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Delta College Gym: My Second Home
by
Tenesha Blair

My eyes and ears open to the abrupt sound of my neighbor's dog barking outside my window and my alarm buzzing behind my head. As I stretch, I swing my arms like an elephant's trunk to hit the cold alarm clock. I am so sore from basketball practice at Delta College it feels as if my muscles have turned off and my body is a rag doll being chewed by a dog. I eventually start to get feeling back into my body, and once again I think about Delta's Pioneer Gym, the place where I know who I am. It is a place I can go to escape my problems for two and a half hours and release some stress. It is my home away from home.

When I get out of bed my muscles are still aching from the hard practice last night at the Delta gym with my teammates. My knees crack as I ease my feet onto my soft, red colored floor. As I walk into my bathroom, sore from the night before, I stumble over my highlighted green basketball shoes that I left in the middle of my floor. I walk to the bathroom and looked into the mirror to wipe the sleepy eye crust out of my eyes. I put my hand on the cold silver colored knob to take a shower and brush my teeth. The warm sensation of water and the feeling of the warm, soap-covered rag touch my body. As soon as I smell the Irish Springs soap, my body instantly wakes up. At our practice, we did defensive, offensive, shooting drills and ball handling for three hours straight. My mindset was cold, deep, dark, anxious, and a little bit nervous at that time as, I was preparing myself for the most crucial games of my college career, the tournament of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). My teammates, coaching staff and I can agree on the huge investment we made from spring, summer, fall and winter to dominate our conference and be the best team Delta has ever seen. We put in a lot of hard work for our many accomplishments, like being second in our conference, fourteenth ranked overall in the nation, and ranked number one in defense!

As I drive along 675 north toward Bay City, the highway is like a long tunnel that never ends. I feel so relaxed, free from any and all distractions. I hear nothing but the rubber ring around the rim of the tire hitting the pavement of the highway and my gospel instrumental CD my grandmother gave me. All I can do is think and visualize how I'm going to play and control the tempo of the game. As I pull into the pot-hole filled parking lot off the K and J wings at Delta College, I park in the same spot I always have; people just seem to know that's my spot. Walking around the back I gently push open the metal steel door, which is like a barrier between two different worlds. The hot thick air quickly rushes out and escapes past my body. The familiar damp smell of sweat bombards my nose like fans attacking players on a basketball court or football field after a team has won a big game.

When I walk into the gym the lights are off, and then automatically turn on. I can see the conference team banners on the left side of the brick wall that are navy blue, royal gold, green and black, red and gold in color. This reminds me of all the sacrifice, hard work, blood, sweat, and tears which were put into winning games and representing Delta with class. The bleachers line both sides of the gym, where my cheering fans are my huge family-mom, sisters, brother, cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces and grandparents- -all there to cheer me on. They come to every home game and cheer like it's an NBA final game. That's why every game I play is like my last game.

As I walk closer in the gym, in the middle of the floor I see the Delta College Pioneer logo in bold white, green and black letters. When the lights turn on the floor shines like my father's bald head after shaving. Next, I see the two main rims and the score board where our highest scoring game was 97 points, which was a career high at home during the 2013-2014 season. It seems like when I come into the gym I can hear the sounds of fans cheering, my coaches yelling, the horn of the shot clock going off, and my favorite sound in the gym --the ball bouncing on the floor. Once again I realize this place is more than just a gym; it's my home away from home. It may seem odd that a place associated with sweat and physical and emotional pain can mean so much to one person; however, in my eyes it will always be my second home because one day I know pretty soon I'm going to have to hang up my basketball shoes for good. At the end of the day I might not play college basketball at the highest level or ever make it too the WNBA, but I will always love and cherish the game of basketball.

 
The written and visual works in Mid-Michigan Remembers-Stories about Us were chosen on the basis of their quality, diversity, community interest and appeal. Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the College. This space is provided as a service by Delta College.