Last spring, a number of NYU’s student-athletes sought to fulfill a long overdue demand on campus: a safe space in which athletes of similar ethnic, racial, cultural and even academic identities can assemble outside of their sport. Each athletic affinity group at NYU is now brimming with a diverse assembly of individuals who share not only a hectic training schedule, but a similar cultural experience and background, as well.
NYU’s six different athletic affinity groups — LGBTQ+, Black-Latinx Athlete Coalition, Asian Desi Pacific Islander, Jewish Student-Athletes, Violets in Healthcare and Tandon Athlete Collective — were founded last semester by student-athletes striving to create a collective rooted in advocacy, friendship and representation. This is the first semester the six groups are running.
Five of the six affinity group leaders spoke with WSN about what their group means to them and why it is important for NYU to have designated spaces for athletes to organize outside of their sport.
LGBTQ+ athletes
Women’s soccer player Bryce Chan, co-founder and ambassador of the LGBTQ+ affinity group, cares a lot about the queer community. Chan’s objective for creating the group was simple: fostering a time and place in which LGBTQ+ athletes can congregate and talk about anything relating to queerness — from the abundance of LGBTQ+ soccer players on the U.S. Women’s National Team, to the most awkward of coming-out stories, to even what the group could do better in representing individuals on the entire spectrum of queerness, such as queer men, nonbinary and transgender athletes.
“I’ve been out for over six years now,” Chan said. “I just wanted to help other athletes through their journey and show that there are people out here like them. People are queer, it’s normalized, and it can even be exciting. Being a lesbian soccer player is the best time ever.”
Chan, a senior team captain of the women’s soccer team, states that while soccer historically tends to be an accepting environment for individuals within the LGBTQ+ community, sports culture as a whole can often dissuade players from embracing their queer identities.
“Your sexuality can be super personal, so at times it’s hard getting people engaged,” Chan said. “The male sport world, especially, is not extremely conducive to supporting the LGBTQ+ community.”
The group hosted a “Pride Night,” a women’s soccer match against the University of Chicago on Oct. 12. Chan scored her first-ever collegiate goal in the 29th minute of the game.
“Everything conspired in that moment to make that goal happen,” Chan said. “It will go down as one of the best moments of my life.”
Black-Latinx Athlete Coalition
BLAC invites all student-athletes of Black and Latinx identity to come together to celebrate, advocate and socialize with one another. Through social engagement initiatives, casual hangouts and collaboration with on-campus organizations such as the Black Student Union, BLAC hopes to foster support on campus and personal growth of their athletes.
“Sports as a whole does incorporate some of these values already,” said Chase Nixon, faculty advisor for BLAC and facility operations manager at the Paulson Center. “But at times, you will find yourself needing a certain community that you can directly identify with.”
Nixon believes that, through the inclusion of affinity groups such as BLAC, student-athletes can better share their voice on campus. He said that by partaking in the highly rigorous academic environment of NYU while also managing the athletic demands of a competitive UAA conference, student-athletes wield a distinctive power, and we all ought to listen.
ADPI, Asian Desi Pacific Islander
Aditi Narayan, a junior on the women’s tennis team, is the founder and president of the ADPI affinity group. Narayan is also a part of the LGBTQ+ affinity group and head of communications of SAAC, the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
Narayan said that due to her tennis schedule and the fact that the team practices in the Bronx, there are not many spaces where she gets to interact with other student-athletes and simply hang out. This is the primary goal of the ADPI affinity group, and she stated that the group’s impact has already manifested, at least for her.
“NYU has over 500 student-athletes, and we barely know each other,” Narayan said. “When the ADPI group gets together, I see other athletes who look like me. We have similar experiences, our upbringings were the same — we may have had similar parents who didn’t support us.”
Narayan, an international student from India, wants to raise awareness to the relative lack of Asian student-athletes in the NCAA. Through an increase in accessibility and representation, the outdated idea of who can play sports is rapidly changing.
“We are starting to see more representation across the board,” Narayan said. “It is not the traditionally white, male landscape anymore. I find athletes fascinating, and not just because I am one, but we play such an important role. It’s so empowering — you can be all of these different things while also being incredibly great at your sport.”
Jewish Student-Athletes
Alan Mashensky, a sophomore forward on the men’s basketball team, noticed the fast-paced and sometimes unforgiving personality of New York City immediately after moving. Due to NYU’s lack of a campus, it can sometimes feel as though there are no opportunities for Jewish students to congregate on the High Holidays.
While Mashensky was still getting settled on campus as a first-year, he decided to take the matter into his own hands and created the Jewish Student-Athlete Affinity Group to build a support system for his fellow Jewish student-athletes.
“It’s been great to meet new people and learn about their experience, how they may encounter their Jewish identity differently and how their values may differ,” Mashensky said. “I envision this to be a bigger thing. The more students we get, the more we can improve and grow the Jewish community throughout the UAA conference.”
Mashensky was raised traditionally Jewish — he had a bar mitzvah, attended weekly synagogue and celebrated every Jewish holiday. With most NYU students living relatively far from home, these traditions may not be as accessible anymore. However, through the Jewish Student-Athlete Affinity Group, Mashensky and the group’s other 15 members have hosted gatherings for the recent Rosh Hashanah and Sukkot holidays and aim to continue throughout the holiday season.
Violets in Healthcare
Matt Marcelo, a junior sprinter on the track team, is no stranger to the hefty schedule that balancing both academics and athletics requires. For this reason, Marcelo, a student at the Rory Meyers College of Nursing, advocated to create a community of student-athletes in the pre-medicine, pre-health and nursing majors.
Marcelo largely sees the club as a support system and hopes that it can aid in everything from athletic camaraderie to resume building. In the past, the group has arranged guest speakers, resume clinics and community-building initiatives to help with members’ medical school applications.
Last spring, Marcelo and the affinity group visited De La Salle Academy in the East Village to teach middle school students about nutrition and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Derek Maas, former swimmer for the Violets, current men’s and women’s assistant coach and medical student at the Grossman School of Medicine, was the most recent guest speaker last spring. Marcelo hopes to plan similar events throughout the school year.
“Supporting each other through the process, within our own tight-knight community, has been the best thing,” Marcelo said. “People shouldn’t have to feel like they should quit their sport in order for them to be successful. With Division III sports, we are all here not because of a scholarship, but because we love the sport.”
Resources for LGBTQ+ athletes in sport:
Title IX Frequently Asked Questions – NCAA.org
Resources for student athletes of color:
https://www.blackwomeninsport.org/
Contact Levi Langley at [email protected].
