My basement is the coldest room in the house so right after I walk down the stairs to make a 180 degree turn left in to the common ground. The common ground is the open space filled up with lifting equipment. The lifting aspect includes everything from 2 benches, squat racks, a jumbo lifting machine, and free weights, in increments of 5 of course. Walking past all the equipment is my area of stay. Here lays a black reclining chair, and next to that a three section leather couch. The chair is worn and has folds in the fabric from years of use. Similarly, the couch is tired and always willing to greet me. On the far left side of the couch there is a permanent recline acting as a foot rest. This is my favorite spot to nap. Both the chair and the couch are angled facing the TV, giving me the perfect view of any games or movies I am watching . The surround sound system makes any spot the ideal one. If it’s watching super bowl 52, or a rented movie on Saturday night with mother.

My basement is a warzone with barricades, flying bullets, and war cries. I peek up my head up above my couch that I flipped over and foam bullets whiz by me. They come from the Vulcan Gatling gun, shooting 60 darts a minute. I quickly duck my head under a table. This table acts as a coverage formed by a blanket I fashioned into a roof. On my left is James, my brother, busy reloading his six shot magnum that was always jammed. He’s crouched behind the wooden drawer that is now his only way of survival.

He looked at me and said, “The only way we win is if we rush!” Down to one life each, we both pulled out our automatic, dual wielded pistols. I was jumping over the cover when I saw Cole--my brother’s first friend from down the street­­-- peak out. I was pulling the trigger as fast as I could as I saw three bullets stick to his head.

“You’re out!” I called. He had lost all of his lives and I saw James get domed while I was looking for my next target. It was me versus Reilly , James’ other friend. I was down 2-1 in lives. The final showdown. My heart was pumping faster than the beat from “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees. I realized that my gun only had two darts left. I strafe to the right. He pokes his head over the four chairs, assembled in a square with blankets over him. I miss my first shot, but do not let this discourage me. I shoot again, this time taking him down to his last life. I’m out of options. I pick up a stray dart and pull the famous throwing dart out of my back pocket (A thrown dart in which the user covers the hole of the back of a dart and throws it as one would a dart, in a game of dart boards). Jumping up off of another chair made into a barricade, I gained enough leverage to see the top of his head. I threw the dart. I felt as I was in slow motion while watching it hit the top of his head, meaning I had won the round.  

Winning that round of nerf gave me a certain drive to win in competitions. The pure rush of the moment brought me to realize how much I enjoy winning when it most matters. I feel like this “clutch factor” can be gained through practice and perfection of a sport.

I clutched rounds in not only nerf, but also knee hockey. The score was 2-2 and there was only 30 seconds left on the clock. I was on a fast break. I pulled the ball right. Then left. Backhanding the ball, it crept through Mick’s legs. He tried to body check me into the boards that were made of anything flat so we would have a rink. My knees were bleeding and my hands were so sweaty I could barely hold the stick . Bouncing the ball off the side wall I distracted Joey, my little cousin who was playing goalie for the time being, when the ball came back to me I shot with my classic wrist shot: a shot in which contact is created between stick and ball with only wrist movement. The ball bounced off of Joey’s foot and into the top right corner of the net. Knees bleeding , hands sweating, and eyes widening, I jumped into the air. I was the happiest I’ve been in a while, because I just won the Stanley Cup of knee hockey.

As my knee hockey career continued and my championship ring collection grew , I found a new love in my time in the basement. Lacrosse was welcomed to the basement when I was in the third grade. 

I pass the ball to Chris, my buddy from down the street, and he rips a shot in the top right corner so our chances of the win are still alive. I drop back into goal because that’s how 2v2 works, 2 men on offense, and a defender with a goalie. I drop my hands as James rips a shot at my five hole. I stopped it. The game goes on. I crawl up the court and pass it to Chris, sneaking up the court. He quickly sends it back to me with a behind the back pass. The pass was off. James and I are racing for the ground ball and I decide to play body. I threw my shoulder into him and he flies into the boards, the back of the couch for the time being. I watch Chris come in and scoop the ball. We have another chance.  He throws the behind the back pass again and this time it’s on.  As I catch it, I have the top left corner in eye and Tim, the goalie, knows it. I ripped the shot low right to throw him off. It bounced in. We won 3-2. I was having so much fun in my basement, I didn’t want to leave.

The basement didn’t only give me hours of fun, but it inspired me to actually play lacrosse. Now I start for Rustin and I wouldn’t be in the same spot today if the events in my basement didn’t go down how they did. In my 17 years, taking face-offs has been a huge impact in my life, giving me an option for college and an incredible way to entwine the clutch factor in. When I need to win a face off in the fourth quarter and were down one, the team counts on me. The feeling of all the hype; and when Thomas gives me a “Let me see it, Spaniak!” there is no better feeling when the whistle blows and I beat my opponent to the ball. Once I do this I know I have the ball and just have to flip it out. I turn on the wheels and run down the field and throw a behind the back pass, a complete dime, and the crows goes crazy. The praise I get from my teammates makes me feel good inside. If basement knee hockey didn’t evolve into lacrosse, I would not be living the same life I do.

The basement is still a home to my training process today. I train all the time in the basement, using the free weights and full body work machine capable of workouts like: pull-ups, lat pull downs, dips, benching, legs, etc. the machine has it all. The convenience of these machines changed my life entirely. I started my journey into the lifting world from lifting with my dad in the basement.

I can still hear him say “form over weight, and if you can’t do 10-12 reps don’t do it at all.” These words originating in my basement are still in my head whenever I lift. In my life, lifting and cardio for sports takes up most of my free time and makes me the hard-worker that I strive to be today. My confidence levels would drop because I would feel like a twig. In my opinion confidence is everything and is a necessity to success.

The basement didn’t only help me on a physical level, yet it helped my mental thinking speed. After winning all the nerf games, my completive edge took me into a whole world of video games. After seeing that I could do all the things I do in nerf wars, I instantly took interest in the Call of Duty franchise. I began playing each game that they released since 2010.  But by just sitting in my basement, I opened a whole new world of opportunity. My mental speed that I have now can be credited to the many “pointless” hours playing Xbox. In math I think faster than the average student and can solve problems very quickly. Also I gained the reaction time I now have that lets me excel in facing off in lacrosse. Without sitting in my basement playing video games, I would not have the reaction times that I do now. Not only did gaming help myself mentally but also socially. Most of my friends today originated on Xbox. 85% of my closest friendships have originated on Xbox. We have the opportunity to talk amongst each other freely outside of school. Talking outside of school is a key way to strengthen friendships.

Without the basement, my entire life would be different. If things didn’t roll out how they did, I could be in an entirely different life situation. Personally, I like where I am in life and if I didn’t have my basement, it would all be different.  I have a different confidence level because of its actions. I could be hanging out with entirely different people, but I had the basement. I can’t say there is another place more sentimental to me because the basement is my personal home. Where would I be without my basement?