Delia Cruz lays on her bed after school at her home on Buffalo Rd. in Rochester, N.Y. Stephen Curry Golden State Warriors jerseys and Delias favorite basketball shoes are hung up on the walls beside her. "When I was twelve years old my mom took me out of the baseball league that I was in...when I got taken out I didn’t have anything to do and we had a basketball court at our house you know so...when I actually started getting serious my brother, he showed me a video of Stephen Curry,” says Delia. “When I saw him play, I don’t know, It's like I got attached very quickly...and I started to teach myself how to play.”
Delia attends her AP English class at Rochester Prep High School. Delia is a senior at Rochester Prep and this is her first year being fully in person since her sophomore year in 2020. On top of that shift, Delia is starting to apply to multiple colleges at school such as Rochester Institute of Technology, Brockport, Geneseo, University at Buffalo, Columbia, Daemen, Rice, St. John Fisher, and Syracuse, being her top choice. Delia misses the comfort of being an underclassman and not having to worry about all these big decisions. "Starting off as a senior is not that easy," says Delia. "Just knowing that I wasn’t a senior it kind of put me, like, in comfort because like, ‘This isn't your last ride yet. You still have more time,’ you know?"
Delia attends a pre-season training session for basketball with coach Jabari Noel at Rochester Prep Middle School Brooks campus. Delia deals with mental health issues such as anxiety and depression and basketball acts as a stress reliever for her. “I know that depression and anxiety runs in our family. It can change like one day something won't trigger me and the next day it just depends,” says Delia. "Basketball is my life like, basketball like- even just saying it like I have this feeling in my body just now like...If I could I would put basketball over school, basketball over everything."
Delia takes a breather while waiting to do laundry at her home. Delia works part-time at Applebees as a hostess on the weekends, making a social life nearly impossible. On top of that, she has been struggling to keep up with all of her home and school responsibilities while still maintaining her mental health.
Delia comforts her little sister Jersey, 11, after she thought she saw a man looking in the window outside of their home. "I live with my brother, my twin brother, and I live with my sister. She's 11...I have a lot of home responsibilities," says Delia. "Watching my sister and making sure dinner is done...I’ve gotten used to it...By the time we get home my mother is at work. I try to keep the house as clean as I can so my mom can come home and rest."
Delia gives the team's chant during their huddle towards the end of the first day of tryouts on Andrews St. "The sports team is a family. It’s just a way for me to express myself. Normally I’m quiet," says Delia. "But for some reason basketball brings out that side of me that wants to help, that wants to work and do better.”
Delia embraces her boyfriend Shawn at school after having a fight the night beforehand. Delia and Shawn broke up a few days afterwards. Delia is still dealing with the impact of losing her previous boyfriend of two years during the pandemic. "We didn't survive the pandemic," says Delia. "I just felt like it was easy to lose feelings for each other. So I feel like the pandemic really took him away from me, which sucks because he wasn't just my boyfriend he was actually like my best friend."
Delia and her friend Danibeth Duran Medina take a selfie at the Greece Ridge Mall in Rochester on Sept. 29, 2021. Delia and Dani were shopping for clothes to wear during spirit week at their school. Spirit week is the only time Rochester Prep students do not have to wear their uniform. "The school likes to paint a picture that it’s such a good school and every kid is happy and stuff. If you see the billboard every kid is smiling," says Delia. "A lot of people that I’m not close with personally has mental health issues and anxiety and depression. And I think part of that is because Rochester Prep really really likes to focus on test scores and making us look good rather than us being happy. It felt like a prison."
The girls basketball team gathers around a bulletin board at lunch to see the results of the 2021 basketball season roster. Delia made the varsity team as a shooting guard and point guard. Delia will wear the number three Jersey to honor her late cousin Rayshod who also wore the number. "I kind of fell in love with the number just because like the way it looks on a jersey but now I have even more of a reason to wear it and represent it," says Delia.
Delia plays her final home game of the season at Rochester Prep High School on Feb. 16, 2022.
Delia's mother, Kristin Schmidt, left, and Jersey sit together to watch Delias senior game at Rochester Prep High School. They wear matching t-shirts showing Delias jersey number, 3.
Delia lights a candle in her room after a long day of school and basketball. "I got a candle from Salem and it was a candle for grief. And at the time you know my cousin had passed away and I went to the funeral and it just, you know, it changed me...and recently another person in my family passed so you know it was just back to back to back," says Delia. " I lit the grief candle because at the moment I was going through a lot mentally and I wasn’t really showing it but the deaths were dwelling me and taking over my mind. So I lit that candle."
Delia works on decorating her graduation cap in honor of her late cousin Rayshod.
Delia embraces her mother, Kristin Schmidt, in tears after playing in her "Senior Night" game at Rochester Prep High School on Feb. 16, 2022. This was Delia's last home game of the season before moving on to sectionals.
Delia and her classmates turn their tassles during their graduation ceremony at the Kodak Center in Rochester, N.Y., on June 2, 2022. Delia is currently in her freshman year at SUNY Brockport and decided to go for physical therapy.
Delia gets a piggy back ride from her twin brother, Joseph, at Westgate Park, a basketball court down the street from their home. Delia, Joseph, and a few of their friends try to go to the park often. "Oh man, during the summer it was every week every Tuesday and now since the weather is terrible now we don’t go," says Delia. "It’s less about basketball and more about spending time with my brother and stuff."
For senior Delia Cruz, 17, of Rochester Prep High School in Rochester, N.Y., basketball is her only stress outlet for the issues that she faces in her daily life. “It helps with my physical health. It’s my way of motivating myself,” says Cruz. “I don’t know what it is about basketball, I understand that exercise helps with mental health [but] I can’t just go on a run and feel better. It’s just when I play basketball. It’s more than just a game for me.” For the class of 2022 seniors at Rochester Prep, many of their constants were stripped away when they moved to fully remote classes in 2020. “Social life? It took a toll because I couldn’t see anyone. I lost a lot of friendships and relationships with people. Even part of my own family,” says Cruz. Nearing the end of 2021, Delia is finally back in school full time, she’s ready to play her final season of basketball and beginning to think about her life past high school.
