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Former players say high school coach made them play strip basketball

Feb 7, 2017 | 5:30 PM

REGINA — A professional misconduct hearing has begun into accusations that a teacher mistreated the girls on the basketball team she coached more than 30 years ago.

Martina Cain is now retired but until 2015 was the principal at Churchill Community High School in La Ronge, Sask.

Four former players, now all in their 40s, testified Tuesday that when she was coaching their team in the late 1980s, Cain bullied and body shamed them.

The witnesses told the regulatory board for Saskatchewan teachers that Cain made them play “strip basketball” during practices, having to remove an article of clothing each time they missed a shot.

They testified it was awkward, uncomfortable and embarrassing, but admitted they didn’t tell anyone about it until years later.

They were asked to explain why it took them so long to file a complaint.

“It wasn’t something I ever talked about,” said one of the witnesses. “I don’t know why.”

Another of the women said they were eager to please the coach and didn’t want to get benched.

“We didn’t know we had the right to say ‘that makes me uncomfortable,’ ” explained a third.

The fourth woman also said her parents would have her stay with Cain when they had to be out of town and she had a basketball game.

She said Cain once had her steal a tray of food for her at a restaurant, and then would insist they sleep in the same bed, though the teen was always clothed and there was no touching.

That woman’s mother told the hearing she was “shocked” when she learned about that years later, saying it “should not have happened.”

The mother said she always assumed her daughter would be sleeping on a couch or spare bed.

The hearing is set to resume Wednesday, when Cain is expected to testify.

If found guilty, Cain faces penalties that could include a suspension or cancellation of her teaching certificate or a fine.

(CTV Regina)

 

The Canadian Press