally published April 27, 2017 at 12:12 PM with the headline "‘Tiny but mighty’ soccer player Ariana dos Santos of Lee’s Summit becomes a sensation."