JV COACH FIRED AFTER IMPERSONATING A PLAYER IN A GAME

Over the years we have heard stories of kids that played sports that weren’t actually kids. Their parents gave false birth information or a college athlete just started going to high school to keep playing the sport they love. In some instances we see a kid that seems to be overdeveloped for their age and people doubt their honesty only to be proven they are just a big kid for their age. The charlatans usually pulled it off for a while before someone sniffed out their deception and we are left to think what an odd story it was. This one takes the cake, …. the mixing bowl, the mixer, and the oven with it. Imagine being a 22 year old coach for a JV basketball team, 7th and 8th graders aged 13-14 years old and thinking, “One of my players is gone. I’ll just step in and pretend to be them and play the game!” You don’t have to imagine much as this happened to a girls’ team in Virginia. Their assistant coach, Arlisha Boykins suited up for a game because one of their players was involved in another tournament. It would be bad enough if it was a varsity game, but a TWENTY TWO YEAR OLD is playing in a game with THIRTEEN AND FOURTEEN YEAR OLD GIRLS! Why?! Just to get a win? To prove some sort of point? It makes me upset as not just a father, but as a coach where you stress to these kids about the integrity of the game and good sportsmanship. How did she and the head coach think they would be able to pull this off when every parent of the team knows she is a coach? It truly boggles the mind that they thought they could get away with this. She and the head coach got fired and the team canceled the rest of the season. If you watch the video you will hear the father of the impersonated player feel upset because no one had even apologized to them about the incident. The team did learn a lesson about what happens when you try to break the rules: everybody loses.