NEW LONDON’S JONIYAH BLAND-FITZPATRICK AND MOM TAMIKO BLAND
Here's a word you don't hear every day to describe a parent: cushion. "She's always there to listen to me and my problems," New London High School sophomore girls' basketball player Joniyah Bland-Fitzpatrick said about her mother, Tamiko Bland. "Whenever I need help, she'll do anything for me, like drive me to games. She always surprises me with something. "She's like a cushion, like she'll lend you a shoulder to lean on." Bland-Fitzpatrick is the youngest of three children. She has a brother (Tyson Bland-Allen) and sister (Jade Bland-Allen). Bland-Fitzpatrick, a guard/forward, helped the Whalers finish 25-3 this season and earn a share of the Eastern Connecticut Conference Division I title, their seventh straight ECC title. She was an All-ECC Division I selection. And anyone who attended a Whalers game surely saw Tamiko. "She'd wear a picture of me on her sweater or she'd wear hats with a picture of me," Bland-Fitzpatrick said. "She's such an influence on my life. She's very powerful with her words and demands in ways to make me go further in life." Learning how to drive can be stressful for both a teenager, their parents and a driving instructor. Prior to the pandemic, Tamiko was Joniyah's driving instructor. "She trusts me to drive the car," Bland-Fitzpatrick said as her mother laughed in the background. "The first time I drove, I did great. I learned how to back in and she was calm. She'd just say certain things and I'd listen." Bland's influence on Bland-Fitzpatrick even extends to her diet. Bland-Fitzpatrick's mom makes sure she eats healthy — they've recently started to drink shakes with vegetables and fruits in them, one in the morning and one at night. Bland is a patient service associate, which has made her extra helpful when Bland-Fitzpatrick needs help with homework. In addition to traditional courses, such as biology, Bland-Fitzpatrick has taken a class in bio-med. "I like to challenge myself," Bland-Fitzpatrick said about her bio-med class. "I wanted to be a cardiologist at first, but then instead thought about just working in medicine. I'd like to do something with sports medicine, stuff like that. "My mom is more than a mother. She's like a best friend that I have around 24-7."
— Ned Griffen