Standing on the court will leave an everlasting impression on my heart. The weight was heavy. It was at that moment that I knew, this was meant to be. I was supposed to experience this.
That musty sweaty locker room smell of basketball was absent. We are in a warehouse space that is converted into two basketball courts.The walls of the locker rooms are a white frosted plastic. We had a common area and two separate sections designated for the women and the men officials. The ceilings where open and you can see the metal beams of the ceiling above us. You could hear the teams on the other side of the wall as they prepared for the game. The courts where regulation. 94 inches in length by 50 inches wide. The table personal was on the opposite side of the teams benches. The clock operators, scorekeepers and stats are separated by plexiglass partitions. There are no fans. The space looks like a basketball arena. The locker room space looks like a locker room. The table crew have modifications but clearly resembles the functions of table crew. All of necessary pieces are in place but something is missing.
A massive WNBA banner is on the back wall of each court. On the floor of each court, “Black Lives Matter” is printed in bold black san serif text. I made sure to take my time when I walked by. I breathed in for six seconds. I held my air for two then exhaled for eight. I repeated the process. I needed to be in the moment.
The games begin.
