To celebrate Women’s History Month, Malverne High School’s G.I.R.L.s Club hosted an event celebrating women in sports on March 20. The Play Like a Girl event included a panel of women from the community who are involved in athletics and were invited to discuss their experiences and the challenges they’ve overcome.
The GIRL in G.I.R.L.s club stands for “growing into responsible leaders,” Merola Ibrahim, co-vice president of the club, explained. “Our goals are to come together and work to realize our full potential as leaders in our homes, schools and communities.”
The club invited four guest speakers to take part in the panel discussion, Sandra Brunson, Lisa DeAngelis, Melissa McGowan and Brenda White. The discussion was led by club Co-Presidents Isabella Ramharakh and Coleene Elias.
Brunson, a Lakeview native, is a former NCAA Division I volleyball player at Temple University, the co-founder and CFO of the Second Round Foundation Inc., the mother of New York Knicks captain Jalen Brunson and the wife of Knicks assistant coach Rick Brunson. DeAngelis has taught special education at MHS for 18 years, played basketball at Loyola University, in Maryland, and coached at Molloy College, now Molloy University, where she was inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame.
McGowan has been teaching in Malverne for 27 years and grew up in the district. As a middle school student, she joined the boys’ soccer and track teams, because there were no girls’ teams. She was a member of Malverne’s first girls’ soccer team, and continued playing at Manhattan College, where she competed in track and field as well. McGowan coached soccer and track at Malverne, and in 1999 she became the first woman on Long Island to coach a boys’ varsity soccer team.
White is the former athletic director at MHS, where she coached girls’ soccer, softball and tennis while working as an educator as well before she retired.
The panelists discussed the need to advocate for women’s sports and to provide resources for female athletes that are equal to other sports.
McGowan and DeAngelis recalled buying men’s shoes for their sports when they competed in college, because there were no soccer cleats or basketball sneakers for women.
DeAngelis recalled the support her high school basketball team received due to its success, which changed when she played at Loyola. “When I got to college, we didn’t see celebrations for the girls — it was all about the guys,” she said. “We had the worst practice times, we had the worst buses, we didn’t stay in the nice hotels that the guys got. It was a totally different experience.”
“The only challenges that I faced as I grew in sports were the adults in my life who I think were fearful for me,” said Brunson. “They did not see beyond some of these barriers that I didn’t even know about.” She said that the supportive athletic environment of Malverne led her to play collegiate sports with an open mind. At Temple, Brunson recalled, the volleyball team had access to the same resources as other sports, though players had to deal with challenges like inconvenient practice schedules.
“As young women who are looking to do things, whether it’s play sports or work in sports departments, you have to be honest with yourself and say, what exactly do I want from this?” Brunson said. She added that she didn’t want to pursue sports as a career, and viewed collegiate athletics as a way to pay for her education “I feel that we want to help young women do things beyond high school sports,” she said. “Let’s look at what exactly the end goal is, and that will help determine where you go, what resources you need, and things like that.”
“I think who’s chosen for the leadership position really either opens doors for kids or closes doors for kids,” McGowan said. Addressing White, she added, “We had you, and you were wonderful, and you were able to see issues that no one else previously addressed.”
White, who began working in Malverne in 1980, supported athletics at every level in the district. In 2002 she became director of physical education, health and athletics for the district. “When I became an athletic director, there were 52 schools in Nassau County. There were only six female athletic directors,” she said.
White recounted building a support system with the other female athletic directors. “There were issues at times, and they weren’t malicious, but things that the men didn’t really think about,” she said. “They were in charge, but they would sometimes neglect the females in their program.”
During her years in the district, White made sure that girls’ and boys’ sports received equal funding and that girls were treated equally. In one instance, she ensured that the girls had full access to MHS locker rooms, when previously, visiting boys’ teams were often given first priority. “We still do have a long way to go,” White said, “but it’s not like it was back in the ’50s and ’60s.”
The money raised through raffles sold during the Play Like a Girl event was donated to Bethany House, a shelter for women, and women with children, who are experiencing homelessness, where members of the G.I.R.L.s club volunteer.
