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MIDDLETOWN, Conn. — Advanced Sportsplex is a 38,000 square foot facility located in Middletown, CT bordering the Cromwell town line.

On February 21, the complex will be holding a special fundraising event. The Middletown Police Department will go head to head with the Middletown Fire Department in a game of Bubble Soccer. The game is also refered to as Knocker Soccer or Knockerball. The game is a contact version of soccer, however, players are protected by the inflatable, round sphere known as a Knockerball.

Anthony Knapp is one of the officers competing in the game.

“Middletown Fire challenged us to the game. The teams consist of 10 members each and everyone has to donate at least twenty dollars to support the cause,” said Knapp. “It’s all in good fun.”

The game is being used to raise money for Total Man Inc. Total Man Inc. is an organization that is aimed to keep teenagers and young adults away from gangs, drugs and poverty by ensuring they have the necessary tools in life.

The fundraiser takes place on February 21, with the game starting at 9 P.M. Tickets for adults are $10 and tickets for kids 13 and under are just $5.

Advanced Sportsplex is also where a number of high school and local sports teams practice, especially in during the winter months.

“I would say 100+ teams have practiced here since we opened in 2012,” said manager Glenn Rowland. “Some of the teams that practice here include Wesleyan University, CCSU Softball, University of Hartford Softball and Xavier and Mercy High Schools from here in Middletown.”

Another program that practices at Advanced Sportsplex is the Connecticut Outlaws youth league. The Outlaw teams range from 10 to 18 years of age. Connor Willet plays on the 10–11 year old team. His mother, Jackie Willet, loves coming to the sportsplex.

“It’s a great place to practice. Plus, it keeps my son active in the winter time,” says Willet.

The sportsplex has a 10,000 square foot area that is useful for multiple sports. The turfed area is used for speed and training as well as a practice area for teams such as the Connecticut Outlaws. Advanced Sportsplex caters to baseball, softball, field hockey, lacrosse and soccer. They have year-round recreational instruction as well as specialized clinics in these sports.

While some seniors still feel some sort of anxiety at the mere thought of finals, freshman Eric "Church Boy" Clinton doesn’t have a nervous bone in his body…well maybe one.

“I’m not nervous at all about taking any finals,” Clinton said. “I’m expecting to do great on them because they’re all very easy, especially being a freshman.”

They are all very easy, except for one. While the majority of his classes come easy to him, like math and philosophy, economics is no cake walk.

“Economics, I’m very worried about because economics is one of my hardest subjects. I have Dr. Savage, who is a savage, I love her though,” Clinton said.

Although economics may be a challenge for him, Clinton has been hitting the books with a study group, which he hopes will lead to successful outcomes on all of his finals.

“I make sure that I have people around me who want to succeed,” Clinton says.

“By having people around me who want to succeed I know that there is a greater chance I will succeed and less chance of me failing, I mean if you hang around people who fail, you’re going to fail. So, I surround myself around really intellectual people, so I can get where I need to be.”

Most students look forward to end of finals or more so the winter break that follows, but for Clinton that time will be bittersweet, as he heads back to Middletown, Conn. for the holidays.

“I’m not ready to go home, I don’t know what I’m going to do at home. I know what I was going to do here, there is so many people here.”

He continues.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do for a month, it’s going to be crazy. I like classes, I like seeing people and I love meeting people and doing things and clubs, so, it’s going to be weird to go home. But, it’s alright because I love it anyway,” he said.

Clinton plans to return to Southern for the spring semester, with many plans in mind.

Southern has become a good place to be and do various, multiple things. I’ve made so many friends here,” he said.

“I’m moving up in ranks very fast, very quickly, so I’m trying to get a job by next semester and do all these other things and probably an RA by my sophomore year. So, beautifulness on everything.”

Listen to the full interview below...

The New Haven green was cold and dark. There seemed to be a surplus of benches when there was no one around to crowd them.

I sat on one of them closest to the street –light as I waited patiently for the B bus to arrive. I had no idea when the next one was due, but I knew there was at least one more for the night after spending all day downtown.

Rush hour had come and passed so the number of buses dwindled to every half hour or hour.

As I tried my best to keep out the cold by curling over – while still sitting on the bench – the cold found its way down the back of my neck.

“Where are you bus? It’s freezing,” I thought to myself. A sound may have escaped from my mouth, as the thought of sitting in the bitter November wind for much longer seemed painful.

Through my self-loathing I heard a shuffling noise in the distance become louder and louder, until it stopped.

Looking up from my crunched position I saw a woman continue her shuffle to sit on the bench directly opposite me – despite every other bench being completely empty.

I became slightly tense when I heard that she began to speak – or rather mutter under her breath something indiscernible.

I peered at her over the top of my scarf, which was pulled up over my nose, expecting that she was directing her mumbling at me.

I quickly returned to having my head down in my scarf once I realized she was not attempting to spark up a conversation, as she was quite happy talking to herself.

After waiting for 20 minutes, the B bus arrived and I jumped out of my seat as I had never felt so happy to see a bus before.

I noticed the mumbling woman did not get on the bus and I wondered if she was even waiting for a bus at all.

