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“I Was Shocked” | Girls JV Hoops Coach Arlisha Boykins Fired After Pretending To Be A 13-Year-Old

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A 22-year-old assistant coach on the Churchland High School JV girls basketball team, Arlisha Boykins, impersonated a 13-year-old on the team and suited up for a game. Boykins was fired and the players and parents of the Virginia-based school decided not to continue with the season.

 

Why Did 22-Year-Old Coach Arlisha Boykins Pretend To Be 13?

One of Churchland’s players wasn’t available for the game with Nasemond River — as she was away for a club basketball tournament. So the coaches, in their infinite wisdom, thought it would be a good idea for the 22-year-old assistant coach to play under the name of the player who wasn’t available.

You can’t make this up. Grown adults made this decision for a JV basketball game.

The JV head coach, along with the head coach of the varsity girls basketball team, were fired. The varsity coach was allegedly “encouraging the behavior” during the game.

No Churchland school officials were present at the game. They were notified after through a complaint from Nasemond.

“Coaches always preach to the kids about integrity and those types of things, so I was just shocked,” the father of the 13-year-old said.
Did Boykins feel good about herself competing against 13- and 14-year-olds? Why were the other coaches invested in this decision? This incident will follow these coaches around and likely make gaining employment at another school difficult.
The parents and athletes on both the JV and varsity teams decided to opt out of the remainder of the season.
The girl who was impersonated will be looking to attend a different school next season, and her parents are looking for an apology from the school.
The school is conducting an investigation into the matter.
“While I cannot discuss details of the investigation since this is a personnel matter, I can confirm Arlisha Boykins is no longer an employee of Portsmouth Public Schools,” district spokesperson Lauren Nolasco said in a statement.
What the school should’ve done is a better job of identifying who these adults were they decided to put in charge of the basketball program. A coach is a position of respect, prominence and influence. You can’t just have anybody advising young children.
This behavior is a reflection on where we are as a society. Poor and reckless decisions have always occurred but they seem so much more prevalent these days. We’re prioritizing the wrong things and not looking out for each other and doing what’s best for the collective.
All parties responsible should be held accountable and maybe it’s a good time for school’s to look seriously at their hiring practices. Of course the challenge for many public schools is limited resources that forces shortcuts.
Churchland is a public high school in Portsmouth, Virginia. The school’s athletic teams compete in the Virginia High School League, AAA Eastern Region, Eastern District.

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