A high school basketball coach is finding herself in the hot seat after she allegedly posed as a student-athlete and played in a game alongside teenagers.
The move was all caught on camera, and it’s forced a high school in Virginia to abruptly end its basketball season.
“The biggest thing that we heard that we felt – disappointment,” said Billy Haun, executive director of the Virginia High School League.
The coach is the “junior varsity player” seen on camera in a black No. 1 jersey. She’s got slick moves and was scoring baskets, and high-fiving other players, but she was no player at all.
She’s Arlisha Boykins -- a member of the Churchland Truckers coaching staff.
Boykins suited up and played as if she were a student in a weekend game against the Nansemond River Warriors last month.
“When adults commit to being a coach, they take on a lot of responsibility. Adults who fail to live up to those expectations, fail our students,” Haun said.
The Portsmouth Public Schools District says the game was held at Nansemond River and no Churchland administrators were there, but say they immediately investigated the incident when it was reported.
The fallout led players on both the junior varsity and varsity girls’ teams to call it quits.
“Players from both teams expressed they did not want to continue this season. The teams’ remaining opponents and officials have been notified,” the district said in a statement.
As for the coach, the district says Boykins is no longer an employee. Her last day of work was Jan. 25.
The head coach for the junior varsity team was also fired.
The executive director for the Virginia High School League says this is the second time in his seven-year tenure that a coach has impersonated a player, but there are no plans to change any regulations or procedures.