While many people tend to criticize CT Transit, from the service to the bus drivers, Robinson disagrees with the majority.

"The bus is alright, there's nothing wrong with the bus, it's the people that get on the bus," Robinson said.

"A lot of people are drinking and smoking weed and all that."

Robinson rides the D-bus, both inbound and outbound for the majority of his comings and goings. The D gets him to Walgreens, where he works on Dixwell Avenue to his home on Circular Avenue.

This Saturday, the D chauffeured him to the Hamden Plaza to run some errands.

Robinson is especially fond of the bus drivers on his routes that he interacts with regularly.

"My bus driver that comes down Circular, he is a great person," Robinson said.

"My bus driver is outstanding, there is no improvement, they're pretty good."

Yalie, Anna Lee trades in her Yale shuttle pass for a city bus pass and awaits the B4 on a windy November first Sunday.

"I use Yale shuttle buses quite infrequently because I feel like it only gets you to Yale buildings," Lee said.

"I like the public bus because they get you to pretty much anywhere you want."

According to Yale's transportation site, the shuttle only goes to multiple university stops, the East Rock neighborhood, and Union Station in comparison to CT Transit's 22 local routes around New Haven.

Lee, from Dallas, Texas started Yale in 2013 and spent the following summer in New Haven, where she used the buses often.

" I think over the summer they were the most punctual, I really liked them then. I used them a lot, like everyday basically," Lee said.

But according to Lee, with the end of the summer months, punctuality became a thing of the past, when school resumed in the fall.

"This year they seem a little bit late again. But, of course, you know there's not enough bus drivers, they're overworked, etcetera," she said.

"I think they can improve on just punctuality, maybe. I think the bus fare is a little high sometimes for those who have to use it all the time; $1.50 is kind of a lot. But, besides that it's pretty good."

For Joseph Kelley, every dollar earned is one dollar closer to a new car, but between student loans and bills the city bus will be the only thing pulling up anytime soon.

"I'm saving up to get a car, for now the bus is my way of getting around until I have enough money to save up to get a car." Kelley said.

He continued.

"I just started working recently, I started working in March but with all my school loans and bills in the house its kind of hard."

The 20-year-old studies computer network management at Branford Hall Career Institute and holds down a part-time job as a manager at Conway, a discount store.

Transferring between the B-Whalley Avenue, O-Winchester Avenue, and F3-Short Beach/ Branford buses, scheduling is near impossible, Kelley states his day never goes as planned.

"They need to make schedules that they can actually follow and actually have a timeframe to consider for traffic rather than just saying in the middle of the schedule, expect delays and stuff like that," Kelley said.

"There are times buses are late by more than 10 minutes, and when the bus comes it's not packed, the driver either just came from the store or something and their going 50, 60 miles an hour down the road trying to get downtown which is cautious, but hazardous to the public transportation [passengers] people," he said.

While the Branford route is the longest of the three routes he uses daily, it seems ro be the least of worries.

"Taking the bus to Branford at times is easy. There are times when I hate it because of the heavy traffic in east haven," he said.

The B bus is a different story. He said he just hates the B bus in general, not elaborating.

Kelley says the bus and it's schedule barely fits his needs, nor the needs of other passengers.

"I think they [passengers] actually became fed up with public transportation with the raising bus fare, the new drivers who are rude and inconsiderate and the buses are not even clean to the public."

Being a CT Transit bus operator comes with it's perks, just ask newbie driver Locksley Cummingham.

"Intially, I use to be a school bus driver, so I wanted to do something that was more progressive, more hours, make more money, more stable," he said.

Previously, a school bus driver for First Student, Cummingham found he needed a change.

Cummingham has been with CT Transit for four months, driving multiple routes around New Haven. But, before he could hit the road--again, he had to go through six-weeks extensive training. he explains.

"That covers skill and procedures, farebox, defensive driving, and some other stuff and routes. Learning the routes, that's the most important thing because you can live in New Haven and you just don't know the bus routes. That's key," he said.

"I do a different route everyday for five days," Cummingham said.

"That includes; today we doing the O, that goes to the mall and to Winchester, tomorrow I might be doing the D that goes to Dixwell and East Haven; the next day, I might do the F; and the next day I might do the B, so everyday is a different thing."

While the benefits package may be enticing, the job itself can much more rewarding.

"I'm a people person so helping people along the way is what makes my day go by," Cummingham said.

"The bad thing is that you're always going to have that one obnoxious person that you have to deal with and you just have to know how to handle that and you can't let that ruin you day."

Cummingham highlights one obnoxious person in particular, who gave his fellow passengers a one-way ticket to karaoke night.

"A guy on the bus that's a singer all the way to Ansonia and he wouldn't stop singing. At first it was enjoyable; until it becomes annoying and it was annoying because of the other passengers and so I had to step in and stop it and that was my craziest one because he came back another time and he wanted to sing again and I said no I had to put a stopping to that," he said.

While he's never spent time one the passengers' side , Cummingham can see beyond the driver's seat.

"The interesting thing about it is that I've lived in Connecticut for over thirty years, never took the bus," he said.