When I was in high school, the running joke that the initials for LMC meant “Lost My Chances” instead of Los Medanos College. Not just in academics, but in athletics.

Soon, “Lost My Chances” will be the phrase running through the mind of many opponents they have to up against LMC athletic team. And that’s because the new Physical Education building is about to change the landscape of LMC athletics.

The new facility is almost complete, set to be complete in August of this year. The combined cost of the new PE facility and student union is 61.8 million dollars according the LMC website. It’ll be worth every single penny.

LMC athletics isn’t the best. Even with the women’s’ soccer and volleyball team winning the Bay Valley Conference title, the Mustangs always seem to only manage to get into a play-in game in order to qualify for the playoffs.

The truth is, LMC should be a powerhouse when it comes to sports.The Bay Valley Athletic League — LMC’s feeder league for high school sports has some of the top athletes especially in football and women’s soccer. Often times these unsigned athletes choose to go to community colleges that have a brighter exposure in athletics to top division one colleges. Many of these colleges include Diablo Valley College, Las Positas College and even City College of San Francisco. Many athletes would rather commute in Bay Area traffic than attend the school in their backyard.

With my experience covering high school sports and talking to these athletes about wanting to pursue JuCo sports, LMC is the last destination on their mind.

But the new PE facility is regarded by many coaches to be better than what most division II schools have. Essentially, students will have the opportunity to gain strength, while the athletics department will do the same.

This PE facility is the biggest blessing to come to LMC. I guarantee there will be a huge increase in student-athletes at LMC, so much that the Mustangs will need to move up a division and potentially break out of the BVC. The participation in student athletics will attract more revenue to the school due to the success in sports.