The state Board of Regents on Monday proposed amendments to gender-neutral rules that determine when girls or boys can play on school sports teams of the opposite sex., It could open the door to more co-ed teams.
Supporters of the proposed changes said it would bring more equity to school sports, but some critics said the changes could hurt girls' sports by allowing boys to take the lead. I lamented that there was.
Board members who discussed the change at Monday's meeting said the new rules would apply if a school does not have separate teams for boys and girls in a particular sport. This rule would apply, for example, if a female student wanted to play on a football or wrestling team, or if a male student wanted to play on a field hockey or women's volleyball team.
Board members said they wanted to eliminate redundant and burdensome requirements placed on students who want to play sports traditionally reserved for the opposite sex.
“I think this is long outdated,” said Roger Tills, a longtime member of Long Island's Board of Regents. “Not only is this fair for girls who want to play on the football team, but it opens up field hockey for boys as well.”
But some Long Island sports officials were concerned about the outcome.
“I don't think the proposed mixed sports policy will do anything for women in sports,” said Pat Pizzarelli, executive director of Section VIII, which oversees sports in Nassau. “Opening the door for men to play women's sports uniformly would be a devastating blow to women.”
Pizzarelli said if the board approves the proposal, men could take over women's sports, reversing decades of women's progress.
“I see where boys can take over girls' sports. It's a biological reality that when boys enter adolescence they become bigger, stronger and faster,” Pizzarelli said. “Women's flag football, which has grown rapidly over the past two years, will be the first sport to be hit.”
Under current regulations, girls wishing to play football are subject to a school-based evaluation committee as well as a sexual maturity and development test called the Tanner Sexual Maturity Assessment before they can participate.
The new rules would eliminate both the evaluation committee and the Tanner test, which has been used to assess students' level of risk and injury, which the trustees called “intrusive and humiliating.” ” he called.
The revised regulations state that a student's eligibility should be determined by a tryout process, stating that “school officials must demonstrate that the student-athlete has sufficient sport-related skills to participate in a particular competition; “We can determine if a child has the athletic development, sports knowledge, motivation, cognitive and social development.” team,” according to a board statement accompanying the proposal.
The board met with multiple organizations to discuss the plan, including the New York State Public High School Athletic Association, the state Department of Health, and the Athletic Directors Association. Virtually all members rejected the use of an evaluation committee, calling it “unfair, subjective and lacking in transparency,” the board said in a statement.
The board will submit the proposed changes for a 60-day public comment period and vote on them in September. It will take effect from that month.
Executive Director Robert Zayas said the state Public High School Athletic Association supported the measure.
“We support these regulatory changes because they are an important step in ensuring equity for all students,” he said.
Zayas and Tilles said they do not expect the proposed rules to have any impact on the controversy surrounding transgender school athletes. Tilles noted that the state already has rules and regulations regarding transgender issues, and this plan would not change them.
He was uncertain Monday about how the rules apply when women and men have separate teams in the same sport in different seasons. However, he felt that in such a scenario, both boys and girls would have to go to their respective teams.
Tills said she hopes the proposed changes will help ease female participation in traditionally male-dominated school sports. He pointed out that some women want to wrestle or play football, but their schools don't have girls teams.
“If you can physically do it, why wouldn't you?” he said.
But Tom Combs, executive director of Section XI, which oversees sports in Suffolk, said the plan needed further scrutiny.
“I don't stand for anything that negatively impacts girls,” Combs said. “This was a proposal to review and consider the mixed competition policy that is in the document. Nothing has been ratified at this time. It is a proposal that will be considered in the autumn.”
Combs added: “We really have to think about our girls. We've come a long way in women's sports and the opportunities they have. I want to see that change. No.”
At Monday's board meeting, board members heard testimony from Shira Manderzis. A few years ago, when she was a student at Riverdale High School in the Bronx, she wanted to play on the football team. She said the team is not requiring students to try out and school officials have no intention of cutting back on members.
“Because of my gender, I had to take a fitness test that required me to run a mile and do push-ups and pull-ups. And these were exercises that no one else on the team had to do. ” she said.
Ms. Manderzis also had to write an essay about why she wanted to join the team, and was vetted by a school committee and Tanner, a “long and unpleasant physical and sexual maturity examination to say the least.” He said he had to undergo a test.
She said she played football during her junior year, but left school before her senior year, in part because of the discrimination she faced.
“My mental and physical health was devastated,” she said.
But local flag football pioneer Sofia Laspina said she's concerned the proposed rules could affect women's flag football.
“If we allowed boys to try flag football, it would kill girls' sports,” she says.
The 2023 Mepham High School graduate played two years of varsity football in the fall and two years of flag football in the spring at North Bellmore. Laspina became the first female player in Mepham Pirates state history to score a touchdown in a boys game. She became the face of flag football as it blossomed on Long Island.
“It's unfair, absolutely unfair,” LaSpina said. “At that point, it's just going to be a boys sport. … At that point, we should just have boys flag football.”
Mr. Tilles, the island trustee, responded to such criticism by saying, “They could also establish a men's flag football team.”
