Inside a Female Football Player's Fight to Combat Alleged Gender Discrimination in Riverdale Athletics
At junior Shira Mandelzis’s previous middle school, she and her sister were the only two female students on the flag football team.
“When we first joined, I remember one of the heads of [my middle school’s] athletic department was like, ‘Did you girls really sign up? Do you really want to play football?’” Mandelzis recalled. “The moment I joined the flag football team, I knew I would play football in high school.”
As the second female student ever to play football at Riverdale, Mandelzis certainly stuck to her goal. Joining the Riverdale team, however, was a process that brought Mandelzis back to her flag football days: she claims to have experienced gender discrimination at the hands of both New York State and Riverdale’s own Athletics Department. Over the past several weeks, Mandelzis’s story has ignited a powerful, school-wide reckoning with the injustices that plague female athletes at Riverdale and beyond.
Since football is a high-contact activity, New York State designates it as a “panel-reviewed sport,” which means that female athletes can’t participate in the sport unless their physical strength is confirmed by a panel of athletics faculty at their school. To be considered for the team, Mandelzis had to pass conditioning tests and specialized medical examinations, including a “sexual maturity test” called the Tanner Scale that was developed in the 1960’s. The state requires Riverdale to meet these “Regulations of the Commissioner of Education on Mixed Competition,” which Head of Athletics Mr. John Pizzi called “very outdated.”
“If we’re worried about player safety and strength, then we should apply these concerns to [athletes of] all genders,” Mandelzis said. “Gender doesn’t automatically determine strength or ability. There are players who are smaller and weaker than me, and there are players who are bigger and stronger than me. I’m just as vulnerable or not vulnerable as any other player on the sign-up sheet…Potential bruises are not a reason to stop girls from pursuing their passions.”
When Mandelzis began completing these state requirements, she encountered what she called “another hurdle” for female Riverdale athletes hoping to play football—one not implemented by New York State, but rather by Riverdale itself. Along with the data from her medical exams, Riverdale’s Athletics Department required Shira to present the panel with a “Statement of Interest,” an essay explaining why she aspired to join the football team. No other male player on Riverdale’s football team had to write this essay; they only had to show their interest by attending practice. Neither did any of the male players on Riverdale’s all-girl volleyball teams, due to the fact that New York State does not designate volleyball as a “panel-reviewed” sport. Mandelzis found the Statement of Interest discriminatory because it asked her to “prove” her desire to play a traditionally male sport, implying—just as her flag football coach did—that her interest may not be genuine.
“My initial reaction [to the Riverdale policy] was just immediately, ‘I’m going to be the last girl who ever has to write the Statement of Interest,’” Mandelzis said. “My mom asked me, ‘What are you going to do, fight them on it?,’ and I said, dead serious, ‘Yes.’”
According to Mandelzis, “the main reasons Mr. Pizzi gave me for the Statement of Interest were one, to make sure that girls weren’t playing for a college essay; two, to make sure that girls weren’t playing for a media circus; and three, to humanize the athlete when the panel is reviewing their numerical information, data, and medical examinations. I don’t think any of those reasons are excuses to enforce blatant sexism.”
However, Mr. Pizzi informed us that the Statement of Interest was never intended to be a discriminatory policy, but rather a way for students to advocate for themselves to the panel reviewing their candidacy. “The panel does not allow the student to be there…they are merely looking at numbers and deciding whether the student [is fit to] play or not,” he explained. “The previous athletic trainer and I did not think that was fair: the panel should know something about the student. The Statement of Interest was a way for student voice to be heard in the panel and also [for the student] to explain their rationale behind playing — not to justify why they were playing, [and] not to discriminate.”
Mandelzis’ fight against the policy began in August 2021 when she submitted her Statement of Interest to the panel, using the essay to explain why she believed it was a sexist requirement. Five months later, however, Mandelzis had yet to see any action on behalf of the Riverdale administration regarding her complaints. Frustrated, she decided to try a different approach.
To get the administration’s attention, Mandelzis wrote an open letter denouncing the Statement of Interest, which she planned to send to the Riverdale community in a school-wide email. “I tried for months to get my story sent out to students and faculty by the school,” Mandelzis said. “Regardless of any alleged support I was told I was being given, the reality was that I was not allowed to send out an email fighting against discrimination. Every time, I was given a different excuse about why I couldn’t. At one point, I was done with excuses and decided to take matters into my own hands and publish my raw experience on Instagram and [a petition on] change.org.”
Within just a few days, her petition demanding that Riverdale formally remove its Statement of Interest policy soared to over 1,000 signatures. Highly-decorated lacrosse and NFL players, as well as female athletes who had had similar experiences trying to join traditionally male teams at their schools, reached out to express their support. That week, Mandelzis hung up posters around school displaying QR codes that led to her petition, causing her campaign to gain traction and become a frequent topic of discussion amongst students and faculty.
Facing rising pressure, Riverdale officially removed its Statement of Interest policy on Wednesday, January 27. Head of School Mr. Dominic Randolph announced the decision in a school-wide email, stating, “We…have come to understand via [Mandelzis’s] campaign that requiring steps beyond the legally required protocol can be viewed and felt as discriminatory.”
“This is a huge win for female athletes at Riverdale and for gender equity,” Mandelzis expressed. “On to New York State!”
“We learned a lot from the concerns Shira raised,” Student Athlete Advocate Mrs. Katie Gendron said in response to Riverdale’s decision. “We want to challenge ourselves to consistently be doing better and improving…We never want to just rest on this, [as] there’s always going to be work to be done. We hope to [continue keeping] communication open between students and coaches and administrators.”
Mandelzis’s fight against gender discrimination is far from over. Throughout the next few months, she plans to push New York legislators to dismantle existing state barriers to mixed-gender competition, including the conditioning tests and sexual maturity exams she had to complete. Mr. Pizzi hopes to work with Mandelzis to help disband these requirements, which both he and Mr. Taylor view as inequitable. “My recommendation would be [that] I query all the athletic directors to find all of the females who have gone through the panel-review [process]—all of the females that are playing on male teams, for that matter—get them all together, and then [have them] write a letter to the appropriate people,” Mr. Pizzi suggested. “That, to me, is super powerful, because it’s a group of women athletes who should not have to go through the process they go through.”
Within Riverdale, Mandelzis’s campaign has prompted conversations about how the Athletics Department, and the sports world at large, perpetuate inequities between male and female athletes.
“I’m very cognizant that there are issues,” Mr. Pizzi said. “It’s not intentional, and we’re doing everything we possibly can to combat those issues. [Assistant Head of Athletics] Ms. [Jennifer] Capozzoli and [Head of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging] Ms. [Phyllis] Dugan are running focus groups over the next few months with a diverse group of student athletes that will target specific questions around gender and belonging…We want to take actionable steps on the things that we find.”
Mandelzis’s successful campaign against the Statement of Interest is not only a testament to the power of the student voice, but an inspiration for future Riverdalians hoping to enact change in their own circles. You can read Mandelzis’s open letter and petition on her Instagram account, @nogenderjustgame.
